+31.(0)6.2449.6369
Save Me Dear..
And now I’m standing right on the edge of a very high cliff. From the point where I stand, I barely see what is below. The scenery is too blurry but it shows a shade of a place where every one wants to be. It is a shade of a big yet beautiful prairie and I am tempted to go there. One of my friend has jumped in and I am sure that there is life down there since the sound of their joyful late night parties crawled into my ears every evening.
Some people said that I should jump and try my luck because I’m too young and it’s worth trying. However, the cliff is so steep and deciding to jump in would risk my own life or maybe make myself paralyzed throughout my entire life. On the other hand, some of my buddies said that I should give up my decision and try my best with the owner of this land. I do love this land; I was born here and this is where my heart belongs. But I am facing a difficulty since the owner of this land does not give me the permission to build a beautiful prairie. Despite my record as the best city planner, she just doesn’t know what she wanted to do with this land and neither had she trusted nor gave me signal to do so.
Honestly, I am so indifferent to both decisions whether I should jump or stay. None of my informants are trustworthy. However, it is only the land lady who can save me from jumping. Hopefully it won’t be too late for her to make a decision and also to know what she wants.
(Wednesday, October 22 2008)
Suka Duka Bertesis Ria
Akhirnya sampai juga gw di bulan Oktober, dan kalo inget minggu2 pertama bulan September, rasanya susah bgt getting the mood for my master thesis. Meskipun supervisor uda dapet, tapi ide tetep ga jelas, materi bacaan seabrek2 dan ga tau mesti mulai dari mana, tambah2 setelah kelar kerjaan gw di RBS, rasanya tenaga gw kesedot smua gara2 jam yg mirip 9 to 9 plus ronda malem. But ok, I was thinking that what’s left is only thesis anyway; so I need to make it done, make it happen, and be a free man.
Tapi hari ini gw seneng banget karena final proposal gw uda kelar meskipun gradenya belom keluar. Yang biking gw lega itu juga karena preliminary proposalnya uda di approve supervisor bbrp minggu sebelomnya jadi final proposal ini cuma tinggal poles memoles. Well, ada gunannya juga ternyata kerja di RBS, berhubung sering kerja ampe pagi, jadi gw nampaknya kebiasa dan tetep sharp meskipun capek. Alhasil, waktu H minus 2 sebelum deadline proposal, mata dan otak gw sukses untuk tetep melek selama 2 hari. Tapi cukup 2 hari ajalah, dan ga bole sering2 bgini kalo ga mau cepet mokat.
(Saturday, October 11 2008)
When the market got cancer
The global financial market will not be the same anymore from now on. The disease is almost like a cancer, spreading throughout the global economy due to accumulated multifactor. It is driven by the greed during housing market boom, unacceptable CDO ratings by bond raters, implausible golden parachutes, and many interconnected factors which eventually questioned the bank’s liquidity and raised lending rates. During the Dot com bubble, although the aftermath took 2 years of recovery, the Dow has not plunged below 10,000. However, look at the Dow now as it plunged way beyond 8,900. Crazy!
Despite the protests and concerns, government bail out is the only way to solve this crisis. However, banks must be ready to accept that government will hold a large stake and drives them according to their own interest. Some stand alone Investment banks should be ready being taken by Asian funds while the ones belong to universal banks must be ready to be regulated by government. Again, the way bank operates and its corporate governance will change in the aftermath.
Nevertheless, every cloud has a silver line and let’s hope that the US senate and house will make a good sweetener for the bail out plan for the sake of people in “mainstreet” and not just for “Wallstreet” (as Obama said). As an analyst looking at how volatile the stocks are, I do think that this might be a sign that the pattern might already be obvious and the downturn is halfway to the end. Some investors have started to re-gain confidence although the majority is not. Whether we like it or not, both Wallstreet and London are still the world’s largest financial market. Therefore, balancing with a responsible European bail out might be helpful to regain investor confidence.
A country such as Poland is already successful enough to protect their financial market during this crisis. Warsaw Business Journal noted that Polish economy is in good condition and its 2009 draft budget bill lowers the budget deficit which increases Poland’s credibility as a debtor and limits the exposure to foreign debts. Therefore, during the 2009 market restructuration, the wake up call is for those countries with weak finance regulations such as Thailand and Indonesia!!
(Monday, October 6 2008)
Booked my flight to Indo
Not as usual, but his time without taking too much considerations, I decided to “make it happen” and booked this “not so cheap” flight ticket to Jakarta for December 11th 2008”. My departure is like one week before the first draft thesis deadline. To be honest, I don’t care that much about the risk and I’m gonna make the thesis done anyway before December (High Risk = High Return).
