Surat Untuk Firman

taken from here.

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Kawan, kita sebaya. Hanya bulan yang membedakan usia. Kita tumbuh di tengah sebuah generasi dimana tawa bersama itu sangat langka. Kaki kita menapaki jalan panjang dengan langkah payah menyeret sejuta beban yang seringkali bukan urusan kita. Kita disibukkan dengan beragam masalah yang sialnya juga bukan urusan kita. Kita adalah anak-anak muda yang dipaksa tua oleh televisi yang tiada henti mengabarkan kebencian. Sementara adik-adik kita tidak tumbuh sebagaimana mestinya, narkoba politik uang membunuh nurani mereka. Orang tua, pendahulu kita dan mereka yang memegang tampuk kekuasaan adalah generasi gagal. Suatu generasi yang hidup dalam bayang-bayang rencana yang mereka khianati sendiri. Kawan, akankah kita berhenti lantas mengorbankan diri kita untuk menjadi seperti mereka?
Di negeri permai ini, cinta hanyalah kata-kata sementara benci menjadi kenyataan. Kita tidak pernah mencintai apapun yang kita lakukan, kita hanya ingin mendapatkan hasilnya dengan cepat. Kita tidak mensyukuri berkah yang kita dapatkan, kita hanya ingin menghabiskannya. Kita enggan berbagi kebahagiaan, sebab kemalangan orang lain adalah sumber utama kebahagiaan kita. Kawan, inilah kenyataan memilukan yang kita hadapi, karena kita hidup tanpa cinta maka bahagia bersama menjadi langka. Bayangkan adik-adik kita, lupakan mereka yang tua, bagaimana mereka bisa tumbuh dalam keadaan demikian. Kawan, cinta adalah persoalan kegemaran. Cinta juga masalah prinsip. Bila kau mencintai sesuatu maka kau tidak akan peduli dengan yang lainnya. Tidak kepada poster dan umbul-umbul, tidak kepada para kriminal yang suka mencuci muka apalagi kepada kuli kamera yang menimbulkan kolera. Cinta adalah kesungguhan yang tidak dibatasi oleh menang dan kalah.
Hari-hari belakangan ini keadaan tampak semakin tidak menentu. Keramaian puluhan ribu orang antre tidak mendapatkan tiket. Jutaan orang lantang bersuara demi sepakbola. Segelintir elit menyiapkan rencana jahat untuk menghancurkan kegembiraan rakyat. Kakimu, kawan, telah memberi makna solidaritas. Gocekanmu kawan, telah mengundang tarian massal tanpa saweran. Terobosanmu, kawan, menghidupkan harapan kepada adik-adik kita bahwa masa depan itu masih ada. Tendanganmu kawan, membuat orang-orang percaya bahwa kata “bisa” belum punah dari kehidupan kita. Tetapi inilah buruknya hidup di tengah bangsa yang frustasi, semua beban diletakkan ke pundakmu. Seragammu hendak digunakan untuk mencuci dosa politik. Kegembiraanmu hendak dipunahkan oleh iming-iming bonus dan hadiah. Di Bukit Jalil kemarin, ada yang mengatakan kau terkapar, tetapi aku percaya kau tengah belajar. Di Senayan esok, mereka bilang kau akan membalas, tetapi aku berharap kau cukup bermain dengan gembira.
Firman Utina, kapten tim nasional sepak bola Indonesia, bermain bola lah dan tidak usah memikirkan apa-apa lagi. Sepak bola tidak ada urusannya dengan garuda di dadamu, sebab simbol hanya akan menggerus kegembiraan. Sepak bola tidak urusannya dengan harga diri bangsa, sebab harga diri tumbuh dari sikap dan bukan harapan. Di lapangan kau tidak mewakili siapa-siapa, kau memperjuangkan kegembiraanmu sendiri. Di pinggir lapangan, kau tidak perlu menoleh siapa-siapa, kecuali Tuan Riedl yang percaya sepak bola bukan dagangan para pecundang. Berlarilah Firman, Okto, Ridwan dan Arif, seolah-olah kalian adalah kanak-kanak yang tidak mengerti urusan orang dewasa. Berjibakulah Maman, Hamzah, Zulkifli dan Nasuha seolah-olah kalian mempertahankan kegembiraan yang hendak direnggut lawan. Tenanglah Markus, gawang bukan semata-mata persoalan kebobolan tetapi masalah kegembiraan membuyarkan impian lawan. Gonzales dan Irvan, bersikaplah layaknya orang asing yang memberikan contoh kepada bangsa yang miskin teladan.
Kawan, aku berbicara tidak mewakili siapa-siapa. Ini hanyalah surat dari seorang pengolah kata kepada seorang penggocek bola. Sejujurnya, kami tidak mengharapkan Piala darimu. Kami hanya menginginkan kegembiraan bersama dimana tawa seorang tukang becak sama bahagianya dengan tawa seorang pemimpin Negara. Tidak, kami tidak butuh piala, bermainlah dengan gembira sebagaimana biasanya. Biarkan bola mengalir, menarilah kawan, urusan gol seringkali masalah keberuntungan. Esok di Senayan, kabarkan kepada seluruh bangsa bahwa kebahagiaan bukan urusan menang dan kalah. Tetapi kebahagiaan bersumber pada cinta dan solidaritas. Berjuanglah layaknya seorang laki-laki, kawan. Adik-adik kita akan menjadikan kalian teladan!

