Asia Blogging Network

HP have long been fighting a battle against refill cartridges, especially in my part of the world. But I think they’re going too far in this case — abusing customers and damaging their credibility and brand in the process.

Recently I received spam in my inbox from the website www.hporiginalsupplies.com, in Indonesian, inviting me to the HP Original Supplies Zone, where it said I could receive information about original HP products. (The email said I had received it because I had participated in HP promotions before. The only way that they could have received that particular email address was through my official dealings with HP, when at no time do I recall giving permission to be spammed — which raises its own concerns.)

The email itself contained some links to HP.com but its images etc were mostly hosted on the hporiginalsupplies.com website. I could find no easy way of confirming this was a legit HP site — the website was registered by a local webhosting company called Master Web Network. So no way of telling there. And as you may have found if you clicked on the link, the home URL itself throws up only a blank page; only this one, for unsubscribing, seems to.

It took a while for the HP guys to figure it out too: They came back to me today to tell me it is legit. It’s a website for an “electronic direct mailer” or eDM for “the HP Original Rewards program in Indonesia…. HP Original Rewards is an HP loyalty program designed for Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) for the purchase of original HP print cartridges.”

To their credit, HP acknowledge that the “eDM doesn’t comply with HP’s brand standards” and have promised to do something about it. But that’s not really what troubles me. What troubles me is this:

• Why is HP setting up website addresses with its brand name in without following the usual brand procedures — a way for consumers to check whether it is, indeed, an HP site through the usual methods.
• Why is HP sending out spam, sorry, eDMs? OK, this is just Indonesia, but hey, we’re still people, right? I don’t like being spammed at any hour of the day by anyone, but especially not by a big player who doesn’t even bother to identify themselves properly.
• What makes this worse is that we’re talking about HP trying to persuade people to buy non-fake, non-refilled disposables. But how would I know that isn’t a company pretending to sell legit goods? The malls and streets here are full of exactly that: HP boxes and containers full of goods that aren’t, or are no longer, legit HP products.

I can understand HP’s difficulties here. It must be hard to launch these kinds of promotions while keeping an eagle eye on agencies and promoters you may outsource the work to. But if you’re trying to get the message across to consumers that they should be buying your genuine products and not falling for fakes and knock-offs, you shouldn’t be spamming them from a domain that itself looks fake and dodgy.

In 1983, Howard Gardner, a Harvard professor, shook the world with his Multiple Intelligences theory in Frames of Mind, later in 1993 with Multiple Intelligences: New Horizon, and lately with Five Minds for the Future. He has re-shaped how we think about our potentials and how we see the world. He has shown us how we are multi-dimensional human beings and that we can tap into whatever we own inside to succeed.

Based on his works, many researchers have used it as the foundation of other fascinating theories, such as Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence: Why It May Be More Important than IQ. One of the latest works that has been receiving numerous accolades is Karl Albrecht’s Social Intelligence: The New Science of Success. (Note: This Karl Albrecht is not the 87-year old #15 billionaire in 2007 according to Forbes, however. Same name, different person.)

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“Be one in a million, not one of a million” may not sound profound, especially if you are an English as a second or a foreign language speaker. Despite the subtle nuance, both have different meanings and we can learn to be aware of the significance by making a mental comparison. Which one are you? One “in” a million or “of” a million?

“One in a million” literally means being a special one among a million, while “one of a million” simply translates as being an ordinary person among a million. Many of us believe that we are simply a part of the statistics, which means being an ordinary person among a million or even billions. We go to work, go back home, and do it all over again the next day. Routine has become a habit and a habit has defined who we are, more likely.

We oftentimes forget how special and how powerful our mind and heart are, especially when we conscientiously combine them and make them work in alignment. Such synergy can be extremely powerful beyond measure. Yet we might not realize it and overlook many things, just because. Now, what makes us so special, we may ask?

We might think that there are so many people like us. For instance, there are so many people all over the world who receive similar trainings and were brought up in similar environments. There are so many things around us that cloud our own reflection in the mirror without being distracted and seeing a compromised version.

We admit that we often forget how we were born as special beings. I am not going to repeat things we have known, but let us ponder upon the elements around us that frequently creating a veil over our feelings of being special. Being created, designed, and born one of a kind.

In certain cultures, acknowledging how special we are is oftentimes considered pompous and arrogant. There is, on the other hand, a thin line between being “confident” and being “arrogant.” In most Asian countries, it is always preferred to keep a low-key profile and not to outshine others. There is an Indonesian adage that says, “The higher you have become, the more you need to bow down.”