After not being able to go back for already 1.5 yrs, once again, SQ will take me home; leaving my academic life, office job, and master thesis burdens for a while. I am planning to stay there until 24 January which is equal to appr. 1.5 months. Desperately, I look forward to see my family, eat shit loads of martabak, soto, n mi tek tek, play with my 22 year old turtle, sleep in my cozy bedroom, meet my high school friends and teachers, and last but not least travel with my new B XXXX DS which is expected to be delivered next month. Yaaayyyy !!!
To make this vacation worthwhile, now I do need to stop this day dreaming and get my ass on the thesis ASAP. Although the thesis is still in a cumbersome progress, the finish line is obvious, and now what I need to do is just finalize the data mining, run the regression, and write the conclusion. Simple toch?? Ohh God help me..
(Saturday, October 4 2008)
Ketika si wong cilik tembus ke Investment Bank
Bulan Juni yang telah lama gw tunggu akhirnya dateng juga; tepatnya tanggal 25 Juni gw memulai internship gw di investment bankingnya ABN AMRO di world headquarter di Amsterdam. Seneng juga sih rasanya bisa tembus ke level sini. Kata orang2 sih investment banker ini salah satu profesi yang sexy banget, prestigious, well paid, even though working hour nya aujubile gilaa. Kata orang2 juga, ini profesi dimana kita mesti pake jas dan berdasi tiap hari, sepatu pantofel, rambut pendek rapi atau panjang klimis, dan bisa bergaul sama smua orang tanpa terkecuali. Ya mungkin bener sih, terbukti dari bangunan kantor gw yg megah banget dan berada di distrik Amsterdam Zuid WTC yg merupakan distrik perkantoran termahal di Belanda. Ini contoh gambar pakaian yg biasa gw pake dan gedung tempat gw kerja
Sekilas tentang investment banking itu kerjaan dimana kita dituntut utk ngasi banking product and solution buat perusahaan (client) yg butuh permodalan dan juga advisory buat perusahaan yang akan melakukan merger/acquisition. Kerjaan gw secara khusus lebih focus ke merger/acquisition dimana gw mesti analisa perusahaan dan ngebuat valuation model untuk nganalisa dampak ketika mereka merger/akuisisi.
Soo, dimulailah hari pertama dimana si wong ndeso ini sampe jam 10 pagi sesuai perintah bos. Setelah sampe lobby, datenglah si sekretaris untuk menjemput gw dan kemudian gw langsung dianter dia buat nemuin bos dan mentor gw. Gw ga bakal lupa betapa nervousnya gw waktu itu sampe2 gw diem aja sepanjang jalan bareng si sekretaris dan kayaknya dia notice tuh sampe2 nanyain. Hahaha, ya abis gimana donk gw blm pernah kerja. Setelah salaman sama mentor gw (seorang cewek cakep), dia langsung kasi gw kerjaan. Gw inget tuh kerjaan pertama gw itu bukan ngitung, tapi disuru cari profilenya board management buat perusahaan yang mau di acquire. Abis briefing tugas, untuk pertama kalinya gw dianter ke lantai 10 untuk duduk di korsi gw. No doubt, meja gw keren bgt, dimana gw dapet window seat, keyboard dan komputer dengan 2 layar, dan meja yang lumayan luas juga.
Colleague2 yang lain juga nampak bersahabat dan tentunya ini ngurangin rasa nervous gw di hari pertama. Setelah haha hehe dan berbasa/i, akhirnya kita makan bareng tuh jam 12 siang. Dan saking on time nya orang2 yg kerja dsini, 30 menit break tuh mereka balik ke korsi mereka dengan penuh kesadaran. Well, mungkin ini lunch pertama gw bareng para investment banker yang emang sih berkelas banget gayanya, tampangnya juga ok punya lah, dan yang paling nakutin tuh mereka semua BEROTAK, terbukti dari kualitas argumen yg diomongin selama makan siang. Ya bgitulah hari pertama gw, dimana gw masi santai2, masi lugu, dan belum pulang larut malem kayak yang diisuin orang2. I believe that once in a while, that day will come ketika gw pulang krumah pagi2 buta dengan muka kuyu dan exhausted.
Recruitment committee nya bilang betapa beruntungnya gw bisa diterima disini, soalnya ada kali ribuan applicant yang ditolak dan ujung2 nya mereka cuma nerima 17 orang. Ya, bayanging aja, smua colleague gw yg keterima umurnya aja uda 25 taunan plus berpengalaman and punya GPA yang selangit-ngiitt tingginya. Lah ini gw lagi, uda ndeso banget, umur masi cilik dan kerja aja belon pernah.
Kalo ngeliat kerjaan gw skarang, gw sering berpikir kalo betapa kurang layaknya gw masuk ketempat bginian dan tentunya masi banyak orang yg lebih deserve. Tapi gw jadi bersyukur ketika inget betapa baiknya Tuhan buat hidup gw dan Dia ga pernah lalai nepatin janjiNya buat anak2Nya yang percaya. Terima kasih Tuhan, biarpun saya masih muda dan tidak layak, saya janji akan pakai smua kesempatan yang Engkau beri and try to make the most of it!