 

Jewelry of Thoughts

Yesterday, I have a chance visited to my old office (namely: Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Informatics) to see my old friends. I met my previous boss and and talked several of things. Well practically anything from trust+ and other government projects. Well what is very make my day is what me and my previous boss big projects is now done and when I came by, the books (2 books) is just about to be send to the minister desks (read: Tiffatul Sembiring). Is it amazing that our hard works for about 6 months about Indonesian ICT sector will be read by the minister himself? For me who is not a government employee, IT professional, academition or even great consultant, to give several of my thought regarding this sector to the minister himself is indeed one great experience even though regrettably I can’t put it in my CV  .

Just hoping that the books will give contributions to make Indonesia a better place, in this case make Indonesian ICT sector a better sector. For me, maybe this is my last real direct and biggest contribution in nation level. My first contribution is in Jardiknas project for Indonesian Ministry of National Education when I was a researcher in ITB, while other contributions is better keep classified . Going to missed these experiences, but life must go on. Just hoping somewhere in the future I can achieve my dream and contributing to my country in the same time. But for now an ordinary good tax payer seems a good role for me

 

Learning from Qualitative Research

This is general learnings from qualitative research that I followed during the last 2 months, involving more than 10 times of FGD (Focus Group Discussion) from several market research agencies (Mindspace, Deka, Synovate, and one research agency that I forget). I also experienced the wide range purpose of these research from concept test until packaging test. The specific findings is secret but I believe I can share to you the general findings, this is few of it:

1. Moderator is very important: If you conduct a qualitative research, in this case FGD, make sure your FGD moderator is good. This is the most significant KPI that make the whole process success or fail. If you want a little detail you can also try to find who is the research manager behind your moderator. Because that research manager is the one who briefing your moderator, it is important to make sure that your agency’s marketing manager and moderator is brand-minded, have good knowledge about your industry, and have exceptional capabilities in directing the flow of the  discussion.

2. Respondents are very important: respondents should be represent your target respondents. I find quite bad experience my self when one of the research agency is done a fatal blowing mistake by letting two of respondents is not our intended respondents. But because of the project itself is a regional project and lack of coordination with our side. A important learning, ensure your coordination with all the stakeholders when you conduct your research. The number of respondents is also critical in the process. I found that 8 respondents is too much to be handled by a moderator. There is always blind spot (silent respondent that the moderator forgot to explore) in 8 respondents FGD’s, but again this is very dependent on the skills of the moderator. In my first FGD’s I see that the moderator is quite superb and didn’t find any difficulties in managing 8 respondents FGD’s but again if you don’t sure with your moderator qualities then 6 respondents is a safe bet.

