Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Color of Jakarta



What will it look like when 11,200 people, including many expats, take part in the 5K Color Run as they are sprayed with colored powder while running?
One of the participants, Sinta Kusuma Dewi, said she and some of her friends from the Indo Runners community would dress up as brides for the uwntimed running event. “The theme is runaway brides. We will use colorful tutus, veils and wear big flowers on our head to make our run merrier,” she said on Saturday.
Sinta admitted she was interested in joining the event as it looked fun as she watched YouTube videos about Color Run events held in other countries.
The Color Run, which began in Tempe, Arizona, US, in 2012, has been held in over 150 cities in the US and 50 other cities around the world.
Color Run media relations representative Elizabeth Fang said that Jakartans were excited about the first Color Run in the country.
She said the President’s eldest son, Agus Yudhoyono, would join the event as he also liked to run.



Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Rolls Royce Jakarta 2014


Ultra-premium carmaker, Rolls-Royce, plans to widen its reach to the country’s other big cities to further tempt buyers.

“We’re confident in the size and growth of the market here. Indonesia could be our largest market in the future,” said Dan Balmer, Rolls-Royce general manager for Asia Pacific.

Indonesia is currently the second top market after Singapore for Rolls-Royce, which recently rolled out its most powerful car — the two-door coupe Wraith.


“In overall potential, we are confident about this market in the longer term. There’ll be bumpy roads, but Indonesia’s potential will become larger than Singapore,” he said.

The Most Dynamic and Powerful Rolls-Royce in History


Equipped with a twin-turbo and 6.6-litre V12 engine, the two-door coupe Wraith is being touted as the most powerful Rolls Royce ever.

Balmer declined to comment on how much the model would be sold for in Indonesia and how many units the firm aimed to sell. But in Europe, the car sells for as low as 
245,000 (US$332,500), while in Singapore it is priced at S$1,258,888 ($1.01 million) and in India at 46 million rupees ($743,800), Reuters reported.

With the exception of its chassis, every Rolls-Royce is made by hand at its Goodwood plant in the Sussex Downs region in the southeastern part of England.
Vivek Vaidya, Frost&Sullivan deputy president for automotive and transportation practices in the Asia Pacific, said that strong economic performance in Indonesia would continue to boost demand for ultra-premium cars. However, the country did score rather low when it came to infrastructure and general sense of security compared to its regional neighbors, particularly Singapore, which might disrupt its outlook.


Wraith Jakarta

Tuesday, January 21, 2014



I would like to thank Indonesian students and alumni from US top schools such as Stanford, MIT, Harvard and UC Berkeley share their study-abroad tips and experience.

IOpening top tier American universities in Asia is a fascinating idea. Singapore has initiated a Yale-National University of Singapore (NUS) pact this year. A number of other ventures followed: John Hopkins-Nanjing, NYU-Abu Dhabi and Princeton in Beijing.


Harvard, MIT, Yale and UCLA are among the most popular names for many, just like Lamborghini for a car or Louis Vuitton for a purse. We love to shop for a brand and feel good wearing the brand name that makes everyone’s head turns.

We enjoy it because it works for attention. But, I do not know if we can get around this attention-grabber aspect of it and are willing to stick our heads out beyond this silhouette to see the bottom line for a better deal. That’s a million dollar question.

Opening a top-tier US university in Indonesia is purely a market-driven decision. It is nothing less than a typical business decision between the economic elite and the target university. Academically, there is no way that Harvard or MIT will be able to make Harvard-Jakarta or MIT-Jakarta even similar to Harvard of Cambridge or MIT of Cambridge, respectively, in that matter.

The academic platform that sits on the basic principles and values that drive these universities to excellence will not be the same. Academic freedom and core values underlining the principles of these universities will definitely differ from what will be in their replicas in different countries.

The freedom of expression and the liberty to think provide the US university system with unfettered freedom, the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable and challenge the impossible. These values will be severely impeded due to local problems, such as a repressive government in Singapore in a Yale-NUS case or chronic corruption mentality in Indonesia.

Because of that, instead of getting Harvard University of Cambridge, what Indonesians will end up with is the Indonesian version of Harvard. We have seen these values tweaked for marketing purposes, although this action has created some concerns and generated fiery debates among the faculty members within the host universities.

Many American academics worry they will not be able to get the freedom of expression that is guaranteed in their original institution. To what extent the chronic corruption mentality will affect university management, faculty members, students and their interactions remain to be determined.

The superiority of US top universities is built on freedom of expression under competitive academic atmosphere. How will these core principles survive under the cloud of chronic corruption mentality?

It will require a plethora of change to nourish these necessary conditions. It is certainly a complicated process. If that is the case, why not concentrate on improving national universities, such as Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and others?

Higher education problems in Indonesia are due to inefficient bureaucracy and management, strong governmental control over staffs and faculty members, low teaching and research quality, poor competition rate, weak student selection system, inadequate funding, inefficiency in academic development for faculty members, low control in protecting academic transcripts over the counterfeits, low discipline and motivation, and lack of innovation.

The intertwining nature of these factors clouded with a systemic corrupt atmosphere leads to beliefs that small incremental changes may not yield any significant effects on overhauling the university system. Politicians who want to make a quick fix to these multiple decades-long problems are looking for a potentially easier way.

This is one of the reasons why the idea of opening a western university surfaced recently. If the deal can go through, it will be a high case attracting national attention, important for his/her political gain. But as of now, it lacks detailed preparations and studies.