Image source: www.debeurs.nl
(Friday June 27 2008)
New Laptop = New Spirit = More Work
I realizedthat more and more work should be done and my 3.5 year old study buddy (Laptop) is getting slower each day. So, after making some smart excuses and plausible rationales, I got dad’s consent to purchase a new laptop. Yaayy.. Thank you daddy!
After browsing from some website recommendation, I decided to buy Dell XPS M1330 with the following reasons:
1. It is a brand new laptop from Dell with a 13.3 inch monitor, small (12.5x9.4x0.87-1.3 inch), thin and light (4.3 pounds), so I thought I would be able to carry around easily.
2. Powerful processor which allows me to run some heavy programs and play some games: Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.10 GHz combined with RAM of 3 GB and Graphic Card NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS.
3. It has a small remote control which is useful for power point presentations
4. Finally, I chose the color Red (see Product Red) because some of the profit for “Red Products” will be donated for AIDS in Africa.
So, today is the delivery day and until somewhere at 3pm, somewhere from UPS kept ringing my door bell. Knowing that my packet had arrived, I was so glad and immediately rushed into my room to open it… This is what I got
Warm welcome to my laptop. You are now a new part of my life. Hopefully you can assist me in finishing my master thesis, storing my works, dealing with SPSS calculation, displaying the financial world news, and in general making me a better man. Alstair loves you and protects you. Kuss
(Wednesday, June 18 2008)
Grandpa Dheng
Up until the date I write this posting, I haven’t met him for almost 20 years. Yes, he is my late grandfather and he left us in 1988 when we were about to leave Indo for the U.S. Out of the 11 grandsons he has, apparently I was the only one whom he had seen. I was too little that I even have no clue how he carried me or talked to me. He died because of a sudden first stroke attack and the news of his death was like a thunder strike in the mid of the day.
He is the founding father of our Kristamuljana family; Theng Kwat Tiong is his Chinese name and his friends and students know him as Pak Ateng Kristamuljana. A true academician, the former Head Principle of SMUK 1 Pintu Air and SMUK Tirta Marta BPK-Penabur, and a former top executive member of Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI). Surprisingly, people said that he was able to speak more than 7 foreign languages, a respectable quality guy and a wise decision maker. Some of his colleagues also knew that he had this conservative Dutch way of teaching which was indeed quite strict in terms of handling students. OMG
However, when he reached home back from his work, he was known as a calm and quite guy. My mom always said that he spoke calmly and in a good Javanese (sort of) manner. Although I did not remember a thing, people said that he loved to carry me to see the fishes in the aquarium when he lived in Salemba. As his first grandson, they said that he was so proud of me when I could start counting from 1 to 10 before even 1 year old. He kept talking about my ability during his interview with a magazine reporter and they finally put some notes about that in the magazine. He was also the one who gave me the name Bharata, a protagonist from Ramayana story.
Before I was born, he was granted by the Dutch government with an opportunity to go to Holland. However, he loved Indonesia so much that he did not want to move out. Looking at the fact now, my dad always said to me that his opportunity to go to Holland has apparently been given to me. During the time when my dad got ill, he appeared once through his dream. My dad said that he wore a nice clean long sleeved and he smiled :). There is a joy in his face and as his presence faded away then my dad woke up.
I did not know what made him smile in my Dad’s dream. But I hope that those achievements that we have made as a family (particularly my dad) had somehow made him proud. I’m also hoping that my silly little achievements here in Europe would contribute to that; considering the fact that I am the one who is now taking his chance to go to Europe :). It is an honor for me to be the part of ‘Kristamuljana’ (means ‘a Christian who glorifies Thy name’) and I would try to aim my life towards that meaning.
(Saturday, May 10 2008)
Wake Up Indonesian education system!
Tentunya masih segar diingatan kita akan nama Denias, film yang dirilis beberapa waktu yang lalu dan menceritakan tentang perjuangan seorang anak di Irian yang rela berjalan naik turun gunung demi menuntut ilmu. Diantara 210 juta rakyat Indonesia, sungguh ironis ketika membayangkan perjuangan Denias Denias yang lain dimana kegigihan mereka nyaris pupus dengan ketiadaan fasilitas pendidikan yang memadai.
Ada 2 faktor penting yang saya percaya telah menjadi prestasi tradisi untuk bangsa yang berkesinambungan. Yang pertama adalah Stabilitas ekonomi yang meliputi pemenuhan kebutuhan sandang, pangan, dan papan penduduk. Yang kedua adalah Pendidikan dimana pendidikan dasar merupakan program yang wajib. Kedua hal ini diibaratkan berjalan berdampingan dalam sebuah sirkulasi supply demand dimana pendidikan yang baik akan memberi input untuk kestabilan ekonomi dengan memberdayagunakan intangible resources dimana knowledge berperan. Kemudian, ekonomi yang stabil memungkinkan ‘perut kenyang’ sehingga ‘knowledge transfer’ dari situasi ekonomi dapat jadi acuan untuk peningkatan kualitas pendidikan. Diluar semua itu, faktor faktor seperti stabilitas politik, pertahanan dan kemanan, adalah output dari pendidikan yang baik dan ekonomi yang stabil. Mustahil mencapai stabilitas hankam yang optimal tanpa tersedianya capital, dan capital mustahil didapat tanpa pertumbuhan ekonomi yang berkesinambungan.
