If Only They Did It Fifteen Years Ago…..

It was Sunday morning about seven o’clock. It looked like I was the first who got up that early in the house. It is not because I am an early riser on Sundays, it is because I was eagerly waiting for the ‘live’ tennis action from Melbourne Park. So, to accompany the amusement of watching tennis matches from the Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific, I fixed myself a breakfast of two Cheddar spread sandwiches and a tumblerful of steaming aspartame-sweetened tea. Afterwards, as I planted my buns on the couch trying to sit nicely before my recently bought jumbo LCD-TV (as the old and the smaller LCD-TV had to serve in my bedroom to replace the even older 21-inch-CRT-TV which was on the fritz and beyond repair at a reasonable cost) I suddenly heard my fax machine receiving a transmission. Heck I don’t even remember when the last time I received a fax transmission. Duplicates of documents and any printed matters directed to me are now usually sent through e-mails by scanning them. However although fax transmissions have become less and less frequent day after day in my house, I still connect the fax machine to the line, in case in a rare occasion one needs to send me a fax and he or she happens to be Internet-illiterate.

These fax and faxing things have got something to do with this article, and it has got nothing to do with tennis. A few days ago on the Pikiran Rakyat daily my sight stumbled across an advert of Telkom (Indonesia) informing that the subscribers can change the plan in paying their landline phone bills. It is an interesting offer. Usually we are charged with the fixed subscription plus the flexible call charges (and of course plus a flexible VAT). But on the advert, it said we can change the plan of payments that will do away with the fixed subscription (bebas abonemen). I don’t know the lowdown on this advert but if you are interested, the information on it is only a few clicks away through the search engines. This advert however had interested me in a way that it conjured up a conclusion that Telkom is trying to implement an innovation, to some extent, to their product which is the landline phone. I am not surprised with the innovational efforts implemented by Telkom to boost their income from the landline service since this kinda communication begins to be forsaken by the users. Of course, we all know what caused it. It is mobile phone services that deprive the landline service of its users!

I still remember very well, about 15 years ago, when I needed a new landline connection for a fax-dedicated one. I contacted them but the best thing they could do was to tell me to wait until they released new lines to the market. Yes, fifteen years ago (in Indonesia)  to add a secondary line in your home was an uphill effort, they would reject you with smooth but prolix excuses, the most common one was that they did not have new lines to offer! So I waited and waited until kingdom come there’s nothing else I could do. Unfortunately, fax was still an uncontested device for remote-duplicating document. E-mails, on the other hand were still alien to most Indonesians. MMS (Multi-Media Messaging)?? Don’t ever think about it. Even inter-networking text messaging was still disabled at that time! So, the most convenient way to remote-copy the documents was through a fax machine. That explains why fifteen years ago I still needed Telkom.

But today, it is a totally different story. E-mails are very common. Uploading a scanned document is also a snap. Moreover, Internet connection is no longer dependent upon low-speed dial-up connection. Cellular, Cable-TV and many other networks offer high-speed Internet connections to compete with Telkom’s ADSL connection. And today, despite still subscribing to Telkom’s services I firmly feel that I no longer need Telkom’s services for the telecommunication purposes. But as usual, when the monopoly-nurtured big company like Telkom began to lose their market share in the stiff competition, then they just realised that innovation and the customer’s satisfaction were the ones worth implementing! That’s really pathetic! When they feel that they are no longer necessarily the numero uno in the league, they begin to appreciate the people that have contribution to their pots of money. But again, of course, as a cliché “better late than never” always prevails when you want to make an excuse for doing correctly so late, a newly invented adage “better early than late” must be more notified in today’s modern market-oriented stiff competition…..

Moso Kita Bikin Atlas Saja Nggak Becus Sih….

Gramercy Atlas, Random House Value Publishing, USA

Minggu yang lalu iseng-iseng saya membersihkan lemari-lemari buku saya yang sudah lumayan banyak isinya. Maklumlah sepertinya lemari-lemari tersebut sudah mulai berdebu karena sudah agak lama tidak dibersihkan terutama di rak-rak yang teratas. Rak-rak yang teratas biasanya adalah buku-buku yang sudah tidak begitu sering dibaca lagi. Ketika iseng-iseng membersihkan rak yang paling atas, tidak sengaja saya menemukan Philips World Atlas terbitan Inggris. Setelah saya lihat-lihat, wow, ternyata atlas tersebut keluaran tahun 1997. Sudah cukup lama itu atlas! Entah kenapa, setelah melihat atlas itu timbul keinginan saya untuk membeli sebuah atlas dunia terbitan terbaru padahal sebenarnya kalau mau melihat-lihat atlas aja, sekarang atlas digital online juga banyak ditambah lagi software-software atlas bajakan juga banyak dijual di pinggir-pinggir jalan. Tapi entah kenapa melihat atlas dunia yang saya beli lebih dari satu dasawarsa lalu itu membuat saya ingin untuk membeli atlas dunia berbentuk tradisional (baca: buku) edisi terbaru.