3.  Stimulus is important: stimulus is a support tools that help respondent in doing their job, giving us meaningful information. In packaging test, the packaging can be shown to respondent so they have clear experience on how is the real packaging. Others stimulus including: video, enlarge picture, magazine or newspaper and etc. If you or your research agency can provide the stimulus it is recommended for using it for optimal result.

4. Settings is important: time and place is important. If you conduct the research in workday and worktime it’s quite good settings because your respondents is in the good shape and have fresh mind (and most of them taking on leave holiday) to give their input. But if you conduct the research in workday and after time than there is serious risk with your respondents because your respondents is already in tired situation due to the working all day and traffic jam situation. So  it is best to pick on worktime or weekend time for conducting your research. Place is also important. Make sure your FGD’s place is comfortable so the respondents can focussed on the process instead of everything else. And one other thing, make sure you take their communication device (handphone, BB, and etc) to ensure focus on the process.

After your take care all the important factors your job as the FGD’s witness is make sure that the moderator don’t miss any important questions, you can check it with Discussion Guide (DG). It is also important that you dig the important findings that maybe not occurs in your discussion guide because that is your job (in this case our job ) to make sure that this process result is meaningful findings not just not important findings.

 

The Paradox of Our Time

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space; we’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals; we have more food, but less appeasement; we build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we’ve become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology has brought this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference, or to just hit delete…

(George Carlin taken from here)

 

One Fine Afternoon Talk

Yesterday, I was attending my friend wedding ceremony (again). But unlike any other wedding ceremony this one is quite special because friend that married is my kosan (dormitory) friend. And all of my dormitory friends who shared one year of our first year of college is also attending the ceremony. The ceremony itself is very interesting because they using cultural wedding ceremony which is Batak culture, this is the second of cultural wedding that I attended after my friend, Achai wedding using Betawi culture. Very-very interesting wedding ceremony indeed, I can learn a lot of Batak culture in this ceremony itself.

 

After we attended the wedding ceremony, we (me, Bambang, and Adit) went to PGC mall and have a reunion meeting of our own (Thanks to Ronny who kindly drove us to PGC). We sat and drink our hot chocolate in Dunkin Donuts counter and practically talk about everything. My friend Adit was and still an entrepreneur, one consistent quality that I admire from him. My other friend Bambang works as an engineer in Elnusa, one of oil service company in Indonesia. Old days is just like yesterday, the old us, where we still just a student in ITB. A lot things happen after that sweet moments. Adit now is married with one children, Ulu is just married, Bambang and me, well we are not married yet but at least we have our couple now . It’s funny to see times changes all of us. But the real question remain, where we want to be in the next 5 years? For me, I already get my 5 years projection since that time, which is working not in IT world . But now it’s time to me to think more thorough about my life, where I want to be in the next 5 years. What do I want to accomplish in those time frame and soon. I must learn from Adit in this matter, for me he already find his world where he has found his self actualization. Well aren’t we just an ordinary human, who just can do the best from our self? Well let see where am I in the next 5 years

 

Understanding Indonesian Consumers: Gadget Study Case

Well because I am in marketing department, I feel an obligation to make a little writing about my conclusion so far about my job. Please be noted that this writing is only my hypothesis with no proven data, and in the perspective of 3 months old new employee, so any disagreement is always welcome. I interested to write this issue because of simple talk during my first qualitative research (see below), a simple talk between me, my MT friend, my brand portfolio manager, Keith, and one English gentleman that I forgot his name (damn! very ungentle of me!) . Well we were discussing about anything about Obama, Jakarta, Indonesia etc, and one thing leads to another than suddenly the gentleman (I am referring the gentleman whom the name I forgot) discussing about his iphone, and Keith also shows his gadget, an ordinary hand phone, just like mine! well not as cheap as mine but its not something hi tech like blackberry or iphone. She believes that hand phone should be just for telephone and sms texting, if she wants to internet, chatting, or internet then she will use her laptop. Again suddenly I’m feeling not to lonely in this world . And by the end of her statement, she noted that she don’t know till how long she can hold up to her idealism! Aha now I feel not to alone in this world, well not to lonely because my dearest one also follow this outliner pattern. Well looking at them, I realize something, they are the perfect model for consumer model in western world, one is emotional driven (Apple’s lover) and the others is functional driven, and btw I am functional driven guy . And now lets discussing about Indonesian consumers profile that should be understand not just by any company which runs business in Indonesia but also any person who dealing with Indonesian consumers.