Akan membutuhkan waktu yang sedikit lama dan bertahap untuk membangun Ekonomi Indonesia yang stabil seperti jaman pra krisis. Laju inflasi yang berkisar diatas 6% berikut suku bunga SBI yang melambung diatas 7% cukup mempersulit penanaman modal usaha di indonesia baik modal asing maupun domestik. Belum lagi, harga minyak semakin melambung dan mengundang banyak kecaman. Dalam sebuah negara yang besar, usaha penyetabilan Ekonomi lebih sukar karena meliputi berbagai macam faktor makro dan mikro yang lain. Lain halnya dengan usaha penyetabilan pendidikan, dimana sebuah regulasi dan budget yang konsisten untuk kurikulum, siswa, dan guru bisa lebih cepat terlihat hasilnya. Lebih dari itu, perbaikan sistem pendidikan merupakan investasi sumber daya manusia yang baik untuk jangka panjang.
Keseriusan pemerintah sangatlah dipertanyakan dalam pemberdayaan pendidikan di Indonesia. Sudah hampir 63 tahun kita merdeka, tapi sudah berpuluh puluh kali juga kurikulum berganti secara ekstrim. Tercatat pula dalam APBN 2008 bahwa belanja negara yang dialokasikan untuk pendidikan hanya berkisar 11%. Bayangkan bahwa 210 juta penduduk Indonesia harus berbagi 11% dari total APBN dan bandingkan dengan belanda dimana 16.5 juta penduduknya bisa berbagi 19% dari total APBN untuk keperluan pendidikan mereka. Data depdiknas 2007 mencatat ada 531,186 ruang kelas yang rusak dimana 52% persen yang rusak ada di pulau Jawa. Belum lagi, kerusakan tersebut seringkali membawa korban yaitu siswa dimana seharusnya merekalah yang mendapat perlindungan fisik dan psikologis.
Nasib guru juga terkadang tidaklah lebih baik dari muridnya. Ada keluhan datang dari Tasikmalaya dimana gaji guru honorer yang sudah bertahun-tahun mengabdi bernilai jauh lebih rendah dari UMR provinsi tersebut. Sulit rasanya ketika kita meminta mereka untuk mengoptimalkan kemampuannya demi anak didik mereka dimana hidup saja serba kekurangan dan makan saja sulit. Terkadang, guru pun terpaksa mencari tambahan ditempat lain dimana ketika tak lagi memungkinkan, jalan yang tak halal pun harus ditempuh. Dalam percakapan saya bersama salah seorang guru Ekonomi SMP, beliau mengungkapkan tentang ketidakadilannya terhadap tetangganya yang penjual sayur yang memiliki penghasilan lebih besar daripada beliau yang seorang guru ekonomi. Setelah percakapan kami ditutup, adalah sebuah perasaan kecewa dari saya ketika melihat gambaran guru sebagai sebuah panggilan telah bergeser menjadi ‘kepepet kondisi’.
Quo vadis pendidikan Indonesia?! Wake up atau jangan salahkan siapa-siapa ketika satu generasi muda Indonesia lenyap begitu saja.
Image Source: www.portalinfaq.org
(Sunday, May 4 2008)
Corporations vs. Own Values
Beberapa hari lalu, session kami bersama McKinsey selesai lebih cepat, dan kami beralih ke acara minum2 di Pub deket sekolah. Ada beberapa consultant McKinsey yang tentunya ikut bersama kami, dan gw dapet kesempatan untuk ngobrol sama AW, salah satu associate di McKinsey yang juga jadi tutor sesión kita. AW itu jebolan MBA dari Kellogs, lahir taun 80, wanita, lumayan cakep, dan potongan career woman banget dengan rambut pendek dan klimis. Selama ngobrol panjang lebar dengan gw, dia cerita gimana dia masuk McKinsey dan jadi associate dlm waktu cuma 6 taunan. Buat stándar cewe, dia tipe yang terbilang sangat ambisius buat karir berdasarkan cerita dia tentang planning2nya, tapi decisión dia buat stay di warsaw itu juga mostly karena dia pingin deket sama keluarganya.
