Due to annoying problems in windows 7, I spent several precious hours of my sunday tinkering and problem solving. Its been like forever since the last time i wrote technical stuff in this blog but i believe this issues is quite obscure hence a detailed problem breakdown will be beneficial. Lets get started.
The Goddamn Problem
I have ASUS Laptop running Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium edition with 4 gigs of RAM. After few minutes of booting, memory consumption goes up to 100% without a single program running. This happened consistently even after several times of rebooting. The whole system slowed down and barely usable up to this point.
Finding The Culprit
I opened Task Manager > Processes and click Show Processes from All Users. This step was to see the list of all processes which are currently running including internal windows process.
Sort by the amount of memory used. In my case, SVCHOST process consumed almost 2 gigs of RAM. A big red alert right there.
SVCHOST is a generic placeholder shared by various windows service. I need to go deeper. Still on Task Manager, Right click on SVChost and then Go To Services. This step showed all of the windows services which are using SVCHOST.
I have got the list of the suspect now. Time to do the interrogation phase. I opened windows service panel by clicking Services button on the bottom. Starting from the top, i disable the SVCHOST related services one by one. Everytime a service disabled, i check the impact to the RAM consumption.
Apparently, the one leaking all the memory was Windows Update Service a.k.a WUAUSERV. When i disabled this service, RAM consumption dramatically went down.
The Solution
Having known the exact problem, simple google query apparently showing useful result. Apparently this is a known bug in Windows 7. The detail of the problem can be found here. Solving this problem is just a matter of installing Windows Hotfix.
My day started with a very sad news about a good friend of mine, Ghani Arrasyid. I knew him since high school and we went into the same university albeit different major. It has been so long since the last time i met him in person but we chat in whatsapp a while ago which he gave his wedding invitation. Apparently, the man above already had other plans for him. He passed away yesterday evening in a traffic accident, just a month after he said his marriage vow.
Me and Ghani went into 16th State High School of Surabaya. We were in the same class, 2-8. Back in high school, my first impression of him is he was an awkward introvert nerd. I used to make fun of how he walks. Ghani is a tall guy and he seems like a bit wonky when he move his body. This was even more noticeable in a physical education class where we need to run around the school field.
Ghani Arrasyid (25 April 1987 – 13 November 2015)
Another distinctive trait of Ghani is his smile. The kind of awkward smile which bears resemblance to Michael Cera.
I remember one funny moment with Ghani. We were invited to one of our classmate sweet 17 party. The dresscode for the party was white, but Ghani showed up in a jeans and flannel shirt. In a group of whites, Ghani’s going-to-grunge-concert outfit stood out like a sore thumb. His above average height makes it even worse. As a result, he was the number one target for the MC’s for silly games. For an introvert like Ghani, i can see his uncomfortable-ness in that situation but apparently being a good sport as he is, he took it like a man and did
One particular day, our class had an empty hour. You know, the best time of high school when a teacher was absent. I was reading comics or something when i heard someone playing guitar. Since junior high, i was obsessed with Nirvana so when Ghani sang the first verse of Jesus Doesnt Want Me For A Sunbeam i jumped straight of my chair. Holy shit, in the time where typical student in my school was swooning on jazzpop and hiphop, i never knew that there was a soul in my surrounding area which listened to an obscure Nirvana track from their infamous Unplugged In New York album.
From that point, we bonded over music. I never knew behind his nerdy glass, he could play guitar very well.
We talked a lot music especially alternative punk bands. He introduced me to a lot of bands such as Panic At The Disco, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Used, Saosin and his personal favorite Circa Survive. He had an admiration on ex Saosin vocalist Anthony Green which leads him to listen to Green’s subsequent project Circa Survive. I remember he used the artwork Circa Survive debut album On Letting Go as his profile picture in Friendster for a long time.
We didnt talk much again after high school. Even though we both went to Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, but we took different major. I took information system while Ghani went to environmental engineering. We still interacted once in a while over various social media such as Plurk, Twitter, Facebook. He commented on my blog several times and i did the samething over his blog. Sometimes we also chat on Yahoo Messenger back in the day. We still talk about the same thing, music, alternative punk and other cool stuff in between.
I cant seem to remember when was the last time i met Ghani in person. It was that long time ago. When he invited me to his wedding, i gave an apology because i couldn’t attend his big day. No worries, he said. Your prayer is more than enough, he added. Never did i know that it will be my last interaction with him.
Ghani was taken into heaven 6 PM after a fatal traffic accident in Jombang. He was a newlywed with only a month of marriage miles. He was a good son which took care of his mother when she suffered from serious illness. Also, he was a friend of mine.
Thanks for all the musical influence Ghan. May you had a chance to jam with Kurt Cobain up there.
Tulisan ini terinspirasi dari postingan Ardi Wilda di facebook yang meminta untuk menuliskan album dan buku terbaik di 2015. Sebagai salah satu panutan dalam hal penulisan dan juga vokalis band folk paling hipster, tentunya undangan bung awe untuk berkomentar tidak dapat saya tolak. Namun hal ini ternyata membuat saya ingin menuliskan dengan lebih panjang apa saja rilisan musik yang mendefinisikan tahun 2015. Mainstream sih tapi sebodo amat.
Satu kata kunci yang bisa mendefinisikan konsumsi musik di tahun ini adalah Deezer. Situs streaming musik asal perancis ini satu satunya yang bisa diakses di kantor sehingga membuat saya menjadi pengguna setia. Selain itu, Deezer juga membawa band band indie Indonesia seperti sore dan silampukau dalam layanannya sehingga membuat saya semakin terjebak dengan aplikasi ini.
Cukup untuk basa-basinya mari kita mulai dari yang pertama. Oh ya, posting ini khusus berisi album album internasional. Untuk rilisan lokal akan saya tulis di tulisan berikutnya.
Ghost – Meliora
Menilai dari penampilannya, saya mengira musik yang dimainkan Ghost senada dengan Slipknot atau paling tidak black metal ekstrim seperti Dimmu Borgir atau Cradle of Filth. Namun ternyata musik yang dibawa Ghost jauh lebih ramah di telinga dari yang saya bayangkan. Tidak ada distorsi berlebihan, suara vokal Papa Emeritus juga bisa dibilang syahdu. Susah sebenarnya disebut sebagai metal. Rock progressif, seperti era era awal Black Sabbath.
Meliora adalah album rock yang solid. Jika kamu penggemar classic rock dan tidak berkeberatan untuk mendengarkan lirik lirik bertema puja puji terhadap lucifer, ini album yang layak untuk di dengar.
Trio gadis rock asal california ini adalah apa yang anak muda jaman sekarang sebut dengan revivalist. Lahir sebagai generasi milenial, Haim justru membawa sound soft-rock bertema 70-80an di debut album penuh mereka : Days Are Gone. Catchy, enjoyable, klasik dan sedikit hipster. Tipe musik yang digemari anak anak nongkrong pasar santa dan pembaca setia pitchfork. Susah untuk tidak berjoget mendengar lagu lagu ceria yang mendominasi album ini.
JMT is muthafuckin dope!. Duo hip hop asal Philadelphia ini begitu memukau di album ke delapan mereka, The Thief and The Fallen. Highlight di album ini adalah track And God Said To Cain. JMT bersama 3 rapper lainnya bergantian meludah bar demi bar lirik cadas ala Wutang Clan diatas beat bernafas amerika latin yang sedikit mengingatkan pada Cypress Hill. Di ranah hip hop mainstream, tahun ini boleh dibilang milik Kendrick Lamarr tetapi untuk skena bawah tanah, y’all could never fuck with JMT!.
Setelah 6 tahun hiatus, Benjamin Burnley dan kawan kawan kembali ke merilis album terbaru mereka Dark Before The Dawn. Sebenarnya sebagai pendengar setia Breaking Benjamin (BB) semenjak era single Diary of Jane, tidak ada hal baru yang ditawarkan album ini. This is a same old breaking benjamin all over again. Seperti halnya Foo Fighters, saya susah membedakan apa tema dan perbedaan antara satu album BB dengan album lain. Tetap radio-friendly alternative rock-metal dengan tema gelap dan keputusasaan. Still, untuk yang belum familiar dengan band ini, Dark Before The Dawn tetap menarik untuk didengarkan sebari headbang.
Saya bisa membayangkan, jika seseorang hanya mengenal BMTH hanya dari single paling terkenal mereka Chelsea Smile, kemudian mendengarkan album terbaru mereka pasti berpikir : Apa yang terjadi dengan band ini ?. Band yang mengawali karirnya dengan musik metalcore cadas dengan growl yang jika didengarkan saja membuat tenggorokan gatal berubah haluan menjadi band elektronik rock di album Thats The Spirit.
Untuk yang fans yang mendengarkan diskografi band ini dari awal, transformasi BMTH lebih terasa sebagai progresi natural setelah masuknya keyboardis Jordan Fish di album sebelumnya, Sempiternal. Membawa metal ke ranah elektronik tanpa mengurangi kualitas musik, Thats The Spirit dibuat untuk yang ingin musik lebih gahar setelah mendengarkan Muse tetapi belum siap mental untuk menikmati Lamb Of God.
Hanya terdiri dari dua personel, Royal Blood membawakan no-nonsense garage rock yang penuh distorsi kasar. Mendengar wall of sound yang sangat penuh di album perdana mereka, ini, saya berpikir band ini pasti akan membawa banyak personel adisional ketika live. Surprise, surprise, band ini tampil live hanya berdua. Vokalis Mike Kerr, memanfaatkan segudang efek untuk menjadikan bassnya berfungsi sebagai gitar sekaligus. Ditambah dengan dentuman drum Ben Thatcher yang entah kenapa sounds really really good. Royal Blood adalah template modern untuk sebuah rock band generasi kekinian.
Album self titled perdana mereka adalah sebuah road trip ugal ugalan yang tidak boleh dilewatkan siapapun yang mengaku berjiwa rock and roll.
Masih bicara soal duo musik, di tahun ini Lawrence bersaudara a.k.a Disclosure merilis album baru mereka Caracal. Saya fanatik sekali dengan rilisan mereka sebelumnya Settle sehingga otomatis ekspektasi saya tinggi sekali terhadap karya mereka selanjutnya. Tidak mengecewakan namun juga tidak terlalu fantastis. Masih membawa perpaduan garage britania raya dan deep house yang penuh reverb, Caracal mengambil arah yang lebih down tempo daripada Settle. Kesan chill juga di kontribusikan oleh sebagian besar track yang berisi vokal dari penyanyi bertipe mendesah sepperti The Weekend, Lorde dan juga Sam Smith. Bisa dibilang Caracal adalah background sempurna untuk meminum secangkir kopi hangat pagi hari sebari mencoba mengingat tindakan amoral apa yang terjadi semalam di lantai dansa.
Band ini mungkin adalah band yang paling susah untuk dibenci. Everybody loves coldplay. Tapi i really really dislike their previous release Ghost Stories. Man saya tidak sanggup untuk mendengarkannya sampai selesai. Seadanya, kosong dan sunyi seperti karya yang dibikin setengah hati.
Di album A Head Full of Dreams, sepertinya Coldplay mengovercompensate hal ini dengan tema album yang ceria, positif dan penuh bunyi bunyian elektronik. Banyak yang menyamakan single pertama mereka, Adventure of A Lifetime dengan lagu lagu dari Daft Punk. Sedikit trivia, di single Everglow terdapat sample suara Gwyneth Paltrow mantan suami Chris Martin. A sure fire tear jerker that bloody song is.