Sure, it makes a lot of sense because there is no doubt humility will go a long way, even in this highly wired modern world. Still, many people misunderstood it as “lowering ourselves as low as others or lower than others, so we do not threaten other people by being ourselves.” That is a total misconception.

The fine line between being “confident” and being “arrogant” is an awareness of self and how one relates to the environment. A confident person accepts accolades with grace, strives to better themselves and their surroundings with dignified efforts. They do not take things, either tangible or intangible, from others. They know where they stand and how to get where they are heading in life. An arrogant person behaves differently: they do not accept things with grace, even take things that do not belong to them, and tend to belittle others in order to elevate themselves.

One thing that we should not forget as special beings is that we are all born with multiple intelligences. According to Howard Gardner, there are at least eleven types of intelligence:

1. Linguistic intelligence
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence
3. Spatial intelligence
4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
5. Musical intelligence
6. Naturalistic intelligence
7. Interpersonal intelligence
8. Intrapersonal intelligence
9. Spiritual intelligence
10. Existential intelligence
11. Moral intelligence

What we need to be aware here is that everybody has a concoction of special intelligences. We all have our strong and weak traits. Simply do not focus on what you do not have, but instead hone whatever you have at hand. I personally prefer, however, focusing on what I can do best because that is my “niche” in the world. Whatever is easy for me might not be that easy for other people, which is awesome.

At last, let us all be aware of how special we are. Because, after all, we are one in a million, not one of a million. Let us be special persons with a lot of grace. Let us be confident and accept our strengths and weaknesses that make us superstars in our niche. We are all born special, so let us live as special individuals. Unabashedly, yet with a lot of humility.

Rapid advances in Information Technology (IT) may revolutionize ways in gaining knowledge and acceptance in IT professional world. Shift in mind-set, education curriculum should be made in a short time, as one may radically left behind. Rapid advances in the technology open up huge IT job opportunities. Those who wish to find IT jobs in Indonesia, one simply subscribes to various lowongan mailing lists in Yahoogroups or lowongan.net to be flooded by 10–20 IT lowongan opportunities daily. Not to mention, the daily huge ads in the various newspapers in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia are seeking for IT professionals. Thus, there are too many IT job opportunities with unfortunately very little supply of qualified human resource to fill it.

Unfortunately, most computer science teachers as well as the national curriculum seem to be gentle in responding these rapid advances in IT world. By simple check list, is there any formal education for those who wish to learn on PHP? JavaScript? WML? C++? SQL? ASP? BGP Routing? The answer would unfortunately be NO. An awful condition, simply due to lack of motivation within the educational institutions to keep up with the new advances in Information Technology as well as constrains by the Indonesian Ministry of Education to follow the ancient national IT curriculum else received lower accreditation levels. Thus, to be frank, no one may rely on the formal scheme in gaining knowledge and acceptance in IT community and to survive in IT real world. In other words, one may unfortunately gain nothing from the expensive formal IT education. It forces one to seek the knowledge from other sources to survive. In reality, most of IT knowledge is informally obtained among IT practitioners thru either discussions, open source CD-ROMs or various types of Internet delivery media.

Having IT knowledge would open up a gateway into a vast poll of job and opportunities. It is common in various web sites to place a link on job opportunity available in their companies. Professional C++, web, SQL programmers and network security expert (also known as hacker) may be the most wanted professionals in IT world. Sadly, none of their knowledge was gain in formal schools.

Those professionals are mostly mobile with laptop at hand and other electronic gadgets would receive monthly earnings of at least US$500–1000. An income level that can be reached by those who strive to their best in specialized IT skill in 2–4 years time, based on my observation of my students. The real pro may get away with a couple of US$ tenth thousand project based fee.
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Moderated a talk at the Malaysia Club Jakarta (MCJ) business gathering last night featuring the business blogger Yosef Ardi and The Jakarta Post Managing Editor Riyadi Suparno as speakers. It was the first time that the MCJ organized such an event and even the Malaysian Ambassador took time off from his diplomatic rounds to drop in on the event.

