Indonesia Today

submitted by Vincent Santoso, Junior Account Manager, Business Development

Indonesia Today? Most Indonesian people skeptically think we’re not sure, the Government is not determined to take real action to root out graft practices amongst Government authorities and officials, our football doesn’t go anywhere, our politicians would rather be on gossip news on TV rather than be at the House of Representatives, and the fear of inflation rate hike as an impact of the global financial shakedown. Well, that might be right, but hold on a second, we might be asking ourselves again, ”Isn’t there something that I can be proud of being an Indonesian?”

The good news is we do have something to be proud of; this is not about being propagandized within a classroom saying that we are abundantly rich with natural resources and our geographical position. So we were thinking when we were in school that, “Hm, okay I don’t have to work hard and can always go back farming or maybe gold digging!” That is not what I mean either, in fact we are blessed with rich cultural diversity, we have massive and abundant natural resources throughout all regions, we have what is recognised as one of the world’s top five  most populous nations.

But then again, we need to understand how we could use those gifts we as Indonesians have. It is either a blessing really or a curse, being the most populous and culturally rich makes us easy to be blown out by race issues and could lead up to sectarian conflict. Being rich in terms of natural resources makes us prone to be exploited and to be manipulated by foreign interests.

It is a ‘two sides of the coin’ issue, if we don’t realise where we as Indonesians stand given all the potentialities that we have. We might end up tragic like many “poor-to-the-bottom” countries like Somalia where people couldn’t afford to have access to clean water, or Colombia where people turn out killing in return for money from the drug lords, or maybe ex-soviet countries like Romania and the Ukraine where life is so hard and people gives up voluntarily as objects of human trafficking. In contrast we should really need to look up to our fellow South East Asian countries like Singapore or Japan, where they don’t have a pinch of our natural resources deposit but they are successful to be recognised and bring the living standard of their people to the highest. The quest is not how much potentiality we do have, but more importantly, Japan and Singapore prove that strong self-determination and ability to cope with the world’s dynamics are able to turn them into strong, recognised, and influential powerhouses in the region. One thing I would like to add is, they do it all and they maintain their national identity too.

In the era of inter-dependency right now, not only do we need to look at our potential but also critically look at which areas we need to pay attention to and improve intensively. The reason for this is, simply, the world is not getting less competitive but getting more competitive each and every day. This is also the reason why if we neglect gifts that we have it would rather bring misery than a blessing to many Indonesians which is pretty much what we have seen today.

By this part some of you might be saying, “See, that’s what I’m talking about?” However, I believe that it is not only the Government that is to blame. We, as part of Indonesian society, what have we done for our country? Please see the following, simple check list and see whether you have taken any action that shows your sense of nationalism for this country :

• Are you proud of using Indonesian products or not bothered at all?
• Are you sure that you are paying your tax correctly in an honest manner?
• Would you rather spend your time donating to education, investing in the country’s future or rather looking at sale and shopping catalogues to see “What’s hot this season?”
• Do you litter inappropriately?
• Do you use electricity and water wisely, for a fact we know that many Indonesians live in the dark with limited access to clean water and the Government is struggling to provide those?
• Do we actively support the Government’s non-political actions? ie. Smoke free day in Sudirman and Thamrin, using and supporting public transport, green campaign on our river banks, etc.

The above questions are just examples of how we can start supporting our nation to be a well-recognised nation. Take note that small steps we make are a start towards bigger and bolder actions for greater results. I will take the example of paying tax – the Government would then use this tax to build up infrastructure and stimulate the economy. Workers affected from the government project would be benefited, since if they have work they have buying power. If they spend their money for local products that will benefit local producers even more, which also means more jobs are created for the locals. Ironically we are proud to wear American sneakers more, wine and dine at French restaurant, luxury Italian clothings and the worst of all we are avoiding and manipulating Taxes.

Now, how can we develop a real sense of nationalism toward Indonesia? Here is a simple list in macro scope to get start with :

• Let’s support local products
• Work ethics and behaviour in the workplace
• Do more for education
• Create more local small-to-medium businesses not concentrated in the current Seven big cities, but reach out deeper into other regions, to help the Government create a sustainable micro-economy by giving people job opportunities.
• Gives reason for buying power to improve their standard of living, this by creating job opportunities rather than to rely on available job.
• For business people, try as much as possible to utilise self-produced raw materials
• Social ethics, queues, littering, traffic ethics, and self-obedience to the domestic law

The more business grows, the more competitive it gets. Coming with it is a wider job opportunities for all and better standard of living. The better standard of living, thus, will create another phase of growing economics as demand is arising.

In a wider scope, what people can do is by growing a competitive business (small-to-medium). The problem with business here from the bigger perspective is, our local businesses rely too much on assistance from the Government, and our businesses enjoys too much of a domestic protection in the form of tariff barriers and import limitations, thus this kills their competitiveness. These situations then create a chain effect, competitiveness of an industry is consistently decreasing and local clients quickly turn their back away for better quality imported products. With less demand, the local industry will soon have to say ‘good bye’ to their business.

Improvements like these would need to be applied by many Indonesian businesspeople, big or small, in all regions. The emphasis is to transfer business management, knowledge, and creating job opportunities outside Indonesia’s seven biggest cities like Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya, Denpasar, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Semarang. The creation of work opportunities will create an improvement in standards of living, and as soon as the buying power is there the demand, too, would increase. This situation will lead Indonesia to enjoy an economic boom.

Up till now if you are still with me, it isn’t so hard is it?  To start doing something, for our very own Indonesia. In a simpler way here is another list of what you can do :

• Buy more local products, let’s support our local producers – start buying Indonesian.
• Do more for Indonesian education, as simple as a donation to a foundation that strives to improve our education in rural areas.
• If you’re a business person, look towards potential of any region other than the seven big cities, and use more raw materials produced locally.
• Develop good social ethics, ie; queuing while waiting for public transport, drive politely, litter only in the designated bin, don’t smoke in public, etc.
• If you are working, show a sense of professionalism and stay competitive rather than taking advantage of a sense of friendship and seniority which applies widely apparently as a culture within many organisations.

So, what are we waiting for? Let us take a small step today for a bigger impact on Indonesia. Everything big consists of smaller even the smallest parts. Let us be proud to be Indonesian, wear Indonesian, and use Indonesian today. Be proud walking tall and being Indonesian.

The Importance of SEO

submitted by Rony Triwardhana, Application Developer, Technology Services

Successful website has four aspects to be taken care of and they are:
1. Development,
2. Design,
3. Content and
4. SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

These are the four essential aspects of Successful Website.

However, most people understand the importance of having optimized content and accurate coding. But, only few have understood the importance of SEO.

If you ask any webmaster about his number one priority, the answer would be surely centered around getting more and more meaningful visitors on his website. When a visitor (potential customer) lands on your website, the probability that he would give you business would depend upon his overall experience while browsing through the website.

What to be considered in SEO:

Ease of Navigation
If Visitors can seamlessly navigate through the whole website and if he finds that the navigation is easy and not complicated, he will go back with a pleasant experience. A happy visitor is a potential customer!

Minimum Flash
Minimal use of flash animation. That’s because such pages take more time to download, additionally not all people have flash software installed on their PC, implying that you loose a potential customer just because of design overdose on your part.

Quality Content
Content is king, everyone can write but not everyone can write quality content that attract visitors (potential customer) when they search trough Search Engine.

Relevant Keywords
Be specific at using keyword, don’t try to use keyword with million competitors, try finding niche keywords for your website.

These are just few things to be considered for SEO, if you like to know more you can contact me at rony.t@precision-group.biz

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