Pop renyah dengan lirik dan musikalitas bergizi, album terbaru Coldplay tidak boleh untuk kamu lewatkan. On second thought, youll probably cannot miss their tracks going forward. Saya membayangkan lagu lagu mereka akan membombardir jingle iklan, backsound TV series dan juga slot radio mainstream selama setahun kedepan.
Semua track rekomendasi di artikel ini dapat didengarkan di playlist deezer berikut. Sila baca juga artikel senada untuk tahun 2013 lalu jika berkenan. Happy holiday readers!.
The recent controversy of ride sharing apps prohibition has left a bitter taste for Indonesian startup ecosystem. Not only causing a huge uproar in social media, this move sparked immediate response from members of people representative council, former Indonesian VP Boediono up to president Jokowi himself. In less than 24 hour, Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan has been forced to revert this decision due to the amount of negative reaction from the public.
On one side, the backlash showed that ride sharing apps have started to become an integral part of society especially in Jakarta. A good progress considering how recent the services was introduced in this market (Gojek started in 2010 while GrabTaxi entered Indonesia just last year). On the other side, the controversy highlighted further one of the biggest challenge in this country startup scene : uncertain regulation.
So looking forward, are there any other regulatory development that Indonesian startup founder and investors should be cautious about ? Below are some of my observation.
Jakarta provincial administrator ban on Virtual Office
Last month, provincial administrator of Jakarta has signed new bill which prohibits the use of Virtual Office (Link in Bahasa) and Co-working Space as official address for corporation. Citing fraud reduction as the main reason, the new regulation will be effective starting the 1st of January 2016. According to CNN Indonesia, this new bill will negatively impact 50 thousand SMEs including startups.
For Jakarta-based startup, this regulation will practically increased their overhead cost. Annual SOHO building rental in a non-prime area in Jakarta could cost 8000 US dollar at minimum while the one year fee of coworking space such as Comma or Conclave is only around 1500 to 2500 USD. When the regulations is enforced next year, it will be much more cheaper for startups to operate in the surrounding areas outside Jakarta such as Depok, Bekasi and South Tangerang. It will also give strong incentive for startups to move operations into other regions which has lower regional wage altogether such as Bandung or Jogja.
Several party such as Virtual Office Association (VOACI) and Indonesia Young Entrepreneur Association (HPMI) has been voicing objection on this bill and urging the government to adjust this decision.
Proposed foreign investment limitation on E-commerce
Following the E-commerce explosive growth in Indonesia, Indonesia Investment Coordination Board (BKPM) is currently drafting an adjustment proposal for foreign investment guide. One the main topics on the BKPM agenda is E-commerce. Under previous regulation, foreign investment on e-commerce company is 100% closed.
One of the proposal coming out from the discussion is to limit the foreign ownership to only 33% with the maximum amount of investment fund is capped at 15 million USD. While the ownership percentage seems to be reasonable, 15 million cap could potentially be troublesome for e-commerce company looking for late stage funding (Series C are mostly above 30 million USD). Aside from foreign VC’s, there are not a lot of options due to most of local VC and investor still mostly do seed fundings.
As of today, foreign venture capital who wants to invest in the Indonesian e-commerce industry has to do some workaround to navigate regulatory hurdle. As a primary example, Tokopedia received 100 Million USD from Softbank as a loan instead of equity. TIA’s Nadine Freischlad has written a good piece on this practice.
The proposed regulation adjustment is currently still under discussion and expected to be final on the early 2016.
This was originally posted in Tech In Asia. Picture are taken from here. Check out also my other article in Tech In Asia here.
Salah satu pet peeves saya terkait musik adalah ketika mendengar opini bahwa musik Indonesia makin kesini makin tidak berkualitas. Biasanya juga diikuti dengan retorika jaman keemasan musik Indonesia di era Ahmad Dhani belum hangover akibat terlalu banyak meminum egonya sendiri.
Come on man. Musik bagus, seperti halnya revolusi, akan susah ditemui di televisi. Channel youtube Sounds From The Cornerbisa menjadi tempat yang bagus untuk memulai eksplorasi. Ada banyak musik lokal bagus di luar studio Dahsyat dan yang kamu butuhkan adalah mencari lebih dalam.
Berikut beberapa album lokal yang menjadi landmark eksplorasi musik Indonesia saya di tahun 2015.
KPR adalah band cadas yang terdengar seperti piringan hitam lama rock 70-an. Rekaman vokal yang lo fi, drum roll yang rusuh serta melodi gitar yang panjang ditengah lagu mengingatkan saya akan dewa dewa rock masa lalu seperti Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple dan juga AC/DC.
Di tahun 2015, KPR mengeluarkan dua album yaitu EP Teriakan Bocah dan juga HAAI yang berisi cover lagu lagu Panbers. Saya lebih memilih yang terakhir karena, holy shit, saya tidak pernah tahu bahwa Panbers mempunyai repertoar dengan lirik lirik rock and roll seperti di track Bimbang dan Ragu, Mr Bloon dan Djakarta City Sound. Maklum, yang saya tahu hanya Gereja Tua.
Menginjeksi kuping dengan rock and roll kasar sekaligus memberikan wawasan musik Indonesia lama. Di lagu terakhir HAAI, KPR mengajak Benny Panjaitan untuk bernyanyi. Dan om Benny terdengar seperti sedang kesurupan Robert Plant.
Sigmun adalah salah satu dari sedikit band lokal yang terdengar sangat internasional. Entah karena kualitas rekaman yang diatas rata rata atau lirik bahasa inggris yang sangat natif, debut album perdana mereka Crimson Eyes dapat membaur dengan mudah diantara satu playlist berisi lagu lagu barat yang sejenis. Terdengar psychedelic, gelap namun digarap dengan sangat rapih, Crimson Eyes benar benar rilisan rock berat yang nyaris tanpa cela. Kalau dideskripsikan, genre dari Crimson Eyes adalah ramuan blues dan doom metal yang sedikit stoner. Absurd memang tetapi sederhananya Sigmun adalah Black Sabbath dari Bandung.
Dua hal yang saya salut sekali dengan rilisan perdana Kunto Aji ini.
Yang pertama adalah keberaniannya untuk mengeksplorasi topik yang di jarang disentuh oleh seniman pop tanah air. Track favorit saya, “Akhir Bulan” bercerita tentang keuangan pas pasan di tanggal tua yang tentunya sangat relevan dengan jutaan pekerja kantoran di pemukiman urban. Dibandingkan dengan solis pop Indonesia lain seperti Raisya, Isyana atau Tulus, yang kesemuanya terlihat sekali menjaga citra elegan dalam musik dan lirik mereka, Kunto Aji berani memasukkan kata “mie instan” kedalam reff dan tetap tidak sedikitpun terdengar murahan.
Kedua, Generation Y adalah sebuah album konsep yang semua tracknya mempunyai tema besar yang sama. Lagu demi lagu adalah representasi kegelisahan generasi Y / millenial dari karir, cita dan tentu saja cinta. Untuk yang muda, sedang single dan bekerja, mendengarkan album ini dari awal sampai akhir akan membuatmu mengumpat “Anjing! ini gue banget”.
Dua Petaka Membawa Bencana (DPMB) adalah kolektif hiphop yang terdiri dari Donnero dan Mamox. Donnero saya tidak pernah mendengar sebelumnya, tetapi Mamox adalah salah satu personel dari Jogja Hipjop Foundation.
Re-Attitude membawa kejayaan hip hop boom bap tahun 90-200an dengan lirik lirik braggadocio penuh testosteron ala Cypress Hill dan Mob Depp. Tidak ada yang terlalu istimewa memang dari segi pemilihan tema memang. To be fair untuk departemen penulisan lirik, emcee di skena hiphop lokal belum ada yang mampu mengambil obor dari tangan Morgue Vanguard a.k.a Ucok Homicide. Sudah bertahun tahun grupnya bubar, Ucok masih saja teratas untuk urusan adu kreatif rima dan metafora.
Yang solid dari rilisan ini adalah beat beat yang on point serta kualitas rekaman yang jernih dan terasa menghentak sekali ditelinga. Re-Attitude tidak pernah gagal untuk membuat kepala bergoyang goyang.
Sepertinya belum ada karya yang mengabadikan kota Surabaya sejujur album Dosa, Kota, Kenangan. Mulai dari bermain bola bergawang sandal di track Bola Raya, keluar masuk gang Dolly di Sang Pelanggan, pacaran di taman remaja di Bianglala dan balada penjual miras oplosan di Sang Juragan. Fragmen kehidupan yang ditampilkan seperti celetukan awas itu tangan, ketok dua kali untuk beli miras dan musisi yang terpaksa jadi penjaga distro membuat saya mengenang kembali kota dimana saya besar dan tumbuh.
Dari sisi musikalitas, Silampukau mencampur baur banyak nuansa musik folk lain seperti nada piano berjingkat-jingkat yang berbau Gypsy di Sang Pelanggan, sedikit country di Sang Juragan dan juga kombinasi terompet, mandolin dan akordion di Doa 1 yang terdengar senafas dengan Zach Condon a.k.a Beirut.
Konklusinya, album ini adalah oleh oleh terbaik untuk semua yang pernah tinggal di Surabaya.
Taifun adalah album yang luar biasa brengsek bagusnya. Sudah lama saya tidak mendengar suatu album dan bener benar terkesima sampai saya harus memberitahu semua orang untuk segera mendengarkan album ini.
Di album perdana mereka, Barasuara menghidangkan musik rock yang terdengar halus. Distorsi gitar Iga Massardi di lembutkan oleh duo vokalis wanita, Putri Chitara dan Asteriska Cabrini. Membawa eksplorasi musik yang kompleks namun tetap ramah tanpa harus terlalu pretensius. Yang menonjol juga dari Taifun adalah pemilihan kata kata bahasa Indonesia yang indah sekali. Sedikit sekali yang bisa seperti ini, Tulus dan Banda Neira adalah contoh lain selain Barasuara.
Untuk saya, Taifun adalah rilisan terbaik musik Indonesia tahun ini. Tangan kebawah dan tanpa keraguan.
Last Friday in Le Meridien Hotel Jakarta, Indonesia Ecommerce Association held an event called 5 minutes for Ecommerce 2016. It was an open public seminar where stake holders in Indonesia e-commerce presents their views, concerns, and ideas on the state of this emerging industry going forward. ICT Minister Rudiantara was one of the speaker along with several other e-commerce scene pundits. One interesting point about this event was each speaker can only present in 5 minutes time with maximum 5 slides, a bit like pecha kucha.
Below are three main interesting points ive noted by attending this event : Rudiantara’s 1000 startup plan, E-commerce Tax and the regulations for venture capital in Indonesia.
Chief Rudiantara’s 1000 Startups Plan
To further kickstart Indonesia rising startup and digital ecosystem, Rudiantara announced his goal to get 1000 Indonesian startups funded by 2020. To achieve this goal, MOCIT has established the framework to kickstart this process.
Since the presentation materials was not shared, below is my re-creation of the framework
As seen from the framework, MOCIT aimed to build continuous process for startup development in Indonesia from sparking youth interest in startup worlds up to funding process for later stage startups. To fund this project, Chief RA urged private sector to help him realizing this goal by committing CSR funds to complement the already allocated state budget He also promised to give full support to any organization which want to held startup events, conventions or development programs.