Untuk itu hari Sabtu kemarin, mumpung anak saya yang kecil merengek-rengek minta dibelikan komik Jepang lagi, ya akhirnya kami mengunjungi Gramedia Merdeka (lagi!). Untung saja, di sana dijual berbagai macam atlas impor dengan berbagai jangkauan harga. Saya lihat kebanyakan adalah atlas dunia dari Philips (Inggris) juga versi terbaru. Namun setelah saya lihat-lihat pilihan saya jatuh pada Gramercy Family World Atlas terbitan Random House Value Publishing. Harganya juga tidak terlalu mahal untuk ukuran atlas impor (Rp. 195.000,-) dibandingkan atlas-atlas impor lainnya yang sekelas yang harganya lebih dari Rp. 300.000,-. Setelah membayar atlas tersebut di kasir, saya langsung menuju lantai atas tempat komik-komik Jepang berada. Sementara saya menunggu anak saya memilih komik, saya iseng-iseng melihat atlas-atlas buatan lokal yang kebetulan berada di lantai yang sama. Ada beberapa macam atlas lokal dari berbagai penerbit yang ada. Harganyapun bermacam-macam, dari yang termurah cuma Rp. 13.000,- hingga yang termahal Rp. 150.000,-.  Namun setelah saya lihat-lihat isinya alangkah kecewanya saya, karena kebanyakan isinya banyak yang sudah kadaluwarsa atau tidak akurat lagi terutama untuk atlas dunianya, padahal hampir semua atlas-atlas tersebut dicetak tahun 2007 ke atas! Setelah diteliti lebih lanjut ternyata dari sekian atlas lokal tersebut, yang isinya akurat hanyalah dua buah. Yang satu, yang harganya paling mahal Rp. 150.000,- yang satunya lagi yang terbitan Erlangga. Itupun yang atlas Erlangga tersebut merupakan atlas terjemahan dari atlas impor! Sisanya, sepertinya atlas “asal-asalan” aja. Beberapa kelemahan atlas-atlas tersebut yang umum dijumpai adalah berupa:

• Banyak dari atas tersebut masih mencantumkan negara Yugoslavia yang lama. Padahal Yugoslavia sudah lama pecah. Yugoslavia terakhir berdiri tahun 2006, yang pada waktu itu tinggal menyisakan Serbia dan Montenegro saja. Pada saat Serbia dan Montenegro berpisah tahun 2006, tamat pula “riwayat” Yugoslavia.
• Beberapa atlas juga masih menyatukan Republik Ceska dan Slowakia menjadi Cekoslowakia. Padahal Republik Ceska dan Slowakia sudah memisahkan diri sejak 1 Januari 1993!! Wow… ketinggalan banget tuh atlas yang masih mencatumkan Cekoslowakia!
• Pada beberapa atlas banyak juga yang menampilkan berbagai macam bendera-bendera dunia. Namun bendera-bendera tersebut banyak yang kadaluwarsa! Bayangkan saja bendera Hongkong masih yang ada bendera “The Union Flag”-nya Inggris, sedangkan bendera Zaire yang lama juga masih ada, padahal Zaire sekarang sudah menjadi Republik Demokrasi Kongo dengan bendera yang berbeda. Belum lagi bendera Afghanistan, dan bendera-bendera negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet yang masih banyak kadaluwarsa! *sigh*
• Peta-peta yang menunjukkan pembagian waktu dunia juga kebanyakan banyak yang kadaluwarsa. Banyak dari peta-peta tersebut masih menunjukkan bahwa seluruh wilayah di Kalimantan masuk ke dalam GMT+8. Padahal setahu saya Hanya Kalimantan Timur dan Kalimantan Selatan saja yang GMT+8 (atau WITA), sisanya adalah GMT+7 (atau WIB). Sedangkan Timor Leste masih dimasukkan ke dalam GMT+8 (WITA), padahal sejak 17 September 2000 (setelah lepas dari RI) Timor Leste sudah dimasukkan ke dalam GMT+9 (atau setara WIT).
• Batas-batas antarnegara, terutama negara-negara yang agak kecil, sangat kasar dan terkadang sangat tidak akurat! Berbeda sekali dengan atlas-atlas yang impor di mana batas-batas antarnegara sekecil apapun terlihat sangat jelas dan akurat.