Ada satu phrase yang dia bilang sore itu dan gw pikir berguna buat gw. Kita boleh berencana jangka pendek/panjang tentang karir kita di dunia korporasi. Tapi kalo vision sebuah korporasi memaksa kita untuk melakukan apa yang kurang baik dan tidak kita suka, lebih baik kita pikir matang2 dan keluarlah dari situ sambil tetap mencari apa yang kita suka. Setelah gw pikir, gw teringat sama buku yang pernah gw baca waktu kecil karangan R.Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad), disini gw pikir korporasi itu sama halnya kayak uang sebab uang lah (baca: profit) yang menyetir korporasi. Kiyosaki berkata “Don’t let ourselves work for Money, but let the Money work for us”. Sejalan dengan kehidupan gw nantinya di korporasi, mungkin lebih bijak kalo gw berkata “Do not let the corporation change my core values, because I am the one who should change the corporation”.
Dedicated to my dad and my Opa's bday.
Image Source: www.corporation-us.com
(Friday, February 30 2008)
One and a half months to go in Warsaw
Uda lama rasanya gw ga nulis blog pake bahasa Indo. Asli deh, skrg buat ngomong or nulis bahasa Indo yang baik dan yang benar ko rasanya susah ya, aduh this is the part where I still need to improve more kayaknya. Seneng juga nih gw skrg, akhirnya bisa santai juga, gw lagi menikmati long weekend skarang terhitung hari Rabu ini sampe Minggu berhubung spring break. Kedua company project gw akhirnya libur juga berhubung team gw pada cabut smua. Untungnya lagi, Senin besok kaga ada kelas, jadi aktivitas tidur menidurkan diri masi berlanjut dan Selasa depan tanggal 6, gw baru mulai lagi. Yippiee…
Ga terasa yah Tuhan uda pelihara gw sampe hari ini di Warsaw, negeri yg gw ga pernah tau bakal sampe tinggal disini. Kayaknya kerasa baru kmaren tuh tanggal 17 Februari gw mendarat di Poland, jadi orang asing disini, ga tau jalan, ga punya temen satu pun, rumah numpang dan jauh di antah berantah, kaga ada kompor selama 3 minggu, dan ga ada internet. Menjelang stay gw yang tinggal satu setengah bulan lagi disini, I was amazed when I counted all my blessings so far. Meskipun gw masih minority disini, gw uda punya teman2 yang terbilang cukup baik dan membangun, mulai dari mahasiswa biasa, party animals, sampai mortgage dan investment banker. Terus, rumah gw juga skarang gedeee banget dan sering dijadiin basecamp buat project meeting gw dan party2 kecil2an. Baru2 ini kita juga baru selesai acara BBQ an. Oh ya gw juga ada dates loh disini hahaha.
Tentang self development, gw belajar banyak dari project2 gw di McKinsey dan PriceWaterhouse mulai dari banking knowledge, consulting techniques, presentation techniques, sampe cara2 ngelobi orang di board room. Ga beda sama situasi di Rotterdam, semua team member gw selalu lebih tua semua dari gw dan beda kita minimal itu 2 taun. Tapi gw pikir dengan itulah gw banyak blajar dari mereka even though kadang gw suka ngerasa kalo gw lebih banyak menerima ilmu ketimbang memberi. Somehow, gw selalu mikir kayanya gw bakal ‘miss this place’ so much berikut orang2nya.
Buat mengisi libur ini, mungkin gw mo party2 dikit, terus ga lupa nulis beberapa blog kedepan dalam bahasa Indonesia yang moga2 makin baik dan benar, terus gw juga mau coba istirahat tidur siang dan makan sayur yang bener (4 sehat 5 sempurna) dan juga ngelarin publication gw buat jurnal di Indo periode September besok. Yasudahh, ditunggu ya postingnya, bahasa Inggris sama Spanish gw lagi libur dulu ahh. I know where I belong to, and that is Indonesia!
(Friday, February 29 2008)
Credit Rating Agencies - Do we need them?
One of the United States’ nightmares of the decade named the subprime mortgage crisis was still depicted freshly in our minds. Indeed, the birth was the initiated after a multiplayer attempt of institutions, ranging from house buyers, mortgage lenders, and financial institution which ‘gang banged’ the loans into a securitized investment vehicle named CDO. By the time this blog is written, Bear Stearns, a major investment bank is struggling to avoid a hostile takeover by JP Morgan that values their share price in an approximately 90% discount. Bear Stearns was the most heavily exposed company to devaluation in their CDO portfolio.
But who’s to be blamed remained concealed despite the effect of the crisis itself has been globally widespread. Although financial markets are imperfect and driven by investor sentiments, we could rarely see the presence of a good referee for such game. Eligible institutions such as the SEC, Credit Rating Agency, and the NRSRO are often being the part of the player instead of the referee. It is even peculiar that a referee named Credit Rating Agency (CRA) situate themselves in an oligopolistic industry structure that was partly invented by the NRSRO itself. With a high entry barrier for such industry, we could only see few CRAs (e.g. Fitch, S&P, and Moody’s) which are labeled as primary benchmarks for bond ratings. These companies rate the bonds assigned by their issuers.