Call for more flexibility on E-commerce Tax
Another interesting session comes after this. Unfortunately i forgot who was talking at this time, someone from Price Area if im not mistaken. He used his 5 minutes to raise points about E-commerce tax which currently regulated under tax regulations SE-06/PJ/2015 (in Bahasa). The problem with that regulations, the tax was fixedly deducted from transaction amount. This is an inhibitor for newly founded startups without a lot of capital. Also not every e-commerce players gain proft from transaction (e.g C2C marketplace) hence the tax can posed quite a burden to online marketplace.
The speaker suggested that e-commerce tax need tobe more flexible and can be varied based on different business model of e-commerce. Government will be able to get revenue from the industry without inhibiting its growth.
VC concerns on startup regulations
Next in my highlight for this event was Donald Wihardja from Convergenceventures. In his talk, he described several concerns that venture capital faced when they invest in Indonesian startups and companies.
Legal Certainty : One of the reasons many VC was incorporated in Singapore was less about tax evasion but more to the certainty of law especially in arbitrage law. The Indonesian law have not yet give enough certainty for VC to be incorporated in Indonesia. This is a big homework for the government and the legal system if they want to attract more VC / Investor to be incorporated in Indonesia.
Legal Template : Other governmenmt support which are currently needed by VCs are legal templates. This will fasten the investment process and hopefully Indonesian startups could get the benefits on this as well. Several required legal template are :
PT with 2 class of shareholders
Investment Agreement
Shareholders agreement that enforce preferred shares
Convertible note
Lowering the barrier of entry : With current OJK regulations, VC who wants to invest in Indonesian market must have minimum IDR 50 billion (USD3.6 Million) paid up capital. According to Donald, the requirement is too high. By lowering this entry barrier, more VCs can enter Indonesian market and startups will have more options to fund their business.
Local Public Exit: Apart from entering the market, VC also need certainty when they plan to exit their investment. Hence Donald proposed to have more versatile stock market requlations such as support for dual listing, less requirement in public listing seconday board and the options for VC’s to do trade sales (selling their invested share to other parties).
It has been one year since the early morning rush to Balai Makarti. The whole process from the vow to the reception was way more beautiful than i expected and looking back, its amazing that we did all the planning and funding mostly by ourselves. Those planning process served as the model of how we work together, tackling problems, and managing financials in order to achieve our common goal in life.
After all, beyond the parties, decorations and the food. When the hype and fanfare has dwindled down, marriage is a lifetime collaboration between two people. I know that when push come to shove, both of us can share responsibilities and adapt to the situation. I’m glad i do this amazing thing with you.
We grew together…literally
So what can we expect going forward ? One thing for sure, our journey is not going to get easier.
Kakak will be saying hello to this world soon hence the amount of sleep that we will be getting for the next 2 years will be reduced drastically. Meanwhile the anticipation and anxiety of becoming a father has been creeping me out lately. All the parenting books that you’ve bought apparently only help a little to calm my nerves. The anxiety part was also the reason why i play games more often these days.
Someday kakak will be so proud (or pissed off) when his old man have better K/D ratio than him. Never mind the fact that i am literally, screwing his mother.
Also this year, if everything falls into the right places , we will relocate to the far west continent. Thanks to your constant nagging and fierce reminder, i have successfully got a scholarship to pursue master’s degree. Considering my bad habit of not planning ahead coupled with a chronic case of procrastination (case in point, this blog post), i guess i would never made it this far if i married someone else.
All in all,
It’s been a wonderful one year. Not always sunshine and rainbows, but we can always make do with what we’ve got.
Once again. Happy Anniversary Putri Lenggo Sari, thanks for being my better half.
For 38 weeks, Bapak and Ibu have anxiously waiting to meet you. We often wonder how will you look like and on the first day of April 2016, you decided to answer that question yourself by coming out into our world. Earlier that day, Bapak was watching Daredevil series when suddenly Ibu broke her water. We then rushed to pack our stuff and went to Bunda Hospital in a car driven by a very friendly Uber driver. After 12 grueling hours, finally you was delivered safely and healthily at 10.09 pm.
For that, we couldn’t feel grateful enough.
Lets start with your name first. Ghazi Mahira Argani.
Ghazi means “warrior” in arabic, Mahira is “smart” in Urdu while Argani is an ancient Javanese word which translate into “courage to face adversities”. So in essence, your full name translate into : A smart warrior who will be brave to face adversities and challenges.
Kak, in this world things will not always go what you want to go. There will be challenges, adversities and even failures along your way. But Bapak hopes that those wont stop you from pursuing your goals. Whenever you feel like you want to give up, look at the mirror and ask yourself
Kakak pejuang bukan ?
The answer of that question will always be yes. Its right there kak, in your name.
That name is Bapak and Ibu’s prayer for you and we hope that it will follow you wherever you go.
Oke kak, its already late at night and you will probably wake again soon asking for milk. I think its enough for my first post about you and obviously will write again soon.
Selasa minggu kemarin, saya kembali ke kampus untuk menemui dosen wali ketika kuliah dulu yang juga menjabat sebagai wakil dekan FTIF, ibu Mahendrawati. Bersama dengan rekan seangkatan yang juga berprofesi sebagai dosen, kami berdiskusi panjang mulai dari yang ringan (bergosip) sampai hal serius seperti arah perubahan kurikulum baru di jurusan.
Salah satu poin diskusi yang menarik adalah kontribusi alumni. Bu Mahe berpendapat hubungan yang erat antara alumni dan almamater berpotensi besar untuk meningkatkan kualitas pengajaran di kampus. Sebagai contoh ketika jurusan merancang kurikulum baru, feedback alumni dapat digunakan untuk menimbang relevansi materi kuliah dengan dunia kerja. Selain itu, alumni bisa menjadi rujukan mahasiswa mulai dari sekedar menghubungkan dengan dunia industri (untuk internship, magang dsb) atau sekedar memberikan satu dua tips tentang job-seeking.
Problem yang dihadapi adalah availabilitas alumni. Dengan asumsi mayoritas alumni bekerja di Jakarta, dibutuhkan komitmen yang tidak sedikit baik dari sisi biaya maupun waktu untuk mampir ke ITS.
Menurut saya, salah satu solusi membangun koneksi alumni-almamater ditengah hambatan jarak adalah memberikan beberapa opsi keterlibatan dengan variasi tingkat komitmen. Idealnya memang alumni datang ke kampus dan sharing ke mahasiswa atau diskusi dengan dosen. Tetapi dengan memanfaatkan internet dan sosial media, banyak kontribusi yang bisa diberikan tanpa harus berada di tempat.
Berikut beberapa opsi yang bisa dipakai alumni untuk berkontribusi kembali ke almamaternya.
Berbagi pengalaman di seminar / sharing session
Ini bentuk yang paling umum. Di setiap penyambutan mahasiswa baru , universitas biasanya mengadakan acara semacam ini dengan mendatangkan alumni yang telah menjadi pimpinan di instansi atau perusahaan.
Sharing session seperti ini biasanya diadakan di hall yang besar dengan peserta yang banyak sehingga format interaksi hanya satu arah (pemateri ke peserta, tanpa diskusi). Oleh karena itu materi yang cocok adalah materi yang tidak terlalu teknis seperti berbagi pengalaman atau bercerita. Objektifnya pun sebaiknya diarahkan lebih untuk membangkitkan semangat daripada memberikan pengetahuan.
Untuk acara semacam ini, dibutuhkan komitmen cukup besar dari alumni. Selain kehadiran, pembicara juga harus menyiapkan materi atau talking points sebelumnya.
Menjadi dosen tamu di kelas
Selain pembicara di forum besar, alumni juga bisa menjadi partner dosen untuk mengajar di kelas. Dosen memberikan materi dari sisi scientific sementara alumni , yang idealnya adalah professional di bidang terkait, menambahkan wawasan dari sisi practicality dan realita di dunia kerja.
Karena di dalam kelas, materi yang disampaikan bisa sangat detail dan teknis. Sebagai contoh alumni dapat membahas bagaimana sebuah tim software developer bekerja sebagai tim ? kenapa perusahaan membutuhkan sofware ERP ? atau apa tanggung jawab sehari hari dari seorang sistem analis. Untuk mendapatkan benefit yang maksimal, profesional yang diundang harus relevan dengan kelasnya. Semisal sysadmin untuk mata kuliah sistem operasi, software engineer untuk mata kuliah pemrograman dan juga startup founder untuk mata kuliah kewirausahaan.
Model kontribusi seperti ini tetap membutuhkan kehadiran dari alumni. Akan tetapi alumni tidak membutuhkan usaha banyak untuk menyiapkan materi karena yang dibicarakan adalah pekerjaan sehari hari anyway. Dalam rentang satu semester, satu kali kedatangan pun sudah cukup semisal di kelas terakhir. Sehingga mahasiswa sudah mendapatkan basis ilmu terlebih dahulu sebelum dilengkapi dengan wawasan profesi.
Tidak hanya itu, kehadiran professional tentunya membuat kelas menjadi lebih menarik dan interaktif.
Salah satu model yang bisa dicontoh untuk ini adalah kelas How To Start A Startup di Stanford.
Memberikan mentorship melalui instant message
Bagaimana dengan alumni yang tidak bisa hadir di tempat? menjadi mentor menggunakan messaging apps menjadi opsi.
Bu Mahe berkata bahwa banyak mahasiswa yang baru saja lulus kebingungan ketika akan memulai proses mencari pekerjaan. Jika saja ada alumni yang bersedia menjadi mentor, memberikan satu dua tips dan menjawab pertanyaan, tentunya mereka akan lebih siap. Kesiapan ini yang akan memperbesar peluang mahasiswa untuk berhasil di proses jobseeking.
Karena yang dibutuhkan adalah ruang interaksi maka grup whatsap/line cocok untuk digunakan. Supaya diskusinya fokus, sebaiknya satu grup terdiri dari 1 alumni dengan kurang lebih 5 mahasiswa. Mahasiswa dapat mencari informasi mengenai alumni yang akan diminta menjadi mentor melalui dosen, himpunan atau grup alumni.
Model seperti ini hanya membutuhkan sedikit effort dari sisi alumni namun tetap memberikan manfaat yang besar.
Memberikan pendapat di grup diskusi
Selain melalui instant messaging, grup diskusi juga bisa menjadi forum komunikasi antara alumni, mahasiswa dan dosen. Dulu grup diskusi ini biasanya berbentuk mailing list, tetapi sekarang sepertinya yang lebih populer adalah Facebook atau LinkedIn . Didalam grup seperti alumni bisa menjawab pertanyaan, membagikan link atau sekedar merekomendasikan alumni yang lain untuk menjawab.
Masalah yang sering muncul di grup adalah pembahasan yang melebar kemana mana karena kecenderungan behaviour di sosial media yang kasual sekali. Supaya lebih efektif, grup diskusi sebaiknya dibuat spesifik per topik. Sebagai contoh, Bu Mahe mempunyai grup JSI-SAP yang berisi mahasiswa dan alumni yang pernah mengambil kelas ERP beliau.
Salah satu kelebihan dari grup diskusi semaca ini adalah jawaban dan pertanyaan akan terlihat oleh semua member grup sehingga manfaatnya bisa terasa oleh lebih banyak orang.
Selain Facebook dan Linkedin, platform tanya jawab lain yang mulai populer dan berpotensi untuk dipakai adalah Quora.
Demikian beberapa metode yang bisa dipakai untuk meningkatkan interaksi alumni dengan almamater. Apakah kamu ada ide berbeda atau improvement dari metode diatas ? Mari kita diskusi di kolom komentar dibawah. Summary dari keempat metode ini bisa dilihat di gambar berikut.