First hypothesis is Indonesian Consumers is very creative. Well if you think that Indonesia is composed by hundreds of ethnics and tribes, and each one of them have their own uniqueness, own culture, own food, own music instrument, own dance, etc you will see that these facts is not very surprising. But one thing should be noted that Indonesian creativity is not in the form of making something sophisticated, but rather to making something more useful.  We are not like Western who often creates something great or Japanese who do Kaizen (little sustainable improvement), we don’t have that technical skill (yet) but we can maximize how products is used. I am not saying that Indonesian people is the most creative people in world (but one of the best I believe, just ask for Malaysia who love to copy our culture product if you doubt this statement ), but creative in our own way, we shape technology usage in our own way.

Second hypothesis is Indonesian Consumers is very consumptive. Yes, we are that damn consumptive, this second hypothesis is better asked for Singaporean. Indonesian is well known for the main buyer of their property products mostly apartments. Indonesian tourists is also known for the generous spending in that country. Well consumptive or not you must compare it with the income, but still Singapore is just like the place to spend your money. Not a very good profile. Second example can you imagine that the one of the world most expensive gadget biggest market is Indonesia. Yes for Nokia Communicator, Indonesia is their main market. Its not like at that time Indonesian people utilized all its feature but for some reason (the last hypothesis) Indonesian loves Nokia Communicator at that time.

Third hypothesis is Indonesian Consumers is very communal. Indonesian like any other Asian is very communal. Indonesian seems like to communicate with almost everybody. A sight that you maybe will not see in western world or even Asia itself. There is no wonder that Indonesian is known as the most smiling country because we love to interact, we love to help even for a stranger of course in certain security level. A heartwarming welcome you don’t ordinary see even in our neighbor country. A lesson is true smile comes from heart not from money  . There is an important mores in Indoensian lives that these days slowly forgotten, the mores is called Gotong Royong in Bahasa or in doing something together. We build our mosque, home, and other infrastructure together with all the community element, a tradition that very hard to met in these days, hopefully it still practice in rural area. Same reason why Indonesian filled almost all social network website such as: facebook, twitter, and etc.

Fourth hypothesis is Indonesia Consumers is very status oriented. Maybe it have to do with Indonesian background with hundreds of separated kingdom. King is the highest position for a long time, but when Indonesia is converse into republic, well you can see that old habit dies hard. Now in republic era, money is the status symbol. People with a lot of money tends to be more honored. But please be noted that many leader in spiritual and others category is honored not just by their money, but mostly they also tends to be very wealthy.