However, if we recall the fall of Enron and WorldCom, it is worth noting that these CRAs have failed to be a reliable benchmark for investors. As for Enron itself, the public might recall the Enron’s bond downgrading was at day four prior to their fall while logically, with an authority to access internal company information, they should have announced it months beforehand. Furthermore, look at the recent subprime crisis and you’ll see that this pattern occurs again. Well, in this case, it was even worse that those CRAs were the last among the institutions to respond to such crisis. After all, the mystery of why they blew it remained unsolved and further investigation is needed.
Hence, do we need CRAs? Former Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan to a German newspaper expressed his pessimistic concern that CRAs are more likely to lose business because of the deteriorating investors’ trust as they know that assets can’t really be properly priced. However, challenging his argument would be the consideration that CRAs have been able to strive for standardization in bond ratings that made it possible for investors to reduce their uncertainty and on the other hand, have enabled issuers to decrease their cost of capital. Learning from the CRA failure in Enron and WorldCom cases, another pattern might be repeated where time may heal some of the investors’ trust and therefore, an enhanced method of a CRA corporate governance should be prepared beforehand in order to effectively utilized the room for improvement.
CRAs would be able to survive if they make changes from their erroneous rating compensation scheme and enhanced their public transparency. Feel free to discuss this with me via e-mail and I look forward to hearing from you.
(Friday, February 29 2008)
First buddies in Poland
During my first visit to SGH (my uni in Warsaw), I was quite surprise to see how small are the number of Asian students compared to my home school in Rotterdam. It is important to note that being a stranger in this country was not that fav
orable and it is a blessing that on the third day of my stay, I was able to meet with these ladies and gentlemen from a somewhat similar background.Hereby, I introduce them to you. The first pals I met were Tracy and Alvin from the International Marketing class. Surprisingly, they both came from Singapore (SG) which obviously is a stone throw away from Indonesia. These guys introduced me to a chinese-vietnamese restaurant in front of our school which will be described in the next blog. On the same day in the evening, I cooked pasta at their place and subsequently met Leanne, a lady and a kick-boxer wannabe from SG who is also Alvin and Tracy’s roommate. Thanks to Tracy’s website for the Anglican Church in Warsaw where the three of us (Me, She, and Leanne) ended up going to this church to
gether for Sunday service. Tracy has also her own multitasking Polish student buddy named Sebastian who took us for a trip to the museums on Sunday (24 Feb). He took us also to the most famous Kebab in Warsaw (or as Shaula said the most delicious one the world). In my opinion, Sebastian might be a potential lady killer after grading his short lecture to me on the way home regarding “how to attract Polish ladies”. Well, after that topic, we got along quite well! Thumbs up guys!
(Monday, February 25, 2008)
My 2008 Valentine's day
I do agree that this year’s V-Day is worth remembering. Basically this is what I did on V-Day 2008 in hours and pictures. The details remained confidential.
Around 09.30 
Around 14.30 
Around 22.00
Around 22.30 
This Valentine’s Day I have understood some meaning of happiness for me. If I may elaborate, one type of a happiness to me is when faith to JC and hard works come together side by side to attain the most impossible objective and to share the joy of your successful faith with someone you care most at the end of the day.
(Thursday, February 14, 2008)
Admit it that we’re all geeks
The recipe to becoming a geek is not just a matter of performing heavy loaded calculations and formulas, holding a pen, sitting on a stool with an awkward looking spectacle. Geeks are those people with a perseverance to achieve something whether good or bad, astonishing or diminishing, more or even less. The syndrome of ‘geeky’ occurs in all fields of life. I would argue that types of geeks are indescribable as it might range from lab Scientist, Economist to Politicians and Stock Brokers. Even worse, I would say that even ‘perverts’ are also geeks. Yes people, a geek at their very own risk.
But why do people become a geek. Initially, I would argue that being a geek is something natural. Referring to Charles Darwin, it is the ‘law of natural selection’ that had pushed humans to their limit. Nature will eliminate the ineligibles and thus, human perseverance is always needed to remain in the race track. The duty to feel geeky is important to assure the continuity of human beings and to produce our ‘best of breeds’. Feeling geeky helps us to perform optimally by means of high perseverance which increases our probability to succeed. Subsequently, the accumulated successful number of try outs helps us to enhance our self-efficacy which structures our belief of our own capability to attain certain goals.
Our story for a ‘geekyness’ might be understood to a higher level where humans (read: geeks) cooperate together to achieve a unified purpose in a so called enterprises/corporations. In the period of this rapidly changing environment, we have seen the emergence of a ‘learning organizations’. The Uppsala model (1990) which was developed by the Swedish also emphasizes that upon ‘internationalization process’, there are intertwined processes between learning and commitment. By continuously learning which requires perseverance, multinational corporations would enhance their absorptive capacity and information flows from the improved knowledge transfer process. Hence, even if a corporation needs this amount of a geeky effort to becoming an international, then will you think that becoming a geek would be beneficial?