Saya percaya ide besar seperti kerjasama universitas-pemerintah-industri (Triple Helix) harus dimulai dari langkah yang sederhana. Salah satunya dengan meningkatkan intensitas hubungan antara alumni dengan almamater. Pihak kampus dapat memanfaatkan hubungan ini untuk memperkaya materi pengajaran, meningkatkan relevansi perkuliahan dan membuat mahasiswa untuk lebih siap memasuki dunia kerja.
Dari sisi alumni, ketertarikan untuk membangun hubungan ini sebenarnya cukup mutual. Sering sekali saya mengobrol dengan sesama alumni (sistem informasi) dan topik tentang giving back ke kampus baik itu mengajar atau yang lain selalu muncul. Dengan format yang tepat, interaksi ini dapat membawa benefit besar untuk semua pihak yang terlibat.
Apakah kamu mahasiswa SI ITS dan punya pertanyaan untuk alumni ? Kirim email ke kiki.ahmadi at gmail and ill try my best to answer your questions. Kalaupun tidak bisa, i will definitely forward it to another capable alumni.
It has been one year since the early morning rush to Balai Makarti. The whole process from the vow to the reception was way more beautiful than i expected and looking back, its amazing that we did all the planning and funding mostly by ourselves. Those planning process served as the model of how we work together, tackling problems, and managing financials in order to achieve our common goal in life.
After all, beyond the parties, decorations and the food. When the hype and fanfare has dwindled down, marriage is a lifetime collaboration between two people. I know that when push come to shove, both of us can share responsibilities and adapt to the situation. I’m glad i do this amazing thing with you.
We grew together…literally
So what can we expect going forward ? One thing for sure, our journey is not going to get easier.
Kakak will be saying hello to this world soon hence the amount of sleep that we will be getting for the next 2 years will be reduced drastically. Meanwhile the anticipation and anxiety of becoming a father has been creeping me out lately. All the parenting books that you’ve bought apparently only help a little to calm my nerves. The anxiety part was also the reason why i play games more often these days.
Someday kakak will be so proud (or pissed off) when his old man have better K/D ratio than him. Never mind the fact that i am literally, screwing his mother.
Also this year, if everything falls into the right places , we will relocate to the far west continent. Thanks to your constant nagging and fierce reminder, i have successfully got a scholarship to pursue master’s degree. Considering my bad habit of not planning ahead coupled with a chronic case of procrastination (case in point, this blog post), i guess i would never made it this far if i married someone else.
All in all,
It’s been a wonderful one year. Not always sunshine and rainbows, but we can always make do with what we’ve got.
Once again. Happy Anniversary Putri Lenggo Sari, thanks for being my better half.
As part of my job as Innovation Management, on a weekly basis I deliver quick industry updates to the relevant XL Digital services team. Since i will be writing this for work, might as well post it here. Hope you guys find it useful.
BCA Financial Hackathon 2016
Bank BCA in collaboration with DailySocial held Financial Hackathon event on 23-24th April at Segarra Ancol. By doing this event, Bank BCA encourage software developers and innovators to build creative fintech services using their recently launched Data API.
BCA Hackathon Hack By The Beach
For this competition, BCA invited several experts in Indonesia startup ecosystem to be the judges. Amongst them are Andrew Darwis (Kaskus), Anton Soehartyo (Touchten), Rama Mamuaya (DailySocial) and several others.
Three winners were announced at the end of this events.
Team Name
Product Name
Product Description
Fariz Tadjoedin
ChatBanking
Send money through instant messenger such as Line, WeChat, Kakao Talk etc
AMBISNIS
GueBayar
Apps to share bill payments amongst friends. User just need to take receipt picture and tag a friends. The bill will be splitted amongst the tagged users
ATOM
InstaPay
Bill payment apps. Integrated with BCA E-wallet
This initiatives can be seen as increasing commitment from Bank BCA to dive in into Indonesia digital ecosystem going forward. No news yet on whether their Data API will be accessible for public or not. Considering the massive size of BCA, it will spark a whole lot new services if their API opened for developers and startups.
Mandiri Capital Indonesia Set Up IDR 500 Bio For Investing In Indonesia Fintech Startups
Apart from BCA, Bank Mandiri also had started a move to venture in Indonesia startup ecosystem. Earlier this year, this biggest bank in Indonesia launched their venture capital subsidiaries called Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI). For this venture, the corporation has set up IDR 500 bio funds to be invested in several potential startups.
Mandiri dive directly into startup ecosystem through Mandiri Capital Indonesia
On top of financial investment, MCI will give mentorship guidance to their portfolio startups and also give marketing platform to connect the startups with potential customers / partners (e.g using Wirausaha Mandiri platform)
Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Bank Mandiri CEO, explained that the company sees the emerging trend of disruptive technologies following the growth of Indonesia digital ecosystem. For example, Ride-hailing apps and various e-commerce players have changed the way Indonesians do business. Bank Mandiri cannot afford to be left behind in this movement hence the decision to jump in directly into Indonesian startup ecosystem.
“Financial technology startups are in this money moving business. That’s why we (Bank Mandiri) entered this space with a focus on fintech,” Budi stated.
Mandiri Capital Indonesia will be focusing to invest in fintech and e-commerce digital payment space to leverage on existing Bank Mandiri’s business. Currently, the bank had more than 2 million merchants which mostly receive payments in cash.
Leading ride sharing startups Gojek have started to expand into cashless payment business by upgrading their previous Gojek Credit features into separate business called GoPay. Following this update, users can top up GoPay using bank BCA, Mandiri and BR with maximum balance IDR 2 million per user. Gojek users will be able to pay all of related Gojek services (Gofood, Goclean) using GoPay.
Gojek Credit transformed into GoPay
Going forward, theres a big possibility for Gojek to utilize GoPay for universal cashless payment platform apart for their own services.
For work related project, recently me along with my colleagues were exploring the business potential of developing mobile services in Indonesian agriculture sector. Our early hypothesis was delivering relevant information could give benefits to farmers.
To prove our hypothesis and start our research, We went to Institute Pertanian Bogor and have a discussion with two academias from agriculture business faculty, ibu Etriya and pak Firman. Ibu Etriya has been doing research on vegetable farming in West Java while pak Firman is an expert in Coffee and Cocoa plantation. Both of them are very passionate about their subjects and the discussion really opened up my mind about the role of information in Indonesian agriculture business and how big the opportunities in these space.
In this blog post, i will share some of the insights gained from the discussion. Lets start with how good information could bring positive impact to the farmer’s livelihood.
Impact of Informed Decision in Agribusiness
First questions which came up in the discussion is whether having the right amount of information could have significant impact to the stakeholders, in this case farmers. Also what are the most important information needed by them.
Heres the answers from Ibu Etriya.
Vegetables is perishable goods. It cannot be stored for a long time hence once cultivated, the farmers need to sell it as soon as possible in order for to get maximum revenue. For vegetable farmers, the most important information they needed is what kind of vegetable should they plant. The price of specific vegetables fluctuates depends on the supply in his surrounding area. Oversupply could lower the vegetable price hence farmers usually check with their seed supplier which vegetables were bought the most.
Pak Firman gave different views.
Different from short-term plants such as vegetables, farmers of long term vegetation (cocoa or coffee) concerned more about where should they sell their products. Cocoa or coffee products can be stored up to a year hence farmers have ample time to choose the best vendor to sold their product. Sometimes, when commodity price are declining, farmers also decided to store their products to be sold on the next cycle. Hopefully, the price would be higher by then.
From both of these views, i can conclude that information plays crucial role in maximizing farmer’s revenue. It is an important factor which directly impact farmer’s livelihood.
Another thing that can be concluded from the discussion is : different types of plantation drive different needs of information.
Information Delivery to Increase Farmer’s Productivity
Another insight which pop up in the discussion was : Delivering relevant and on point information regarding the farming process could increase crop yield and make the farming process more efficient.
For most of the regular crops, there are many scientifically proven ways to boost productivity using improved plantation method (Sistem Budidaya in Indonesian) or plantation best practice. On the government level, this was the job of Badan Litbang Pertanian (Department of Agriculture Research). Apart from government, Universities, NGOs and private sector which related to agriculture sometimes also involved in this development and actively socialize it to the farmers. Examples for these are SRI(Systems of Rice Intensification) method in rice farming and Verticulturein organic vegetables.
Another options to gain better revenue is to get certification such as Indonesia Organic Farming Certification, Rainforest Alliance or ISPO for Palm Oil. By gaining certification, farmers can sell their products at premium price. However this kind of certification usually will be costly for low-end farmers.
To implement both of these method (best practice or certification), farmers usually will have to follow step by step guideline. Some farmers especially the senior ones will have problem to change their habit for years and adapt into new ways of farming. Constant reminder, easy access for consultation and easy to digest reference material are needed in order for farmers to apply the methods properly.
I imagine mobile apps or mobile services could address this issues. Reference materials in a graphic or video format could easily fit in into smartphone apps. The apps could include reminder on what is the next step that farmers should take. It could also have expert consultation feature via text, instant messaging or call. If smartphone or 3G signal availability become an issue, the content could be simplified and delivered via sms (e.g using SMS subscription services)
In Conclusion
In this country, Agriculture contributed almost 15% of total GDP (around USD 133 Bio ). This sector also contributed 40% of labor force, second only to service Industry. Agriculture also used 30% of Indonesia land purpose. Considering this huge scale, developing beneficial services in this sector could give significant boost to the economy apart from also solving real problems for the farmers.
However in the midst of growing trend of Indonesia startup scene and digital economy, there are still only a few startups or even established companies which jump in into this sector. Low technology adoption in farmers and also lack of internet/3G access could be the hindering factor. One successful example which i can mention on top of my head is eFishery, even though it is not directly in Agriculture.
The direct beneficial impact of having more information, the lack of technology adoption coupled with the huge economic value in the sector, Agriculture business in Indonesia is probably one of the biggest greenfield areas which eagerly waited to be disrupted.
Quadrupled Investment Growth On Asia Pacific Fintech Industry
In their recent report “Fintech and the evolving landscape”, Global consulting company Accenture stated that Asia Pacific (APAC) region had a quadrupled growth in 2015 with to USD 4.3 billion. With this figure. APAC contributed almost 20% of total investment in global fintech industry (USD 22 Bio) and become the second biggest invested fintech region after North America. Most of these growths are contributed by China and India while in South East Asia, the hottest fintech hub still being lead by Singapore.
In terms of business model, payment still reigns in a top spot for the most invested fintech business in APAC. However there is a huge surge in Insurance technology. From 2014 to 2015, Insurance Technology grow almost tripled even though the amount is still small compared to payment. The report predicted that Insurance Technology will be the next hot battleground in APAC fintech landscape.
In this report, fintech startups were divided into two different types: Competitive and collaborative. Competitive-type challenges the established financial institutions while collaborative-type add value to the incumbent. Last year investment collaborative-type startup increased by 138 % while competitive-type only increased by 23%.
This is a good sign that going forward banks and other financial are more open to invest and collaborate with fintech startups. Trend which we already see in Indonesia right now with BCA and Mandirileading the pack.
Paypal launched fintech incubation program in Singapore
Global mammoth on online payment, PayPal has just launched fintech incubation program in Singapore. This program are opened for fintech startups in the region. Selected participant will go through nine month incubation in PayPal’s Technology Centre in Suntec City. The incubation program will include mentorship on finance and technology topics such as risk, compliance, core payment network and channel development. Participant will also given direct access to PayPal executives, external talents and also well-known industry experts.
