Hi, my name is Suryana......

One noon this Ramadan, I was driving along Karang Tengah road towards Cinere to pick up my wife, when I saw this little boy sitting on the side walk of the road. He wore a black old t-shirt and a dirty green short pants. In front of him were a pile of cobek and ulekan batu (mortar and pestle made out of stone to grind cooking ingredients). Obviously, he was trying to sell them to the motorists who passed by that busy small dusty road.

I immediately remember my own daughter and son. I remember seeing them this morning laughing and smiling. I let them rode their bikes to attend ESQ class for children in one of our neighbour house nearby, they looked so happy... I couldn't imagine if they need to do what this little boy needed to do... Suddenly I felt so sad for this little boy.

On the way back after picking up my wife, I drove by the same road and I saw this boy again. I said to my wife that I wanted to pull over and buy what this boy was selling. She asked me whether I had enough money in pocket, I said yes and I stop on the side of the road.

I walked towards this little boy, he looked tired and sad, his eyes were gloomy as if there is no hope, no tomorrow. His skin was dark, a sign that he has been exposed under a sun for quite a long time. He sat on the side walk, covered by a thin white dingy plastic sack. There was no comfort at all as the thin plastic sack did not provide any cushion, if he wanted to keep his pants clean, it was too late already. I approached him, he was curious. I pointed at a small mortar and asked how much is it.

"Thirty five thousand rupiah" he said, "paired with the pestle"

I nodded, I didn't want to bargain at all. I asked what his name is and how old he is.

"My name is Suryana, I'm twelve years old"

From his voice, I know that this boy is far from happy. I felt sympathy for him and began to ask more questions. Such as, where he lives, how does he get there and so on. Below is his story.

He lives in Padalarang (a small city in West Java, almost 200 km from where he sits right now). He woke up at 4 in the morning and together with a group of 10 friends ride a small minibus to a truck base. He paid twenty thousand rupiah to the truck driver to take him to Cibubur (a suburb 40km from where we were) and again he took another bus to get here. If that's not tough enough for you, remember that you have to carry at least 50kgs of stone mortars in plastic sacks, and if that still not tough enough, you need to stop drinking and eating from dusk till dawn. If you think you cannot do it, imagine how this unfortunate kid has to do it everyday. If you wonder how he manages his study, the answer is he does not. He at the age of 12, already drops out of school.

I gave him fifty thousands rupiah, he said "..mm I don't have change.." I told him not to worry, he can keep the change. I wonder if he even have any previous customers at all today or even this week. With many food processors in the shops, instant recipes, not many people use stone mortars anymore, especially in big cities like Jakarta. If people have one, it must be inherited from their parents. I asked his permission to take photo, he didn't mind. After taking the picture, I went back to my car, I almost shed a tear.

Inside the car, my wife asked how much I gave him. I said 50 for a 35 thousand mortar. She said that's too little and I should give him more. So I went back and give him another fifty thousands rupiah, "This is for you transport money, and also to buy foods and drink to break your fast.." He was so surprised and grateful, I can see from his eyes, he said "...may Allah return your kindness.." I nodded and tapped his head, I wonder if he ever received a tender loving care from his parents.

"Be careful" I said and went back to my car.

"On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray:) "Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith." Quran 2:286

Green Planet: Smart(er) Way To Choose Your Air Conditioner

Once you know the PK requirement of your AC, then what you need to do is to find an AC with the same PK that has the highest BTU number with the least Watt consumption. The ratio of BTU (cooling power) to the Watt (energy consumption) is called EER or Energy Efficiency Ratio. The higher the EER the less energy it will consumes.

As a current benchmark, good 1/2PK (5000BTU) AC will require 320Watt, 3/4PK (7000BTU)will require 590Watt, 1PK (9000BTU) will require 795Watt.

Don't be fooled by the cheap AC from China, please check their specs. Most of them will consume higher Watt compare to leading brands. Try to look for branded AC such as LG, Panasonic and Sharp, at the moment they have the lowest wattage.