So back to our study case, simple question needs to be answered, why does Indonesian loves Blackberry instead of IPhone, Nokian, and etc? Simple, because by far Blackberry is the gadget that fulfill most of these hypothesis. For the first hypothesis, do you know that Blackberry business model in Indonesia is different from any other country? Blackberry always targeted corporate users. That is why they needed dedicated bandwidth from the operator to RIM server to fulfill their QoS. Indonesian consumers change their business model upside down, instead of selling for corporate, Indonesian people used Blackberry for handphone and treat it like retail products. Suddenly Blackberry growth reach for 500% growth just by convert their business model. This is an example of how creative is Indonesian people really are. So first insight from this hypothesis is when you do business in Indonesia, try to be flexible, and don’t ever think your proven concept in other countries can be implemented in Indonesia.  Second hypothesis is an opportunity for premium products almost in all aspects. This is the main reason why this middle income country has tremendous demand on some products, hi tech product is not an exception. Can you imagine what is the impact for the world if let say that purchasing power of Indonesian is double? Double market for Blackberry, Mercedes, BMW, and for Singapore apartment . Third hypothesis is proven in application level. Killer application for IPhone is itunes while killer application for Blackberry are BBM (Blackberry Messenger). BBM is a communal application, while itunes is very self centered (if you declined egoist ) application. And if you doing a research about why the Blackberry users buys their Blackberry, I bet there is a significant evidence that they used BBM to chat with their friends. Not a very surprising facts if you notice how Indonesian love to interact with their surroundings . Fourth hypothesis is mainly an effect on second hypothesis, carrying Blackberry is like carrying an ID to show you that you’re A segment in SEC segmentation. Blackberry is beating IPhone, because Blackberry is perceive as social status more than IPhone.

To resume this writing, this is my advice for you all who have business in Indonesia. Be flexible, sell in premium price, use western name, give communal touch, and make your products a symbol of wealth. If you targeted the medium segment, try to make products that imitate premium products with the same functionality, this is also the reason why China QWERTY phone cell is also quite popular in Indonesia. Win llike Blackberry win against Nokia, IPhone, and etc. But again this is just my opinion, and for now I don’t have interest in Blackberry or IPhone, and like Keith said, “I just don’t know how long can I reject this social change”

 

My First Qualitative Research

In term of research there are 2 kinds of research, first one is Quantitative Research and the other is Qualitative Research. Quantitative research basically dealing with quantitative data. I have done and still conduct this research, but qualitative one I haven’t got the experience to taste it… well not until this morning. This morning I attended the research for qualitative research (the test type, methodology, and result is secret! ). For me this is a new experience. This is my first experience done such research in very proper way, every action is done according to the plan. The good news is the research result was quite encouraging us to do the next plan. Me, my boss, my MT friend, the brand manager, and the two designers from England was pretty please with the result. For me, this event is another insightful moment, and I try to experienced it as best as I could. Well next week I will also joining to my second and third qualitative research. Wew a busy week I guess, can’t wait for it

 

Otak Kanan

Yup, otak kanan adalah otak yang berhubungan dengan kreatifitas. Hal yang sangat dijunjung tinggi pada saat ini. Perusahaan tempat penulis bekerja juga sedang bertransformasi dari perusahaan otak kiri ke perusahaan otak kanan. Dulu cat dekoratif yang dianggap hanya sebagai komoditas yang menekankan pada keefisienan supply chain mulai berubah menjadi consumer  goods yang penuh dengan proses branding dll. Dan dalam proses transisi ini, perusahaan penulis mulai berani menyebut bahwa “kami adalah perusahaan di bidang dekoratif” bukan sekedar perusahaan cat. Transformasi yang sebenarnya cukup menarik bagi penulis karena baru sekali ini penulis berada pada lingkungan yang didominasi oleh sebagian besar otak kanan, penulis pun sebenarnya penganut aliran otak kiri. Dan yang lebih lucu lagi adalah penulis ditempatkan pada bagian dimana mayoritas orangnya otak kanan, yaitu marketing.

Marketing adalah dunia yang sangat dinamis, butuh waktu bagi penulis untuk mencoba memahami dunia ini, tapi beruntung bahwa penulis ditempatkan di bagian yang sangat eksak dari divisi ini, yaitu Business Insight dan Research. Business Insight adalah divisi dari marketing yang bertugas untuk mencari insight atau pencerahan yang dapat digunakan untuk competitive advantage perusahaan. Konsep ini sangat umum di industri FMCG dan rokok yang notabenenya adalah 2 industri tercanggih soal branding dan marketing. Dikarenakan transformasi ke otak kanan ini, maka dibajaklah beberapa orang terbaik dari kedua industri dan walah jadilah perusahaan penulis berisikan orang-orang hebat dari kedua industri ini. Bos penulis adalah mantan brand manager Heinz, sedangkan bos besar penulis adalah mantan brand manager Unilever, marketing director Heinz, Bintang Toejoeh dan segudang pengalaman lain yang penulis baca beritanya di swa . Selain bertugas mencari insight dari tumpukan-tumpukan file excel, divisi ini bertugas untuk menanggani berbagai macam marketing research yang akan dilakukan oleh agency lain. Karena kebetulan bos penulis ditunjuk sebagai penanggungjawab business insight dan research untuk tingkat regional, maka penulis pun bisa icip2 pengalaman market research tingkat regional.