In order to be eligible, applicants should fulfill these criteria :
1. A fintech or technology startup
2. Have a minimum viable product (MVP) and early trial with customers
3. Armed with seed stage funding
4. Based out of Singapore or willing to relocate to Singapore
Acceptance will be judged based on team capability, business model, technology innovation and traction.
Apart from PayPal, VISA also setup strong footprint in South East Asia by opening their new Innovation Centre which also in Singapore. Align with the Accenture report, massive growth in fintech sector has been jump-starting the interest of global tech giants to setup business in this region.
In a surprising twist, recently Gojek has striked partnership with the Bluebird, the company they aimed to disrupt. During the press release, Head of Buebird Public Relation Teguh Wijayanto stated that this partnership improve hailing process for Bluebird. Gojek’s CEO Nadiem Makariem also said that the partnership will include technology, payment system and promotion. Currently the detail on this partnership is not yet clear. Both parties has stated that Gojek-Bluebird joint services will be revealed to public at the end of May 2015
Focusing specifically in payment parts, this partnership will likely served as the first Go-Pay payment expansion outside Gojek own ecosystem. Considering this move and their recent GoPay campaign (50% discount for all gojek services), Seems like Nadiem Makariem has a big ambition to dominant players in the universal payment platform going forward.
OCBC Become The First Bank in South East Asia To Open Public API
Singapore-based bank OCBC made an interesting digital move just recently. The bank embraced the fintech wave by officially opening their internal data to be used as public API services called Connect2OCBC. This move is the first one in the region and no banks has ever done this before even though recently BCA has already moving in the direction by holding a Hackathon. Using this API, software developers can programmatically use OCBC’s data to enrich their own services.
Right now Connect2OCBC offers four different API access :
Branch Locator : Give location data on all OCBC branch and their opening hours
ATM Locator : List OCBC ATM machines location
Smart Card Advisor : Give recommendation on perks and rewards for OCBC card holder
Forex Rate : Give up to date FOREX rate
Quoted by The Edge Market, OCBC Senior VP for Group Operations and Technology Praveen Raina said that the bank aimed to create a ‘data social network’ which facilitates free flow of certain non-customer data that will benefit any third party and the community as a whole in a secure manner. Praveen added that OCB has been in discussion with several fintech startups and real estate firms in order to help them make an optimal use of this API’s.
“As we mature, we see more and more collaboration with third party app developers, and that’s where the ‘API economy’ comes in. Organisations that don’t do this will be left behind. This is no longer a matter of choice, whether we do it or not,” he added.
Developer manual and use case examples are available on Connect2OCBC site. Being asked about future plans, The bank are focusing to add more services to the platform and the additional services expected to be ready the end of the year. However there are still no information whether the data will include OCBC presence outside Singapore (e.g Indonesia).
Indonesia online payment startup Doku held a developer competition called Indonesia Internet of Things (IoT) Challenge 2016. This competition invites young Indonesian software developer to submit their creative IoT products which integrates with Doku payment platform. Partnering with software development house DyCode, Doku offered total prize of 30 million IDR for the winners.
In the press release, Doku’s CEO said that this competition aimed to encourage young developers to show their talent and solve real problems using IOT and Payment platform. This competition is open for anyone and participant are free to choose their preferred programming language and IoT tools.
Participant will be judged on several criteria :
Simplicity of the solution
Technology understanding of the participant
Hardware efficiency
Esthetics and design
Bonus points for good implementation of DOKU API in the solution
Submission is currently open until 28th of May and finalist will be announced on 5th of June 2016.
Finnet launched Finpay Link to Ease Payment via Social Media
Indonesian internet users has an unique habit of using Social Media as an e-commerce platform. Instagram and Facebook has become primary channel for online sellers to showcase their product especially for individual sellers and SME.
Leveraging on this phenomenon, Telkom affiliated company Finnet launched Finpay Link, an online payment gateway services tailored for Social Media sellers. With Finpay Link, sellers will be able to create customizable link for their product and embed them easily in social media. This will enable customer to instantly pay the products just like in ecommerce marketplace sites such as Elevenia or Lazada. More convenient options compared to current practice of doing manual bank transfer.
Finnet CEO Niam Dzikri said that manual bank transfer has 65% error rate. Most of this errors contributed by human factor such as mistyping the account number and payment amount. Finpay Link aim to minimize these mistakes and made payment process in Social Media selling more straight forward. Apart from this, Finpay link also offer real time confirmation notifications and bank account checking.
Kredivo, online financing services with real time credit scoring
Singapore based startup, FinAccel, recently launched online financing services called Kredivo. This services enable its users to buy things online on credit which they can also pay it in installments. To do this, FinAcccel partnered with local financing companies BFI Finance.
What makes Kredivo interesting is it offers the capability to do real time credit risk assessment. When Kredivo users buy an item, the platform do a background check based on variety of information. There are about 1000 variables are considered to determine users credit score including self-reported data about income, employment, marital status, but also social network data like how often someone posts, how many friends you have, what type of phone you use etc.
Currently, Kredivo is integrated with 20 online merchants including e-commerce marketplace Jualo. Ahmed Aljunied, Jualo CTO said that they like the product very much and it give significant spike to the transaction.
” Consumers tend to be suspicious of online sellers, so the ability to receive their purchases without having paid a single cent is an extremely attractive proposition,”
Kredivo user has 30 days to pay for the item, without additional fees or interest. If payment isn’t completed in 30 days, interest will be charged with 2.95 percent per month and late fees of 3 percent a month.
Sepertinya waktu luang saya akhir akhir lebih banyak dihabiskan dengan membaca buku, mengurus persiapan relokasi, bermain dengan Ghazidan tentu saja….menaikkan level kompetensi di Battlefield 4.
Tentunya jika diteruskan ini tidak baik. Menulis adalah skill penting yang harus diasah terus dari waktu ke waktu. Apalagi bulan depan saya kembali menjadi pelajar dan mulai mengenyam pendidikan pasca sarjana. Oleh karena itu, kali ini saya mereview beberapa album rilisan 2016 yang nikmat untuk didengar. Hitung hitung pemanasan sebelum menulis paper.
Oh ya, semua album bisa didengarkan di layanan streaming musik Deezer. Klik saja sub-judul di artikel ini.
Renyah dan hangat. Buat saya kata kata ini yang pas menggambarkan suara Gregory Porter. Sedikit mirip dengan John Legend minus cengkok pretensius di setiap pergantian bar. Penyanyi jazz yang selalu memakai topi ini mempersembahkan album dengar-santai yang pantas didengar ketika beban kerja sedang menggila. Alunan nada smooth jazz untuk memutar kembali siklus metabolisme sebari rehat pasca makan siang.
Rekomendasi saya, mulai dengarkan album ini dari lagu self-titlednya : Take Me To The Alley.
Untuk yang belum familiar, Grime adalah bentuk kearifan lokal Britania Raya untuk musik rap. Sepenglihatan saya, musik Grime masih dianggap eksotis disini bahkan untuk penggemar hip hop paling hardcore sekalipun. Terbukti dengan minimnya (atau bahkan tidak ada ?) artis hiphop lokal yang mengambil style Grime.
Oleh karena itu, untuk saat ini tidak ada yang lebih cocok untuk mengenalkan Grime melainkan Skepta dan rilisan terbarunya berjudul Konnichiwa. Album ini membawa suara Grime yang murni Britania seperti beat beat bernuansa Garage, Jungle dan dubstep tanpa mencoba untuk terdengar komersial (translasi: menggandeng DJ Khaled). Ini menarik karena Skepta sebenarnya berambisi untuk membawa Grime ke publik musik Amerika. Satu satunya track sangat US adalah Ladies Hit Squadyang menampilkan A$AP Nast yang terdengar seperti Drake KW super.
Saya sangat menikmati Konnichiwa dari track pertama sampai akhir dan sepertinya beberapa situs musik juga memuji album ini. Kedepan, mungkin leksikal slang khas Grime seperti Mandem , Wagwan, Roll Deep mungkin akan lebih banyak diucapkan penikmat hiphop mainstream.
Rival Sons adalah rock and roll. Saya baru pertama kali mendengarkan band ini di album terbaru mereka Hollow Bones dan sangat terkesima sekali dengan suara yang mereka bawa. Blues keras dengan semangat revivalist progressive rock. Bisa dianalogikan seperti Led Zeppelin dengan sound effect modern ala The Black Keys. Ini terlihat jelas di lagu Hollow Bones Pt2, sangat sangat Led Zeppelin.
Saya tumbuh dengan Blink 182. Mulai dari kenakalan mereka di video Whats My Age Again, kegilaan pemborosan satu juta dollar di The Rock Show sampai bagaimana lirik Stay Together for The Kids menjadi kenyataan ketika Tom keluar dari band.
Berkaca pada fakta tersebut, mendengarkan album California terasa seperti merasakan kembali suguhan renyah yang telah lama hilang dari pasaran. Meskipun peran Tom DeLonge telah diganti oleh Matt Skiba dari Alkaline Trio, tidak ada perubahan suara yang signifikan di rilisan ini. Mulai dari track Bored to Death, Shes Out Of Her Mind sampai Teenage Sattelites, California adalah Blink 182 seperti biasa tanpa eksplorasi aneh aneh. Hal yang bagus karena fans sebenarnya sudah putus harapan untuk mendengar Blink 182 kembali sekeluarnya Tom DeLonge.
Yang disayangkan, performa vokal Mark Hoppus ketika membawakan lagu lagu album California secara live benar benar jelek. Lucunya, Tom DeLonge juga punya masalah yang sama di live performance Angels and Airwaves beberapa tahun terakhir.
Selain Blink, beberapa band pop punk seangkatan mereka juga mengeluarkan rilisan baru di tahun ini. Good Charlotte dengan Youth Authority, Sum 41 yang merilis single terbaru Fake My Own Death dan tentu saja Angels and Airwaves dengan mini album Chasing Shadows.
Benar benar tertidur mendengarkan album ini. Ini seperti ketika Coldplay merilis Ghost Stories : Monoton dan membosankan. Saran saya sih, dengarkan saja Dark Necessities lalu skip semua track yang lain.
Man, saya merindukan Frusciante dan harmonisasi suara duanya. Sebaiknya saya dengar kembali album By The Way secara utuh untuk mengembalikan memori indah tentang band ini.
Ugly Heroes adalah Apollo Brown, Verbal Kent dan Red Pill. Sementara Everything In Between adalah sebuah tribute untuk semua kelas pekerja di kota Detroit yang hidup dari satu slip gaji ke slip gaji yang lain. Penuh dengan lirik lirik retrospeksi perjuangan hidup namun di seimbangkan dengan hook hook yang mengajak untuk bertahan dan maju. Seperti di track Notion :
Life will get overwhelming, Devil on shoulder dwelling
Telling you all the reasons death could be so compelling
Suddenly you stressing chaos, never getting a day off
All you doing is working and never seeing a pay off
Terdengar cukup putus asa, namun di hook lagu Verbal Kent berkata
I got a feeling is my own and I own my truth
I got a feeling that I’m here for a reason and the reason is you
Pola pola yang sama terdengar di berbagai track album ini seperti trak This World, Today Right Now, Peace of Mind, Heart Attack dan lain lain.
Dengan beat Boombap dan juga sampling lagu lagu jazz lawas, Everything In Between adalah album rap positif , conscious dan jauh dari ajang pamer kekayaan dan hedonisme. Antitesis hip hop yang bercokol di chart top 40 hari ini dan sangat saya rekomendasikan untuk semua yang menggemari genre ini.