I declare that thou shall not be afraid for being accused of their ‘geeky attitude’. Indeed, all of us are geeks in which at the same time have been prisoners in our own world and cordially, shame on them who do not admit it. They might be hypocrites at one hand or could be categorized as those people who live without perseverance. "All of us are geeks in our own world"
As an ending of this argumentation type of blog, I would refer to a quote by one of the world’s most famous geek, Bill Gates. Once, he said “be nice to the geeks as all of you would end up working for them”.
What a reality, Bill!
(Thursday, January 31, 2008)
The Closest Thing to Crazy
Como puedo pensar que estoy muy fuerte
Pero siento el aire debajo de mi pie
Como que la felicidad se siente como un erróneo
Como que la miseria se siente tan dulce
Como que me dejas verte durmiendo
Pero luego rompe mi sueno como quieras
Como que he estado tan profundado
Porque me enamore de ti
Es la cosa más loca que he hecho
Siento que tengo veinte dos pero actuando como fuera diecisiete
Es la cosa más loca que he conocida
Nunca estaba loca yo mismo
y ahora sé que hay un conexión entre los dos
Siendo tan cerca a la locura y también a ti
Tradujo del canción “The Closest Thing to Crazy”; Cantó por Katie Melua
(Miércoles, 23 de Enero de 2008)
What does the word ‘enough’ means for you?
Perhaps, after walking my ass for 21 years on earth, I have seen myriads of people that just did not know what it means. Despite the fact of already being an adult, once a good friend of mine also quoted a phrase for herself saying that “How do I know when enough is enough?”
In general, I would consider that this inherited habitual sequence of human culture is imperative to achieve the need for the sustainability of mankind. When the sense of insufficiency and assertiveness are combined, humans are at their utmost powerful stages to make their living worthwhile. Particularly, this would support what have been said by Adam Smith as an ‘invisible hand’ where humans would contribute to the growth of others as they enhance their own living standards. However, the detrimental effect starts to be perceived during the stages of over greediness and I call this as ‘the diminishing effect of assertiveness’.
Then, how could we set an optimal benchmark for ourselves? As an example, how could we consciously alert ourselves to stop smoking considering the fact that a cigarette costs 5 minutes of our lives? Furthermore, why there are people who just could not stop from having an affair with someone who are not their spouse? Enough should be enough isn’t it?
The underlying issue here is at the fact that people are too difficult to say ‘NO’ for particular things. I do agree that ‘NO’ is a rather static word to answer certain offers. However, the powerful effect of saying ‘NO’ would be visible as it guides you to be consistent with all your thoughts and decisions. Therefore, if someone asks what does ‘enough’ means for me? Kindly, I would answer him that enough means relying at the courage to say ‘NO’ after assessing the risks and of course, the return!
(Thursday, December 14, 2007)
So we've lost with fun
Hola otra vez blog y ahora yo intento escribir en español. Yo creo que yo he olvidado como escribir las escrituras de español. Well, its late now, pero no yo podía descansarme. Hoy, nosotros fuimos a las competiciones del football. Si yo recuerdo los entrenares que hemos hecho, debíamos habernos perfectamente. Pero, hoy, nuestro equipo estábamos mucha más desorganizada. Estuvo el partido de última para mí antes los cambios de estudiantes en Febrero. Sinceramente, yo sintió tan decepcionada, but anyway.. I love my team y siempre yo seré fuerte con el and we've lost with tons of funs anyway.
Nosotros entrenaremos más intensivos.
(Sabado, Noviembre 25, 2007)
Dad & Mom, I hope I have made you proud
It was my turn to receive the BSc certificate. After a few handshakes with the professors, I stepped down from the podium and I decided not to walk directly to my seat. Instead, I took a long walk along the side of the Aula. I decided to share the first happiness with my parents, brother and grandmother who watched enthusiastically.
It was the most precious moment where I saw an incomparable spark of happiness in their eyes. Thank you for 21 years of raising me to become what I am now. Thank you for making me whole and giving me the opportunity to even more believe that I was born to this family for a reason. Dad and Mom, I hope that my achievements today have made you proud. It was just a small part of my journey, but I hope the memories will cheer both of you during those exhausting moments that life could bring.
Thank you JC for the opportunity to feel these loving moments. After years walking with You, I could only testify that all things are possible in You and to that, I will give You all the praises ‘just because of who You are’…..
(Saturday, November 03, 2007)
To every friendships in my bachelor program! Thank You
It seems just like a while ago when I started the IBA program despite the fact that it had been 3 years ago. I will always remember those days when we spent the introduction days on the boat trip to Kinderdijk. Thank you for having spent several sleepless nights for the team on shadow assignments, business plan, statistics, marketing team, applied business methods, skills tra
ining, Cross Cultural, Business Information, BSM, HRM, Supply chain and the bachelor Thesis.