Kalau dipikir-pikir penulis sangat beruntung, ditempatkan di divisi yang sangat cocok, bos yang sangat baik dan hebat, dan perusahaan yang sedang bertransformasi menjadikan pengalaman belajar sangat sangat terbuka luas. Penulis jadi sedikit banyak bisa mengerti cara pikir orang berotak kanan dan belajar darinya. Semoga pengalaman ini bisa membalance kan kehidupan penulis yang cenderung otak kiri. Sebuah kesempatan yang luar biasa

 

SMS aneh…

Beberapa hari lalu dapet sms aneh dari temen:

“Fred lu ga pengen jd PNS pajak depkeu? Kan bs tajir tuh,ky gayus”

Wew sms yang aneh banget, masa diriku disamain sama gayus si koruptor itu? . Tapi sedikit banyak pertanyaan menarik juga mari kita bahas satu persatu.

Sepanjang perjalanan penulis, penulis pernah punya akses jalan masuk ke 3 dunia, dunia akademis,  dunia PNS, dan dunia MNC. Akses dunia akademis terbuka ketika penulis melakukan riset di ITB di sebuah proyek besar yang sekarang denger2 bermasalah dengan KPK (sumpah penulis hanya makan duit halal di proyek ini ). Penulis mendapatkan tawaran dari seorang dosen untuk melanjutkan pendidikan ke dunia IT dengan beasiswa yang harus dibayar dengan tetap menjadi peneliti di bawah dosen tersebut. Terus terang ini adalah tawaran yang sangat sangat menarik apalagi untuk seseorang dengan IP pas-pasan ketika di S1 seperti penulis. Namun beberapa hal yang cukup membantu proses tersebut adalah penulis bersama team tersebut juga menerbitkan sebuah paper di konferensi internasional yang cukup bergengsi. Menjadi seorang peneliti ketika menjadi pelajar ketika menempuh pendidikan S-2 merupakan skenario terbaik bagi penulis. Selain beasiswa yang ditawarkan, terbayang pula penulis dapat menghidupi diri sendiri dari uang hasil riset bersama dosen tersebut, belum lagi sampingan menjadi tutor SUN SL-275, pokoknya masa2 itu penulis merasa cukup menikmati hiduplah. Tapi ada satu penghalang pada masa itu, hal yang sangat simple namun sangat fundamental yaitu penulis pada dasarnya tidak suka dengan dunia IT, penjurusan S2 yang ditawarkan kepada penulis. Terlepas lulus di jurusan informatika di Institut Teknologi terbaik di Indonesia (masih ga? ) dengan IP yang hampir 3 (2 basis poin dibawah 3), mempunyai sertifikat keprofesian internasional salah satu platform yang paling populer di dunia, publish paper di conference internasional, mengajar international akademik course dari vendor yang penulis punyai sertifikat keahliannya hanya membuktikan bahwa penulis bisa dan belum tentu mau. Semua kembali pada pilihan sebenarnya, untuk pribadi penulis sendiri, untuk sesuatu yang tidak pernah disukai, penulis telah membayar semua penyesalan penulis di bidang ilmu itu dengan tunai plus bunganya. I have done what I think my best. Dan setelah perenungan yang panjang penulis memutuskan untuk berbelok di persimpangan, karena hal yang fundamental terkadang memang tidak dapat ditawar.