Sampai saat ini, saya masih sulit percaya beberapa hari kedepan kami sekeluarga harus meninggalkan rumah untuk pindah ke negeri jauh. Berkat beasiswa LPDP, saya diberi kesempatan untuk mengambil magister Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship di The University of Manchester.
Selain hasil yang tentunya menggembirakan, banyak pembelajaran yang saya dapat dari proses pencarian beasiswa ini. Beberapa hal akan saya share di seri tulisan #perjalananBeasiswa di blog ini.
Mari kita mulai dari yang pertama yaitu pengaturan waktu / timeline.
Persiapkan dari jauh jauh hari
Proses beasiswa dari awal niat hingga menjelang keberangkatan saat ini menghabiskan waktu sekitar 12 bulan. Lama memang tapi ada beberapa faktor kenapa sangat penting untuk menyiapkan waktu yang panjang.
Mengantisipasi kesibukan di kantor : Saya mengerjakan segala macam persiapan di sela sela waktu kerja. Ketika pekerjaan sedang hectic tentunya proses ini akan terhenti sejenak.
Saya baru saja menikah : Pindah ke kontrakan, mengisi rumah dan penyesuaian dari hidup sendiri menjadi berdua. Ditambah lagi beberapa minggu setelah saya berkomitmen mengejar beasiswa, dokter kandungan memberi kabar bahwa di perut istri ternyata sudah ada Ghazi.
Kampus di luar kota : Banyak proses administrasi yang membutuhkan saya untuk kembali ke kampus ITS di Surabaya. Tentunya ini butuh waktu dan juga cuti.
Mematangkan essay ternyata tidak mudah : Yang paling penting dari aplikasi pendaftaran universitas dan kampus adalah essay. Saya ingin memastikan bahwa setiap essay yang akan dikirim benar benar solid. Ini berarti menulis berulang ulang lalu mengirim draft ke banyak orang untuk dikoreksi dan direvisi.
Panduan persiapan grad school dari Idealist.org juga menyarankan untuk melakukan persiapan setidaknya 12 bulan sebelum target mulai kuliah mengingat banyaknya langkah yang harus dilakukan.
Lalu apa saja yang harus dipersiapkan dan bagaimana pengaturan waktunya ? Berikut timeline saya dari mulai persiapan hingga lolos seleksi akhir beasiswa LPDP.
Riset, Perencanaan dan Persiapan
Dari awal, saya menyadari bahwa akan ada konsekuensi dari keputusan saya mengejar beasiswa untuk S2. Jika berhasil, saya harus meninggalkan pekerjaan sekarang dan semua benefit yang lekat didalamnya. Resiko yang cukup besar mengingat ada istri dan anak yang harus saya tanggung.
Oleh karena itu langkah pertama dan sangat krusial adalah bertanya kepada diri sendiri : Do i really want to do this ? why? . Motivasi yang jelas di awal menjadi krusial karena di tengah proses pasti akan ada saja hambatan dan godaan. Terlalu asik bermain game online misalnya.
Setelah niat dan motivasi sudah diluruskan, langkah selanjutnya adalah menentukan kampus dan jurusan magister yang ingin dikejar. Mulai dari situs panduan universitas seperti TopUniversitiesatau Complete University Guide (UK). Kemudian cari tahu lebih lanjut dengan membaca prospektus dari jurusan yang diminati.
Untuk memudahkan, Saya mempertimbangkan beberapa kriteria untuk mengerucutkan pilihan jurusan dan universitas.
Menarik! : Menjalani kuliah s2 di luar negeri tentunya tidak mudah. Untuk itu jurusan yang saya ambil harus menarik, menantang dan memancing antusiasme sedari awal ketika membaca prospektus. Asumsinya, semakin besar passion tentunya akan mendorong seberapa keras usaha ketika kuliah nanti.
Mendukung aspirasi jangka panjang : Kurikulum, profil dosen dan profil lulusan harus mendukung apa yang ingin saya capai setelah lulus kuliah.
Kesesuaian dengan karir selama ini : Perkuliahan S2 nanti tentunya menuntut untuk banyak menulis paper dan berdiskusi didalam kelas. Relevansi jurusan dengan karir penting agar saya dapat mereferensikan pengalaman profesional kedalam tugas tugas kuliah
Reputasi kampus yang bagus : Mumpung kuliah di luar negeri, sekalian saja kejar kampus dengan ranking internasional yang bagus. Bagi saya, paling tidak 50 besar universitas terbaik di dunia. Ini untuk memaksimalkan kualitas pendidikan, reputasi dan juga koneksi yang saya dapat ketika lulus nanti.
Untuk detail kriteria, bisa dibaca lebih dalam di artikel LiveCareer berikut.
Setelah mendapat 2-3 target program S2 yang diinginkan, langkah selanjutnya adalah menentukan program beasiswa apa saja yang akan di kejar. Ini akan menentukan timeline ke depan karena deadline dan dokumen yang disyaratkan akan berbeda beda untuk masing masing beasiswa. Prioritas pertama saya pada waktu itu adalah LPDPkarena beasiswa ini menyediakan tanggungan keluarga selama studi. Lalu pilihan selanjutnya adalah Cheveningkarena tujuan universitas saya pada waktu semua berada di Inggris.
Cari tahu informasi beasiswa yang ingin dikejar sekomprehensif mungkin lalu tulis deadline dan persyaratan dokumen sebagai milestone untuk proses pencarian beasiswa. Informasi daftar beasiswa pascasarjana dari berbagai negara bisa dilihat di sini.
Persiapkan semua dokumen pribadi
Tips dari saya agar proses mengejar beasiswa tidak hanya sekedar wacana adalah melakukan langkah kongkrit mulai dari yang paling mudah.
Yang pertama adalah paspor. Kemanapun tujuan kuliah dan beasiswanya, pastinya paspor akan dibutuhkan. Imigirasi onlinesudah sangat memudahkan proses pembuatan dan perpanjangan paspor. Di kantor imigrasi Jakarta Selatan, saya sekeluarga hanya sekali datang ke lokasi dan paspor dikirim lewat pos kilat ke rumah tiga hari kemudian. Jadi pastikan untuk mengurus paspor terlebih dahulu.
Selanjutnya adalah ijazah dan transkrip bahasa inggris. Dari almamater saya (ITS), transkrip sudah dua bahasa namun ijasah hanya berbahasa Indonesia. Sehingga saya kembali ke kampus untuk mengurus ijasah bahasa inggris.
Yang ketiga adalah meminta surat referensi. Mayoritas kampus mensyaratkan calon mahasiswa untuk menyediakan referensi dari atasan di kantor dan dosen di kampus. Minta ini dari jauh jauh hari untuk mengantisipasi kesibukan baik atasan maupun dosen yang dituju.Temui secara langsung, selain membangun hubungan baik kita juga bisa meminta saran atau bahkan mengoreksi draft essay.
Beberapa kampus mempunyai format surat referensi yang berbeda-beda. Ada juga universitas yang hanya meminta email pemberi referensi dan pihak kampus yang akan bertanya kepada referee. Inilah pentingnya hubungan baik dengan pemberi referensi karena besar kemungkinan kita akan meminta tolong berkali-kali.
Selain tiga diatas, siapkan juga semua dokumen pendukung seperti akta lahir dan KTP. Scan semua dokumen dan simpan di cloud storage seperti Dropbox atau OneDrive supaya mudah dicari dan menimalisir resiko file hilang.
Melanjutkan tulisan sebelumnya, posting kali ini akan membahas beberapa tahap dalam proses mengejar beasiswa. Setelah sebelumnya membahas pentingnya riset, perencanaan dari jauh hari dan memulai dari langkah yang paling mudah, di tulisan ini saya akan membahas tentang test IELTS, aplikasi universitas dan aplikasi beasiswa.
Mari kita mulai dari yang pertama yaitu IELTS
Mempersiapkan tes IELTS
Untuk penduduk dari negara yang tidak menggunakan bahasa Inggris secara natif, universitas dan beasiswa mewajibkan calon mahasiswa untuk menyertakan sertifikat bahasa. Bisa IELTS ataupun TOEFL. Saya pribadi memilih IELTS karena lebih identik dengan UK meskipun ternyata mayoritas jurusan di UK juga menerima TOEFL.
IELTS terdiri dari 4 tes : Listening, Reading, Writing dan Speaking. Masing masing punya deadline waktu yang ketat. Empat tes tersebut dilakukan di hari yang sama sehingga cukup menguras tenaga dan pikiran. Dari segi kesulitan, IELTS cukup menantang. Ketika pertama mengerjakan contoh soal, saya menyadari tidak mungkin mendapat nilai bagus tanpa latihan yang intens.
Untuk Listening dan Reading, yang saya lakukan adalah mendownload semua edisi buku Cambridge IELTS dari 1 sampai 10 dan tentu saja mengerjakan semua soalnya. Download dimana ? Di tempat yang kurang legal tentunya (teluk perompak). Setiap buku berisi 4 full set soal IELTS lengkap dengan mp3 untuk listening dan juga kunci jawaban.
Durasi waktu untuk setiap bagian test IELTS
Hampir setiap hari di kantor saya mengerjakan 1 kali Listening atau Reading. Sekali di pagi hari dan sekali lagi di jam istirahat makan siang. Ini berarti ada 40 set soal listening dan 40 set reading yang saya harus kerjakan dari 10 buku. Dengan menghitung waktu dan menuliskan skor setiap selesai mengerjakan, performa bisa diukur mandiri dan ketika selesai saya bisa menentukan apakah sudah siap atau perlu latihan lagi.
Yang cukup tricky adalah Writing dan Speaking. Walaupun di buku Cambridge terdapat contoh contoh essay, tetap saja kita tidak bisa mengukur kemampuan tanpa ada orang yang melakukan review. Untuk berlatih kedua ini, cari partner untuk melihat kualitas tulisan dan juga untuk berlatih speaking. Khusus untuk Writing, pastikan untuk berlatih menulis tangan menggunakan pensil. Terutama untuk yang tulisan tangannya kacau balau seperti saya.
Perlu disadari bahwa sebenarnya tes IELTS bukan syarat mutlak untuk aplikasi universitas dan bahkan beasiswa. Sertifikat IELTS bisa disusulkan setelah mendapatkan letter of acceptance. Pertimbangan saya kenapa mengambil IELTS di awal adalah supaya ada cukup waktu untuk mengulang tes ketika hasilnya tidak memuaskan. Oleh karena itu pastikan nilai IELTS berada diatas batas minimum yang diterima kampus tujuan.
Di Indonesia terdapat beberapa penyedia tes IELTS, antara lain:
Aplikasi untuk program master sebenarnya tidak membutuhkan dokumen yang banyak : transkrip dan ijazah S1, paspor, surat referensi, IELTS/TOEFL, resume dan statement of purpose. Untuk program MBA biasanya dibutuhkan juga nilai GMAT dan beberapa essay tambahan. Pendaftaran umumnya tidak memerlukan biaya tetapi ada beberapa universitas dan jurusan yang memungut biaya aplikasi. Umumnya ini berkisar 60-100 poundsterling untuk kampus Inggris dan 50-100 USD untuk kampus Amerika Serikat. Pastikan mencatat dengan detail apa saja persyaratan yang diminta oleh masing masing kampus tujuan karena satu dengan yang lain bisa berbeda.