Yang paling konyol ada satu buah atlas yang mengatakan bahwa ibukota provinsi Bangka Belitung adalah Sungailiat padahal setahu saya ibu kota provinsi Bangka Belitung itu adalah Pangkal Pinang. Entah deh, kalau sekarang sudah dipindah ke Sungailiat (Atau mungkin dulu ibukota provinsi Babel itu memang Sungailihat ya??). Pokoknya pendek kata, saya sungguh prihatin sekali melihat kualitas-kualitas kebanyakan atlas-atlas buatan dalam negeri. Tentu saja, saya sadar bahwa atlas-atlas tersebut harganya relatif murah dan ‘hanya’ ditujukan untuk keperluan pendidikan, namun saya rasa itu bukan alasan untuk tidak memperbaiki atlas-atlas buatan lokal tersebut.

Saya sendiri heran, kenapa atlas-atlas “menyedihkan” tersebut bisa lolos ke percetakan, apakah mereka tidak pernah menyeleksi atau memeriksa isinya?? Padahal sekarang zamannya Internet dan data digital, semua bisa dengan mudah dicocokkan keakuratannya dan kekiniannya. Apakah mereka tidak pernah melakukan itu?? Apa Internetnya hanya buat Facebookan aja?? O iya ada satu lagi kelucuan dari salah satu atlas tersebut. Di salah satu atlas ada yang mencantumkan “The New 7 Wonders Of The World” atau “Tujuh Keajaiban Dunia Yang Baru”. Data tersebut dikatakannya diambil dari Internet. Padahal “The New 7 Wonders of The World” tersebut tidak pernah diakui oleh UNESCO!! Ada-ada aja! Keakuratan atau kekinian yang seharusnya masuk malah diabaikan, eh, kekinian yang seharusnya tidak perlu masuk malah diikutsertakan…..

Bau Kentut Kok Dihilangkan Dengan Bau Kentut Juga!!

Barangkali sebelum tahun baru lalu anda masih ingat gonjang-ganjing peluncuran buku “Membongkar Gurita Cikeas” karangan George Junus Aditjondro yang tak lama kemudian disusul dengan jawaban “tak resmi” buku tersebut yang juga diterbitkan dalam sebuah buku yang berjudul “Hanya Fitnah Dan Cari Sensasi: George Revisi Buku” karangan seorang mantan wartawan tempo bernama Setiyardi. Namun begitu, artikel ini tidak membahas tentang isi substansial kedua buku tersebut karena sayapun belum membaca langsung kedua buku tersebut namun dalam artikel ini saya akan berpendapat secara pribadi tentang ‘fenomena’ yang mirip dengan kasus kedua buku di atas di mana “bau kentut dicoba dihilangkan juga dengan bau kentut yang lain!”.

Dalam sebuah acara di TV-One, pengarang buku “Hanya Fitnah dan Cari Sensasi…..” mengatakan bahwa buku yang dikarang George mempunyai kelemahan dari sisi metodologi penulisan dan konten serta hanya menggunakan data sekunder tanpa melakukan konfirmasi. Memang banyak kalangan mengatakan bahwa buku karangan George tersebut adalah sampah. Namun dalam acara tersebut saya juga menangkap bahwa ternyata buku “Hanya Fitnah dan Cari Sensasi….” juga hanya memberikan pandangan pribadi yang subyektif dari sang pengarang. Okelah…. saya tidak akan menilai mana dari kedua buku yang lebih baik, agar adil ANGGAPLAH kedua buku tersebut adalah berkualitas sampah atau berkualitas kentut yang sangat bau. Lantas apa masalahnya??