Kesempatan berkenalan dengan dunia PNS terjadi ketika penulis sedang dalam proses pencarian kerja. Proses pencarian kerja yang begitu melelahkan (fisik dan emosional) itu mengantarkan penulis menjadi konsultan Direktorat e-Business, Direktorat Jenderal Aplikasi Telematika, Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika Republik Indonesia. Sama seperti waktu di ITB, penulis juga mendapat tawaran yang sama untuk mengabdi kepada negara. Menjadi PNS sebenarnya adalah tawaran yang sangat menarik jika ditinjau dari kebijakan reenumerasi PNS yang cepat atau lambat akan menular ke Kementerian lain termasuk Kemkominfo. Gaji Gayus yang baru mungkin kurang dari 5 tahun di Depkeu pun yang halal telah mencapai 12 juta per bulan kalau ga salah. Namun hal yang sangat berat untuk dilepas bagi penulis adalah kesempatan untuk belajar yang sangat terbuka lebar di sektor negara ini. Penulis jadi bersentuhan dengan beragam pihak penting seperti vendor-vendor telekomunikasi (Telkom, Telkomsel, Indosat, Lintas Artha, Artha Jasa dll), pejabat2 esselon di Kemkominfo, lintas departemen (Kementerian Perekonomian, Kemdag, Kemkes, Kemkumham, dll), pihak luar (ASEAN, ITU, WSIS, APEC, World Bank, dll), Kadin, dll. Dan pengalaman dalam waktu singkat ini benar2 telah memperkaya pengetahuan dan wawasan penulis. Karena hadir di rapat2 yang cukup strategis dalam level negara seperti itu adalah pengalaman baru bagi penulis. Namun tetap hal-hal yang fundamental memang terkadang tidak bisa ditawar. Sama seperti dunia akademis, dunia birokrasi juga bukan merupakan panggilan hati penulis. Hal yang simpel memang, suara hati memang terkadang harus sebisa mungkin diikuti selama baik. Akhirnya setelah penulis  mendapatkan tawaran pekerjaan dari sebuah perusahaan, penulis pun dengan berat hati terpaksa meninggalkan kesempatan untuk belajar lebih lanjut di Kemkominfo, tapi the show must go on, and my time to learn from it has already passed.

Dan sekarang penulis bekerja di salah satu grup MNC Kimia terbesar di dunia, dan untuk kategori coating adalah yang paling besar di dunia. Disini sama seperti dua pengalaman penulis terdahulu disinipun penulis sangat beruntung karena bertemu dengan orang-orang yang sangat kompeten di bidangnya, dengan kemungkinan yang sangat luas untuk belajar hal yang terbaik dari masing-masing dunia. Penulis tidak pernah menyangka bahwa orang dengan background informatika dan finance seperti penulis ditempatkan di Marketing dan dapat belajar dari beberapa orang2 yang terbaik di bidang ini (consumer goods), sebuah pengalaman yang benar2 memperkaya tidak hanya wawasan penulis namun juga hati penulis. 4JJ1 telah sangat baik terhadap penulis, diberi olehNya taste terbaik dari ketiga dunia, dan Alhamdulillah penulis merasa cocok di dunia yang terakhir ini. Sebuah pilihan sebenarnya. Namun bila ditanya apakah penulis akan setia dengan perusahaan ini? Penulis ga bisa jawab, karena seperti nasehat dari HR Director perusahaan ini, untuk setia terhadap profesionalitas bukan terhadap perusahaan, penulis akan memegang kata2 yang sangat bijak tersebut. Untuk sekarang, sama seperti yang penulis lakukan pada 2 kesempatan sebelumnya, penulis akan menikmati kesempatan ini. Entah sampai kapan

Jadi untuk jawaban pertanyaan tersebut. Mungkin untuk saat ini tidak lah. Penulis sudah bahagia dengan anugerah yang diberikan kepada penulis sekarang

 

Bitter Birthday

Selamat ulang tahun negriku…