Tips pertama dari saya adalah memasukkan aplikasi adalah di awal pembukaan pendaftaran yaitu sekitar bulan Oktober. Kenapa di awal ? admission office tentunya belum terlalu sibuk sehingga kita bisa mendapat hasil lebih cepat. Ketika itu saya juga mengejar untuk mendapat LOA sebelum seleksi LPDP batch 1 yang dibuka sekitaran Desember.
Oktober tahun lalu, saya memasukkan tiga aplikasi ke Southampton, Lancaster dan Manchester. Semuanya mengirimkan hasil dalam waktu kurang dari 4 minggu, Southampton bahkan membalas hanya dalam 2 minggu saja. Padahal waktu normal untuk review aplikasi berkisar antara 6 minggu sampai 2 bulan, seperti pada tabel dibawah.
Admission timeline dari Manchester Business School (source)
Setelah menetapkan tenggat pengiriman aplikasi, langkah selanjutnya adalah menyiapkan esai statement of purpose. Ini adalah inti dari semua dokumen aplikasi kita. Pemohon dengan IPK tidak seberapa pun bisa saja tembus kalau bisa menulis statement of purpose yang meyakinkan.
Other parts of your grad school application do not say as much about you as a person as the statement of purpose can: your proudest accomplishments alongside your fondest hopes and dreams. – Vince Gotera
Langkah pertama sebelum menulis adalah mencari tahu apa yang dilihat pihak kampus dari esai statement of purpose calon mahasiswa. Ini bisa berbeda beda tergantung jurusan yang kita apply. Pastikan semua poin yang diminta tertulis secara eksplisit di dalam esai.
Persyaratan statement of purpose dari Manchester Business School (source)
Bagi saya, tidak ada cara lain yang paling efektif untuk menajamkan esai selain revisi yang berkelanjutan. Tulis draft pertama, diamkan dulu lalu besoknya lihat dan revisi. Minta beberapa teman yang sudah kuliah terlebih dahulu, atasan atau dosen untuk memberikan komentar kemudian revisi kembali. Bandingkan draft esai dengan beberapa contoh statement of purpose di internet dan kembali lakukan revisi. Lakukan terus menerus hingga mendekati waktu deadline pengiriman aplikasi.
Saya akan coba menulis detail tentang penulisan esai didalam posting #perjalananBeasiswa selanjutnya. Sementara itu, berikut beberapa referensi penulisan statement of purpose yang menurut saya patut dibaca.
Tidak banyak sebenarnya yang saya bisa share soal Chevening karena, well, saya bahkan tidak lolos di seleksi administrasi. Meskipun begitu, kegagalan ini memberikan saya motivasi untuk berusaha lebih keras di kesempatan selanjutnya.
Pengajuan aplikasi Chevening sebenarnya cukup sederhana: daftar online, pilih tiga pilihan kampus UK yang dituju, kirimkan surat referensi lalu tuliskan beberapa esai yang diminta. Ketika saya apply dulu, ada empat esai yang disyaratkan : Leadership and Influence, Networking, Study Plan dan Career Plan. Kriteria dan tema esai bisa berubah dari tahun ke tahun.
Yang wajib dikirim ketika penutupan deadline Chevening hanya esai dan referensi saja, LoA dan sertifikat IELTS/TOEFL bisa menyusul kemudian. Chevening memang terkenal sangat kompetitif tapi mencoba tentu tidak ada ruginya. Pendaftaran tidak dipungut biaya dan bebas untuk mencoba kembali di tahun berikutnya jika tidak lolos pada tahun ini.
Berikut beberapa tips lebih lanjut tentang proses aplikasi Chevening
Beberapa minggu setelah mengirim aplikasi, saya mendapat unconditional LoA dari ketiga jurusan yang saya inginkan. Senang sekali rasanya tapi tentunya ini menimbulkan pertanyaan baru : bagaimana memilih diantara pilihan tersebut. To be fair, this is a very nice problem to have.
Ketika LoA dikirim, biasanya calon mahasiswa akan diberikan waktu 1-2 bulan untuk melakukan konfirmasi apakah akan menerima atau menolak tawaran tersebut. Setelah menerima LoA pun, kita bisa mengundurkan diri hingga 1-2 bulan sebelum perkuliahan di mulai sekiranya tidak yakin atau ingin mengambil pilihan yang lain. Rentang waktu ini bisa digunakan untuk melakukan riset lebih lanjut jurusan mana yang akhirnya kita pilih.
Contoh LoA dari University of Southampton
Bagaimana supaya kita mendapat informasi yang cukup ? Lakukan usaha yang lebih dibanding awal ketika persiapan aplikasi dulu. Jika sebelumnya yang dipertimbangkan perngkat akademis atau kesesuaian jurusan dengan minat dan aspirasi, sekarang perluas riset kamu dengan mencari tahu biaya hidup, suasana belajar, kenyamanan kota dan lain lain. Usahakan untuk mendapat informasi tidak hanya dari internet, hubungi alumni kampus tersebut atau datang ke pameran pendidikan tinggi karena biasanya akan ada representatif kampus yang datang ke Indonesia.
Kesempatan untuk S2 di luar negeri kemungkinan hanya akan datang sekali sehingga pastikan kamu sudah terinformasi dengan cukup ketika mengambil keputusan final.
Satu hal lagi, setelah menerima tawaran LoA biasanya pihak kampus akan meminta dana deposit sekitar 1000 GBP (untuk UK). Ini berfungsi sebagai down payment untuk memastikan tempat kita di universitas. Tenang, jangan panik dulu melihat besarnya angka yang harus dibayar didepan. Deposit ini bisa di negosiasikan untuk di hilangkan atau ditunda sampai kita mendapat beasiswa. Segera setelah mendapat LoA, hubungi admission officer untuk berkonsultasi tentang ini.
Demikian untuk tulisan bagian 2 ini. Di tulisan selanjutnya, saya akan berbagi tentang proses aplikasi beasiswa LPDP dengan detail. Setelah itu, hopefully saya akan menulis lebih lanjut tentang membuat storyline yang konsisten untuk beberapa esai beasiswa.
Semua tulisan yang berkaitan dengan beasiswa bisa dibaca di link perjalananBeasiswa berikut. Saya sangat senang jika ada masukandan pertanyaan, jadi pastikan untuk menulisnya di bawah.
Ketika kuliah di ITS dulu, awal semester selalu dimulai dengan sesi perwalian. Di sesi ini dosen wali memberikan masukan performa akademik semester sebelumnya dan juga diskusi tentang mata kuliah apa saja yang akan diambil semester ini. Jika mendapat dosen wali yang cukup asik, mahasiswa juga memanfaatkan sesi ini untuk curhat, berkeluh kesah atau bahkan meminta nasihat baik itu berkaitan dengan kuliah maupun hal pribadi. Saya termasuk yang mendapat keberuntungan ini. Ibu Mahendrawati, dosen wali saya, tidak saja memperhatikan performa akademik mahasiswanya tetapi juga peduli dengan masalah masalah kami dan tidak jarang memberikan saran dan nasihat yang mengena sekali.
Di suatu semester, saya mendapat nilai C di mata kuliah Aljabar Linier. Mata kuliah berisi rumus dan persamaan matematis yang tidak saya nikmati sama sekali. Sebenarnya ini bukan masalah besar karena mata kuliah lain nilainya cukup bagus sehingga tidak berdampak terhadap penurunan IPK keseluruhan. Tetapi Bu Mahe membahas ini cukup intens. Beliau bertanya kenapa mata kuliah pemrograman mendapat nilai yang bagus namun sebaliknya nilai mata kuliah analitis dan matematis terjun bebas.
Jawaban saya sederhana : mata kuliah tersebut bukan minat saya sehingga saya tidak terlalu peduli dengan mata kuliah tersebut. Bu Mahe kemudian memberikan saran yang kurang lebih terdengar seperti ini.
Tentu saja nilaimu jelek, kamu tidak mengerahkan usaha disitu. Sudah coba untuk berusaha ? siapa tahu kamu bisa. Lagipula kalau hanya fokus di bidang yang kamu suka saja, bisa bisa tidak berkembang.
Saat mendengar itu, sejujurnya kalimat itu tidak terlalu mengena. Tetapi melihat kembali ke belakang dan merefleksikannya kembali ke perjalanan hidup saya hari ini, her advice was spot on. Momen momen menarik terjadi ketika saya, baik sengaja ataupun tidak sengaja, keluar dan mengerahkan usaha untuk hal yang awalnya tidak saya minati.
Ketika dulu menempati posisi sebagai senior engineer, saya pikir bahwa IT dan teknik adalah hidup saya. I was good at those stuff, it was my passion and i thought im going to do this for a long time. Tapi nasib berkata lain, saya dipindah ke Corporate Strategy. Pada awalnya memang susah dan tidak nyaman, tapi dengan mencoba mengerahkan usaha disitu it turns out to be great. Saya tidak menyangka sebelumnya bahwa strategy, business model, corporate finance, investment dan product development menjadi bidang yang saya kuasai dan minati.
Saran bu mahe kembali mengena ketika saya memutuskan untuk berhenti berhenti bekerja sejenak dan mengambil beasiswa master. Karir lumayan dengan gaji dan manfaat yang bagus ditambah saya baru saja mempunyai anak dan istri yang juga baru saja di promosi. Meninggalkan semua itu ditambah dengan menghadapi segala ketidakpastian tentu saja susah, menakutkan dan tidak nyaman. But hey, with enough effort and perserverance, my time here with Ghazi and Sari turns out to be great so far.
Di salah satu buku Malcolm Gladwell (saya lupa yang mana), ada sebuah percobaan dimana beberapa orang secara random ditantang menyelesaikan soal matematika advance dengan imbalan hadiah uang. Sebagian besar responden tidak pernah mengenyam bangku kuliah dan mereka diberikan waktu sebanyak mungkin. Yang mengejutkan, ada sedikit orang yang berhasil. Bagaimana mereka melakukannya ? mencoba-coba terus, membuat kesalahan sebanyak mungkin dan menyesuaikan solusi berdasarkan koreksi yang di dapat dari kegagalan sebelumnya. Proses ini menghabiskan waktu hingga 5-6 jam. Mayoritas responden sudah menyerah bahkan sebelum 1 jam berakhir.
Gladwell menyimpulkan with enough effort and perserverance, even complex math problems are solvable by ordinary people. Tentunya ini akan membutuhkan waktu yang tidak sedikit.
Jangan jangan rasa minat dan nyaman terjadi karena bidang tersebut memang sudah saya kuasai. Keengganan untuk keluar dari kotak minat ini jangan jangan adalah rasa takut gagal dan salah. Tembok besar yang menghalangi perkembangan personal saya. Padahal kalau mengerahkan usaha dan waktu disitu bisa jadi saya menguasai bidang tersebut dan membuka jalan ke arah yang lebih bagus.
Selamat ulang tahun Bu Mahe. Terima kasih telah menjadi partner diskusi saya dan banyak mahasiswa-i ketika kuliah dulu. Semoga ibu sekeluarga tetap sehat dan terus menginspirasi banyak mahasiswa-i di kampus untuk keluar dan terbang jauh dari apa yang mereka kira adalah batasan mereka sendiri.
Terinspirasi dari posting Ariesty yang juga sesama anak wali Bu Mahe. Walaupun tentu saja angkatannya, ehm, berbeda jauh.
Its been quite a while since the last time i write for you and son, let me tell you how it has been hell of a ride. First thing first, we are now living in Manchester Ghaz! can you believe that ? sometimes bapak still couldnt fathom this fact.