Begini….. anggap saja anda bersama teman anda berada di sebuah ruangan yang agak sempit. Tiba-tiba teman anda kentut dengan baunya. Anda keberatan  dengan kentut teman anda yang baunya busuk itu, tapi anehnya anda ingin meredam bau kentut teman anda yang busuk itu dengan kentut anda sendiri yang tak kalah busuknya!! Secara psikologis bau kentut sendiri sebusuk apapun masih tercium lebih harum dibandingkan kentut orang lain yang baunya nggak begitu busuk . Tentu tindakan tersebut jadi terasa aneh bukan?? Bukankah jauh lebih baik jika bau kentut teman anda tersebut diredam dengan Glade Air Freshener yang beraroma mawar atau lemon? Jadi begitu juga dengan kasus buku ini, jikalau anda berkeberatan dengan isi, metodologi dan sebagainya dari buku ini, apalagi jika anda ingin menjawabnya dalam sebuah buku juga tentu anda harus mampu menjawabnya dengan isi dan metodologi yang lebih baik. Jangan kentut dibalas juga dengan kentut, walhasil malah tambah bau dan kacau!

Jadi, apakah tidak boleh menjawab buku yang berkualitas sampah dengan buku yang berkualitas sampah juga?? Tentu saja boleh! Jika anda ingin membalas kentut teman anda dengan kentut anda sendiri yang sama baunya tentu sah-sah saja. Namun akan terasa aneh misalnya, jika anda protes karena kentut teman anda yang bau namun anda sendiri ternyata mengeluarkan kentut yang sama baunya!! Saya mengharapkan bahwa ANDAIKAN nanti ada jawaban resmi, tidak resmi ataupun setengah resmi dari fihak Cikeas yang merasa dirugikan yang akan dituangkan dalam sebuah buku, saya berharap buku tersebut akan beraroma lebih harum dibandingkan buku yang akan disanggahnya. Misalnya, jika fihak Cikeas ingin membantah tentang aliran dana Bank Century (walaupun katanya di bukunya si George itu aliran dana Bank Century justru malah sangat sedikit dibahas) maka fihak Cikeas harus bisa juga menunjukkan ke mana sebenarnya dana Bank Century itu mengalir dengan dukungan data primer dan bukan hanya berupa sangkalan-sangkalan sefihak yang berdasarkan data sekunder juga! Begitulah Contohnya!

Nah… Nanti dulu…. jangan-jangan artikel ini juga berbau kentut! Ya biarin….. andaikata ada yang menilai artikel ini berbau kentut ya silahkan saja . Memang saya niatnya cuma mau kentut saja kok! Ini untuk menunjukkan bahwa kentut itu mudah kok. Tapi setidak-tidaknya saya kentut di tempat netral yang  jauh dari keributan “perang kentut”, jadi tidak menambah bau ruangan yang sudah bau tersebut! Jadi silahkan anda kentut, namun jangan cepat protes dengan kentut teman anda yang bau tersebut! “Duuuuuut…….” “ah, lega rasanya!!”

Up, Up To The Skies!

Manhattan Skyline (New York)

Who doesn’t recognise the panoramic picturesque view of Manhattan Skyline above? In the mid of the 20th century, New York City and some other North American cities were probably the only sites when one could set eyes on breathtaking view of skylines packed with highrise buidings. But as time dragged into the 21st century this phenomenon changed. North American cities were not the only homes of breathtaking skylines and the highest-rise buildings. Highest-rise buildings had even shifted eastwards to both the Far and the Near. With the economic boom in the Far East and the limited space of urban lands that made the price of lands soaring high, the most economic way to shelter people and their businesses was to build it up and up! These circumstances had raised ‘the highrise race’ in the Pacific Rim where people constructed skyscrapers like crazy!

Southeast Asian cities are of course no exception. In the capital cities of the ASEAN, this ‘race’ became more evident. Despite the facts that the slum areas still coexist side-by-side with the business districts where highrises are looming to the skies, breathtaking panoramic Manhattan-like skylines are now readily simulated by the Southeast Asian cities! To prove how close the Southeast Asian cities in paralleling Manhattan skyline these below are the pics of some capital cities of  ASEAN. The pics are grabbed from various sources Netwide.

Jakarta Skyline with BNI Tower (now it is dubbed "Wisma 46") in the centre.

Kuala Lumpur Skyline

Manila Skyline (The Philippines)

Singapore Skyline

Bangkok Skyline (Thailand)

These below are some fascinating second-rate skylines from non-capital cities of ASEAN:

Surabaya Skyline (East Java, Indonesia)

Kuching Skyline (Sarawak, Malaysia)

Well? What do you think? Do you think that these ASEAN cities are close enough to the well-known Manhattan Skyline in the density of the highrise buildings? It is up to you to judge, but these ASEAN cities are still growing and they still build things up and up to the skies! Let’s see what they will look like in, say, 10 years?? Okay, now, which of those skylines above is the best do you think? As an Indonesian, of course I would vote in favour of Jakarta, but as a neutral observer of course I would vote for…… Jakarta!! Hahahaha….. It seems that the adjective ‘neutral’ is not really working, isn’t it??