Thank you for all invaluable team works where we could l
earn to manage the team dynamics through good times and bad times.
Thank you for sharing the stress and the burdens together where I finally became a team player and realize that I will always be strong together with my team. Thank you to those who have supported the knowledge creation along my 3 years of IBA bachelor’s program. Finally, I thank those of you who came to my graduation ceremony and who had cheered for me when the professors called my name to the podium. Indeed, all of you have played a significant role in my life.
Ps: For those two people who had planned for a surprise flower bouquet for me! Another great big thank you also to that!
Stay in touch!
(Friday, November 02, 2007)
It is just a revival
Is it true that Christian youths are dying in Europe? At first I was too pessimistic with it. However, having spent my weekend in Amsterdam had changed my perception as I saw around 20,000 youths gathered inside the Olympic stadium Amsterdam. It was 2.5 hrs full of praise and worship delivered by Hillsong United.
Spillover effect
Starting at the heart of this country (Amsterdam), these youths will rise to take their places which create a spillover effect through this nation. I believe that there is a new revival happening for Christian youths globally. The wave started from Australia that had spread through Asia. Koreans are rising, China will be next, and Europe is on progress.
If a small country like Holland could provide 20,000 souls. It is also clear to question ourselves whether we’re ready to take our places..! Christianity is not a religion but it is the way of living….
(Sunday, 16 September 2007)
Lead goose leadership
There are numerous things that nature could bring such as life lessons. This time, the V formation for flying geese has inspired me to write another blog. Scientific result noted that v formations are useful in long distance flights. The formations have made it possible to reduce the exposure coming from the aerodynamic factors.
While attempting to do the formation, lead goose carries the most pressure on the wind resistance. Thanks to the lead goose as its presence in the forefront has made it possible for the other geese to reduce their fatigue due to wind resistance.
Like lead goose, leading is also about sacrificing. It is how we sacrifice our time and talent for the team so that people may learn and benefit the organization. It is about being in the forefront to create a ‘we’ feeling instead of a ‘me’ feeling. At the most difficult point, it is about accepting the blame without having to point out others for it.
(September, 03. 2007)
Image Source: NASAexplores
One of the best B'day present
For men, turning to 21 years old is a particular milestone which indicates maturity. As I told my buddies, it was always an interesting moment during teens when turned from 16 to 17 or 17 to 18. It was still interesting enough when we found out that we were no more teenagers as we switched from 19 to 20. However, we won’t really care about such things when our 21 is over.
Life is too short to be true and perhaps, what makes a man, a man, is when he knows his strengths and weaknesses. He develops his own proposal to JC, stating for whom and how shall they live. He states his own vision for a long term future, what to achieve in life, set up the priorities, and means to achieve it. Finally, believers would put his hand on the top of it and asks JC to be the part of it.
It was the greatest birthday present ever when I found out some of the answers. At a glance, I know that my life has been redeemed with a high price. I belong to JC and I should live my life perfectly. I should be perfect because JC is perfect and I am doing a job for a perfect man. Furthermore, the greatest offering for JC does not come from my pocket. It is about ‘giving my best’, my talent, my future family, my perfect life. I dream to put JC’s vision as a proper way of living into future global leaders. It is rather vague, but I dream to contribute my leadership for a revival. A revival to reinstate the entire generation back to the proper way of living!
Mayo, 2007
I want my IBA done
Quiero que el tiempo no haga andar tan rápidamente, pero ojala acabe mi ‘IBA’ más rápido. Quiero empezar la vida nueva, la red nueva, y el reto más interesante. Se que estará mas difícil pero lo se que JC podrá ayudarme.
¡Que va! la programa nueva para mi por Septiembre de 2007.
http://www.cems.org/cems/...k=6619
(Mayo de 21, 2007 )
Durante del Trabajo
No es por que de mis inteligencias
No es porque de mis abilidades
No es porque mi buen apariencia
Me Eligió y me utilizó
Si lo recibo, está debido a Él
Cuando lo tengo, todos cosas era de Él
Todos están debido a Tu gracia Si nos Utiliza
Cuando yo recordaba Tus amabilidades
Quiero alabarle con todos de mis
Con otras idiomas que yo tengo
Aunque todavía hay muchas faltas con la gramática
Es cierto que tengo una amistad hermosa contigo
Rotterdam Marzo de 2007, entre el invierno y primavera
Hola Blog y Muy Bien Arsenal
Huhuuu, no he escrito Blog bastante un rato. Blogg... Lo Siento, yo te he abandonar. Si te gusta Manchester United, yo creo que Arsenal ganaria la liga primera de ingles este tiempo. 2-0 a Arsenal en los ultimos minutos es una trágica pérdida. Ahora, tenemos el más fuerte jugadores en nuestro club. Arsenal conquistara la liga para este tiempo. Go Go Arsenal!
(Januari 2007)