The topic was Business and the Press and some of the insights shared by the two senior journalists were interesting indeed. Among them were that:

• barely a decade after Reformasi the conglomerates are back, except in a more diffused fashion,
• many local business conglomerates are buying into newspapers and other media,
• many of the conglomerate-owned news media are profitable yet are maintained to do the bidding of the owners,
• some conglomerates use these papers to further their business interests, especially if they get in fights with foreign partners,
• there are many Malaysians coming to Indonesia that it has exceeded the 2 million visitor target set by the Indonesian government. There are apparently so many Malaysians visiting Bandung, for instance, than many Indonesians have taken to speaking in Bahasa Melayu to cater to the visitors
• Vice President Jusuf Kalla says he has three main headaches: democracy, local autonomy and the Press, who hound him on perceived between his family business and politics
• there is a perception by some newspeople that Malaysians are better investors here than Singaporeans. The perception is that the Malaysians are less rapacious and are more prone to plough back their profits into business development in Indonesia

As a Malaysian living in Indonesia for the past decade I find the last point I find particularly interesting. I wonder if Indonesians really share the perceptions of some newspeople that Malaysians make better investors than Singaporeans? And is it true that there is some feeling of affinity between Indonesians and Malaysians because of the “serumpun” factor? Is it true that there is much goodwill between both countries and if so have both made the most out of it? I’d be interested to see what others have to say.

Both Lance Armstrong and Seth Godin are superstars in their fields, who deserve their own sparkling stars on the Walk of Fame of Human Civilization.

Both names oftentimes trigger light bulb moments in others and are associated with redefining human beings’ capacity to be extraordinary. Lance has triumphed over deadly cancer and later proven his physical and mental stoutness as an athlete. Seth is one of the most notable contemporary thinkers and doers in our lifetime. Both have their own philosophy over what constitutes failing and quitting.

Lance Armstrong once said, “Live strong. Failure is not an option.” It may sound cliché, but this professional cyclist truly meant what he said, which explained how he won all those world-class titles. He made achieving looked effortless and remarkably easy to do. It is crystal clear that he does not believe in failing and the only way to be is winning.

Seth Godin, on the other hand, believes in quitting. In fact, he wrote in his latest mind-bending and thought-provoking tiny book entitled The Dip: A Little Book that Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), “Winners quit all the time.” This adage contradicts Vince Lombardi’s, “Quitters never win and winners never quit.”

Apparently this bold bald guy believes in something quite astonishingly “taboo” among winners. Does it mean he believes in failure? If he does, does it mean he opposes Armstrong’s belief as he opposes Lombardi’s? (more…)

Most analysts see the economic outlook for 2007 and 2008 in varying degrees of optimism, depending on where the analyst comes from. A recent presentation by Dr Chatib Basri, a government advisor known for his integrity, gives next year projections of GDP growth at 6 to 6.5%, inflation hovering at 6.5 %, and generally improving trends in macro-economic indicators. This should present an inviting backdrop for business prospects in the Indonesia of the near future. However, care should be taken in disregarding uncertainties affecting these projections. Government priorities required to support these predictions are not necessarily guaranteed. These are in the areas of employment creation, poverty alleviation, reform in the labor market and infrastructure development

Government priorities tend to suffer from interaction with political realities. Take the historic cases of Lapindo Brantas, Newmont and Freeport, where it is difficult to see the border between sound business practice and government-backed political intervention. Many major companies do not combine economic with social interests, as government shies from their role as guardian of the public need.

Take the case of the recent cabinet reshuffle and how much political realities played a part. The original public demands were for accountability ( e.g. transportation, justice, state secretariat), performance (e.g. infocom, industry, health, education) and especially conflict of interest (Minister Coordinator for Social Welfare). Then media and public were distracted from their focus on good governance and effective government to ‘the reshuffle’ as a political happening.

From disappointment in government performance, the focus shifted to ‘who’ and ‘when’. At the end, the reshuffle proved to be politically-driven. Notable exceptions are the dismissals of the cabinet ministers for Justice and Human Rights and for the State Secretariat. While their cases of alleged corruption may not be of major proportions, keeping them in office would have put the President’s credibility at high risk.

Now comes the politics. The vacancy in the State Secretariat allowed SBY to move Hatta Rajasa away from the Transportation Ministry where he had presided over too many disasters in public air, sea and rail transport. Rajasa avoided moral sanctions because his real role in the cabinet makeup is to represent PAN, a party that SBY wants to keep on his side. Hatta Rajasa showed his usefulness when he intermediated between the President and Amien Rais when the latter played the campaign funds gambit, a small matter to which SBY devoted a high-profile television appearance.

Positions for Information and Communications and State Enterprises were shuffled around to get rid of independent-minded Sugiarto with no political party armor and to reward Sofyan Djalil who goes to ridiculous lengths to please the President, even threatening a lawsuit on a popular television parody which offended the First Lady. (more…)