As a child who grew up in the suburbs of Sidoarjo, going outside our country was a far fetch let alone living there Ghaz. Bapak used to play near Juanda airport and i was always wondering what lies behind the departure door.
But enough about that, lets talk about the woman responsible for our well being and happiness while we embark on this journey : Ibu.
Did you know Ghaz that Bapak actually was afraid of the idea of pursuing Master’s degree ? I used to think since Bapak has been having good career with good wages and benefits, why risk all that for going back to university again ? after all, theres no guarantee when Bapak will have better career after having the degree.
It was Ibu who convince me that i can always go back to professional life again but Bapak might miss this lifetime chance to study abroad if i didnt pursue it now. Bapak is nearly in my 30’s now, you are still very young and we dont have any long term financial commitment yet. We dont have any car nor house nor debt hence we as a family have the flexibility to just pack our bags and go!. And again this is also because of Ibu. She save our money and ensure me not to settle in just yet because Ibu believe Bapak might get a chance for scholarship.
See Ghaz ? even I dont put that much confidence in myself.
Did you know Ghaz since we moved to this far and foreign land, Ibu become full time housewife ? When Bapak is going to class, you are with Ibu 24/7. She cook for both of us, bath you and ensuring you grow up healthy and happy. She even taking you out for baby class where you can learn about colors, music and other educational stuff. She done it all by herself, taking you out on a stroller, boarding a Stagecoach bus, sometimes in a windy and cold weather, isnt it amazing Ghaz ?.
Just before we moved here, Ibu was promoted in her job. To leave all that and committed herself to be mother and wife, both of us owe her big time Ghaz so remember this as you grow up (and please remind Bapak too hehe).
Last week, Ibu had her birthday. So lets give out one big hug for our hero Ghaz : Selamat Ulang Tahun Ibu, Bapak and Ghazi love you to the supermoon and back. We wont be what we are today if not because of you.
This an academic essay i did for Innovation and Knowledge Economy lecture by professor Andrew McMeekin. The task is to demonstrate understanding on technological lock-in concept using any chosen topic. This topic was a little bit random and way out of my forte but i guess the point of taking masters degree is stretch yourself so far beyond the comfort zone. .
In a paper called Sprayed to Death: Path Dependence, Lock-In and Pest Control Strategies, economic researcher Robin Cowan and Phillip Gunby chronicled how certain pest control strategy dominate the market using increasing returns and path dependency (Cowan & Gunby, 1996). Two study case were used: Israel citrus fruit industry and cotton industry in United States. The Israel case in particular is very interesting because within the span of nearly 60 years, two pest control technologies were competing and each have achieved lock-in in a different period.
Oranges, one of the most prominent citrus fruit. Image courtesy of ulehsustainability.com.
This essay attempt to further explore multiple lock in occurrence involving two different pest control method (Integrated Pest Management and Chemical Control) in the case of Israel citrus fruit industry from 1940s to 1970s. It uses historical observation and theoretical results to explain how these multiple lock-ins started, how contingent events influence the competition, what are the increasing returns for each technology and what escape factors contributed in breaking the lock-ins.
Overview on Israel Citrus Fruit Industry
Citrus fruits such as grapefruit, orange and lemon historically has been a major part of Israel economy. In 1950’s, citrus is the nation’s sole agricultural commodity and contribute almost half the total export value of Israel (OECD, 2010). It has been declining since then due to water shortage and increasing competition from neighboring countries. Yet, in recent time the country still able to produce half a billion kilograms annually and become the primary supplier for European market (Israel Agri, 2015).
Due to its importance, the government established close industry supervision by forming Citrus Marketing Board of Israel (CMBI) in the early 60s. In 2004, the board was merged with other agriculture-related government body into Plant Production and Marketing Board of Israel (OECD, 2010). The institution regulates many factor of citrus production including the choice of advisable pest control methods.
Two methods of pest control
Pest control methods that will be discussed in this essay are chemical pesticide and integrated pest management (IPM). These two are not completely mutually exclusive since IPM consist of various component including rational usage of chemical pesticide (EPA, 2015). However, in Israel case, the IPM component that played a bigger part was the utilization of biological pest control. Hence for this essay, the two will be treated as separate methods.
Chemical pest control often done by showering the farm with pesticide to kill destructive plant, animal, and another organism. Generally, for different pesticide there are specific dose and schedule which need to be. The invention of synthetic pesticides such as DDT further simplify the usage of pesticide due to its one size fits all nature (PANNA, 2016). Synthetic insecticides also widely adopted by the farmers due its high effectiveness and affordability.
However, chemical pesticide is harmful to the human and the environment. Farmers and pest-control operator are prone to have poisoning accidents during the process. Insecticide residue in the produce could potentially increase the risk for long term health problems such as cancer (CDC, 2009). Finally, increasing number of insects and other pest are resistance to chemical pesticide (Cavalloro, 1986). This would potentially render pesticide to be less effective in the future.
IPM is a set of programs designed to response into specific pest problem in the field. Rather than eradicating pest, IPM focus more on minimizing economic impact. IPM programs can include biological control such as introducing natural predator and cutting off the pest reproduction cycle. Cultural control such as crop rotation and irrigation management. Targeted use of pesticide also considered for last resort in IPM (UCDavis, 2016).
Biological pest control using a ladybug. Image courtesy of morsitimer
In contrast to the simplistic approach of chemical pest control, IPM application is knowledge intensive. Substantial R&D cost need to be invested beforehand to come up with good IPM programs. Farmers need to observe the crop condition, identify the pest, assess the potential damage, and then develop the best course of action. Even though this could be lengthy, the process is designed to ensure IPM activities can be effective both economically and environmentally.
1940s – 1950s: Competing technologies and the first contingent event
Prior to 1938, both chemical and IPM were not applied broadly in Israel citrus fruit industry. This will soon change when mealybug epidemic struck the industry in 1939. Israel Cohen, one of the director of CMBI, promote the use of IPM specifically by utilizing biological agent to control parasite population. Having experience countering similar plague in the US, Cohen spearheaded the project by setting up research coordination with US Department of Agriculture, importing predator specimen from Japan and persuade industry stakeholder to mass produce the predators (DeBach & Rosen, 1991). The result was staggering, the parasites was completely controlled within the next two years.
Attempt to combat mealybug parasite using pesticide was also pursued at the same time. However, the method failed to achieve considerable result.
1950s – 1960s: Lock in period of biological pest control
The mealybug success has made IPM ahead of pesticide in terms of preferable pest control in Israel citrus industry. It gives farmers more certainty in using biological pest control hence persuade many other to learn this method. Cost also went down due to mass production and most of R&D budget was borne by the government (CMBI). Network effects was also building up in the form of information availability. Farmers can ask their neighbor for support if they face difficulty in implementing IPM. Increasing IPM adoption also drive the industry to pour more investment which further improve the method.
When another pest epidemic hit the industry in 1956, path dependency came to play. CMBI chose to promote biological control using IPM once again even though during that time synthetic pesticide was widely available.
How IPM become lock-in
1960s – 1970s: Resurgence of chemical pest control
IPM / Biological become the method of choice against for majority of the citrus fruit industry for almost a decade. During the mid-1960s, two major development in citrus ecosystem changed this dynamic. First, numerous citrus fruit farming field was exposed to synthetic pesticide by accident. Many of the citrus field was neighboring to cotton field while pesticide often delivered through airplane spraying. This spray drift kills IPM predatory insects and made biological pest control less effective. Secondly, another wave of plague hit the industry. Four new type of bug was identified and there was no known natural predator to combat this. The industry was forced to rethink whether to continue with IPM or switch to chemical control.
During this period, IPM have two unfavorable factor. The first one was time delay. Since the type of pests are new, CMBI and other industry shareholders needs further research to find effective natural predator to contain the plague. Secondly, even if the IPM solution was found there were no effective ways to prevent insecticide spray drift from cotton fields. Newfound IPM solution would continue to be ineffective if this problem persists. These two factors made IPM prospect look bleak and uncertain.
On the other side, switching to chemical pest control seemed to be more rewarding. Developed after world war two, synthetic pesticide was widely available and affordable due to rising demand and mass production. Even though synthetic pesticide had little success story in citrus fruit, it was evidently very effective in other type of crops. Switching cost was also low due to usage simplicity. Considering this factor, majority of the industry then switched to chemical pest control by the end of 1960’s.
How chemical control became lock-in
1970s – onward: The second coming of biological pest control
The reign of chemical pest control didn’t last long. Increasing number of pest became resistant to synthetic pesticide hence its effectiveness decline overtime. Increasing oil price also made the pesticide more expensive. Combination of both of this factor lowers the merit of chemical pest control.
During the same period, Israeli government helped IPM regain popularity through favorable legislations. Sponsored by CMBI, the government banned the practice of aerial spraying near citrus grove. This regulation helped to decrease pesticide spray drift which in turn brought back the effectiveness of biological pest control once again. Another government support for IPM came in the form of consultation services. CMBI and Israel Ministry of Agriculture offered IPM education and technology transfer session to citrus farmers. This services lowered the barrier for switching back to IPM.
Government support also brought indirect benefits such as restored confidence in future IPM prospects. Investors and industry shareholders resumed investment in this area which enhance IPM capabilities along the way. By early 1980s, majority of known citrus fruits pest were controllable using IPM / Biological agents.
How IPM became locked in again
Lock-in escape factor
During 1940s to 1980s, two occurrences of lock-in escape happened. The first one was when chemical control broke through of IPM lock in in 1960s – 1970s. Second one was when IPM regain dominance in 1970s and onward. In his paper about electric vehicle, Robin Cowan and Staffan Hulten proposed six factor that could lead to lock in escape (Cowan & Hulten, 1996):
These escape factors will be used to further describe both of lock-in escape events.
For the first lock-in escape, crisis in IPM technologies and cost breakthrough in synthetic pesticide. Unintended consequence of aerial pesticide spraying has reduced IPM effectiveness in many farms across Israel. Furthermore, new type of pest was causing epidemic. In the middle of crisis, citrus farmers simply could not rely on IPM to immediately stop the damage. On the other hand, due to mass production of synthetic pesticide, the chemical control alternatives are inexpensive. The method also relatively simple to use and it has been proven to work in other type of crops.
In the second resurgence of IPM, both crisis in existing technologies and regulation contributed to the lock-in escape. Increasing number of detrimental bugs were resistant to synthetic pesticide. This raised uncertainty about the future prospect of chemical control. Price hike attributed to rising oil price also further reduce the merit of this method.
Government regulation also pushed the balance in favor of IPM. Anti-aerial spraying legislation helped IPM to be effective again. The government pushed IPM further by providing extension which essentially lowered the cost for farmers to switch back from chemical control. Government support also established legitimacy for IPM future prospect in the eye of investors and industry shareholders.
Timeline of lock-in in Israel citrus fruit industry
Conclusion
From the essay, it can be concluded that both lock-in escape events have similarities on how the incumbent technology fall from its dominance. Due to certain circumstance, somehow the dominant technology loses its edge which forced users to rethink their choice. On the other hand, availability of alternatives with low switching cost attract users to swap their current technology. This push-pull dynamic involves multiple escape factors which lead to lock-in escape.
In the electric vehicle paper, Cowan and Hulten did not discuss whether simultaneous occurrence of their proposed six escape factors required to happen for lock in to be escaped. Further exploration on the effect of multiple escape factor can be beneficial to better understand lock-in phenomena while also comprehend which of these factors yield the best result when combined.
Below are several references which i used in the essay :