Burj Dubai Is Erected. Jakarta Tower, Hello??

The Present Man-Made Tallest Structure In The World: Burj Dubai.

The Future Tallest Man-Made Structure In The World?: Mubarak Tower in Kuwait measuring 1001 Meters!

With new year celebration being still in the air, The United Arab Emirates govt finally inaugurated the tallest building in the world that stands more than 800 metres high! The tallest man-made structure that costs around US$ 1.8 billion (for comparison, the future Sunda-strait bridge that will connect Sumatra with Java in Indonesia will ‘only’ cost US$ 1 billion) surpasses the former tallest building in the world: Taiwan’s T’aipei 101 by a margin of more than 300 metres! It means that if we stack the T’aipei 101 and the BNI Tower together (BNI Tower is the tallest building in Indonesia) they will still be towered over by the Dubai’s burj! But it seems the highrise race is not over yet! Mankind always wants to beat their own previous achievements. The next crazy project will be Mubarak Tower (its full designation is “Mubarak al-Kabir” Tower) in Kuwait. This tower is planned to hit the kilometre mark! Will they manage to erect it? Let’s wait and see because the project will top off in 2016.

Now, what about Jakarta Tower? Do they still have enthusiasm to build it? This tower was first proposed in the New Order era to show the world that this is the tallest building in the world. The proposed height is  only 558 metres. However, considering that the Burj Dubai has topped off first, is it still worth finishing it?? Or is it just a waste of time and money?? Worthless? Wait a minute! Though it won’t get entitled to the world’s tallest building in the world, we can entertain ourselves by designating a title as other desperate titles such as : the tallest building in Southeast Asia, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere and so on. Or the best of all, we will be happy to see that we have a superior building in height to Malaysia’s Petronas Twin Towers!

Post Script:

I watched the news yesterday informing that Burj Dubai has been redesignated as “Burj Khalifa“.

Ten Years After…

It is still fresh in my mind that how millennium bug issue grabbed the headlines in the newspapers and hit the cover stories of tech magazines worldwide whilst computer industries enjoyed the boost of their sales from this issue by marketing anti-millennium bug protection kits both software and hardware. Eventually we all know that this issue is a little bit blown out of proportion as no significant incidences occurred across the planet caused by this pumped up hullabaloo. Is it a marketing strategy from the computer industries to thrust their sales by kindling that brouhaha? I still have no good answers to that question and it seems that I don’t really care anymore and indeed nobody does!

Now, 10 years have elapsed since the millennium turnover. It is nine years if you think that the new millennium started at 2001 which I think is more correct since in the Christian calendar system there is no year 0 (zero). After 1 BC, it was straightly into 1 AD. But for simplicity and for aesthetics since the number 10 has more psychological impact than that of number 9, I assume that the millennium started at 2000. Now, 10 years after the millennium turnover what would I do about it? Practically nada! I would only thank God (Allah) that in 10 years He had blessed me with countless things beyond my perception. Forget about my childhood’s imagination on interstellar journeys that mankind makes in the early 21st century or on intelligent robots or androids that help people in their jobs! All those of my childhood’s imagination do not come true as the century or the millennium switched over. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t witness any improvements that ease up my life. Some improvements are readily observed by me since the millennium turnover. Some of them are put in the following list:

• Of course, I am financially better off with more handsome income I enjoy despite the soaring inflation that pushes up prices. I wish that in coming years (I pray to God) I would even pull down higher income!
• Internet connection in this country improves significantly. In the beginning of the century I could only connect to the Net that lumbered at the speed of dial-up connection from home. Now, downloading a movie or an mp3 file is a snap!
• Thank God I no longer need Telkom (Now it is called Telkom Indonesia) for my telecommunication or Internet needs. Although I still subscribe to the services they offer, the sudden termination of the services from the partly state-owned company would not leave me isolated from the rest of the world! Ten years ago it was impossible to connect to distant places in other parts of the world without the services from the company!
• I am now immersed in digital gadgets galore. From the time I wake up in the morning until I hit the sack late at night I have never got away from digital gadgets that make my life easier and more colourful.

And so on…. certainly I am also happy to watch my kids grow up healthily, and I am pleased to see how my closest friends and relatives are going more and more prosperous year in year out. Despite some little flies in the ointment, I thank Him for all His blessings. May this year and the years to come would become more blessed years for all of us.