In addition to the expectation of producing high quality graduates, the hope is that this model university will spur up the competitions among the top native Indonesian universities. If the top native universities are expected to respond to such stimuli, however, they have to be of the same nature, or at least in the same direction. That means certain basic elements on how these universities are operating will need to be changed.

Without major policy changes, such expectation is purely delusional. Without a clear framework on how this world class university will stimulate widespread changes, this idea will only be viewed as a tool to seek a short-term gain and class legitimacy.

The question becomes: Is this the only alternative to make a big change that could define a new Indonesian generation?

If policymakers are willing to go that far, i.e. bringing in and adopting the entire operating system of the top tier US universities home, then they need to re-program the way they think toward the Indonesian native university system.

There are fundamental differences between the US and Indonesian universities on how they operate. Let’s bring up one trivial aspect as a start. Most of us know that in the US, each faculty member or professor has the liberty to pursue his/her academic career virtually in any universities anywhere in the country as he feels fit based on his credential tracts in a competitive process. Regulations, such as “equal opportunity policy,” are put in place to guarantee that the process is fair and sound. Since only the most talented professor in the field will be selected in this process, the university will consequently be composed of combinations of highly skill professors. As a result, university competitiveness increases.

In the Indonesian state university system, only a few are capable of moving to other universities to pursue their academic dream if they can successfully attain the release letter from the university president or rector (known as “lolos butuh”). This letter is an effective tool to keep lecturers locked in place, but diminished the flow of change and opportunity and minimized potential contributions for the formation of highly competitive universities. This policy was an instrument adopted by the New Order regime to establish state universities across the nation and is practically unchanged for 40-50 years. In many cases, this letter has often been severely abused for various purposes by top university administrators.

If everything associated with Harvard (i.e. American system) will be fully adopted, why are small adjustments like the one we just discussed not possible? This is only an example that through small changes, Indonesian universities can be jump-started to become more competitive.

This is not to suggest that every principle of Western universities must be adopted unconditionally into the Indonesian system, but it is also unnecessary to re-invent the wheel. The authority should be open-minded to any possibility that can help the native universities, ready to strike a balance between the core principles introduced by developed countries and local values.

Opening a top-tier US university in Jakarta, therefore, should not be viewed as the only option available to create a significant change in the Indonesian education system. Whether or not the idea of opening Harvard or other top universities in Jakarta is a viable option, it is clear that now is the time for Indonesia to overhaul its current higher education system to meet the need for this generation for a newer and brighter Indonesia.





Native of Malang, East Java, Herry Utomo earned his PhD degree from Louisiana State University and currently is an associate Professor in LSU. His formal expertise is in Plant Biotechnology, Molecular Genetics, and Breeding. He has published more than 120 scientific publications in various journals.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Java Jazz 2014


How Indonesia, and Jakarta in particular, became such a hotbed of jazz is one of life’s great mysteries. Whatever the reason, in its short 8-year history, Java Jazz has become a huge happening, attracting A-list superstars and jazz royalty – no mean feat given the travelling distance involved and Jakarta’s image as a chaotic, overcrowded madhouse. For this, we have to thank a certain Peter Gontha, festival organizer and a mean jazz musician himself. From virtually nothing, Java Jazz has mushroomed into one of the world’s largest Jazzfests in the most unlikely of places.

Java Jazz at a glance

Kicking off on 1st March 2013 for three nights, Java Jazz is not just a refuge for pipe smoking trad-jazz purists. You get a little big band bebop, mambo, acid jazz, ska, reggae, gypsy jazz, RnB and everything in between. It all takes place at the Jakarta International Expo (JIExpo) in the Kemayoran district, a sprawling complex of aircraft hangar style venues and smaller halls. There are over a dozen stages playing host to big epic shows and intimate jamming sessions with that smoky bar room vibe.

Some big names have graced the stage at JIExpo over the last few years, including Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Jason Mraz, Roy Ayers and George Benson. A star-studded line-up for 2013 includes funksters Spyro Gyra, New York Voices, Kenny Garrett, Bob James and like every year, a couple of surprise A-listers. There are around 100 different performers expected, roughly split down the middle between international acts and Indonesian jazz bands. Indo-jazz is slowly creeping into the mainstream with a lot of up-and-coming acts on the scene and don’t be surprised to see unplanned jamming sessions between unheralded local jazz musicians and big-time western acts.


Tickets

The predominantly local Indonesian crowds disprove the theory that jazz festivals are low key affairs. It’s a generally young crowd who like to make some noise and for the big name performances, it can almost resemble a heaving mosh pit. Over the three days, over 100,000 fans show up. To get a piece of the action, you can book tickets online – day passes cost Rp.300,000. and entrance for all three days will set you back Rp.550,000. This allows you access to all performances, except for one or two ‘headliners’ which this year include English soul divas Joss Stone and Lisa Stansfield.

If you don’t want to fork out your hard-earned Rupiah, there is another way to get your fix of jazz – completely free! Each year Java Jazz takes on a small army of enthusiastic volunteers to help out with merchandising, promotion and best of all – ‘performer liason’. It’s a great way to enjoy music for free, give something back and have fun. You also get to go to the special volunteer post-festival wrap party.

Each day during the festival, a number of international and Indonesian performers conduct music clinics for mere mortals like you and eye to learn a few riffs or beats. It’s an intimate, informal affair where fans can ask questions, learn a few musical tricks and even join the pros on stage for a quick jamming session.