Another key factor to consider is the max electricity power (Daya PLN) installed in your home. It ranges from 900 to 6600 VA (or Watt). Just make sure that you have enough electricity power to run all you ACs. Otherwise, you don't have other choice than to limit the number of AC installed or choose AC with one step PK lower than it should be (eg 1/2 instead 3/4 PK). Off course the cooling will not be maximum but its better than none.

As an illustration, if you have 2200VA electricity installed, you can only turn on 3 unit of 3/4PK AC at the same time, with only 400-430 watt left to spare for lamps, refrigerator, tv etc. Please note that : microwave, plasma tv, water heater, water pump require a lot of electricity power.

Finally here's some tips to efficiently use your AC : a. please ensure all windows and doors are properly closed, b. please block sunlight by closing your curtain or shades. if you have extra money, you can ask for special curtain materials that will effectively block sunlight like what they used in the hotels, c. trade in your old AC with the new one that has higher EER. Your old unit will be valued at IDR 500-900K depends on their type and conditions. You can find the buyer at the classifieds in the newspaper

Green Planet: Smart Way To Choose Your Air Conditioner

Jakarta is hot, so may of us installed Air Conditioner (AC) in our home so we can rest, relax and cool down. Nevertheless, on the other hand, AC consumes a lot of energy (electricity) which triggers and increases the global warming which will negatively impact our planet and our children.

In relation to this, let me share with you a smart way to eco-friendly choose your AC.

First, you must choose the correct cooling capacity, otherwise your room will be either too warm or too cold. If you go to the shops, there are several capacities you can choose; 1/2PK, 3/4PK, 1PK, 1 1/2PK and 2PK (PK or Paard Kracht is Horse Power in Dutch). Even though higher PK equivalent with higher cooling power, but the actual cooling power will be determine by the BTU (British Thermal Unit) number.

Nonetheless in Indonesia, most consumer shops will only know PK, while BTU is often used by commercial contractors, engineer etc. In simplicity, 1/2 PK equal to 5000BTU, 3/4PK equal to 7000BTU, 1PK equal to 9000BTU, 1 1/2PK equal to 12000BTU, and 2PK equal to 18000BTU.

The simplest way to calculate the PK required to cool a room is as follows :

PK = L x W x H x 0.233

while L,W,H are the lenght, width, and height of the room in meter (m). With this formula, you will find that most of the time the result will not exactly be 1/2, 3/4PK and so on, therefore please use your judgement to round it up or down. Please note that any room in upper floor, or has more exposure to the sun (eg many windows facing to the West) will require higher cooling power compare to the room on the ground floor and has less exposure to the sunlight.

Education, BBM and a President

What is the relation between education, BBM (fuel) and the president of the Republic of Indonesia?

The answer are goodwill and politics. This year, education budget (for 2009) and fuel price increase are among the key decisions made by our President. While people hated the fuel price increase, now people are happy with the eduction budget increase.

However there are few people and politicians who are not convinced and skeptical about the eduction budget increase in APBN 2009. Some says that is only a political move or early campaign to pre-emp the general election in 2009.

Let me share my opinion. Every government decisions is always a political decisions. The key question is whether that decision is made for the benefit of all people in Indonesia or for just his/her political party? As long as his/her decision is for the benefit of all Indonesians, I don't care what the oppositions say.

I think it is very cowardly act for any president to deliberately delay the fuel price increase until the next general election despite the actual economics condition. It is not just he/she tries to fool people to keep voting for him/her, but also in case he/she is not re-elected, then he/she will leave a time bomb for the new president. So that when the new president later on have to increase the fuel price, his/her party can blame or discredit the new government.

Therefore, please be very careful if you hear the Oppositions discredit current government of increasing the fuel price, because this is an unfavorable condition that not only happens in Indonesia. Most rich countries in the world also increase their fuel price. I don't think the Oppositions are able to avoid the price increase as well.

This is when education plays an important role in the society. Is the ability to make up our mind and not easily fooled by politicians.

Thanks Pak SBY!

There was something that made me happy when I read the newspaper this Saturday morning. I saw the headlines, finally the Indonesian government has decided to allocate 20% of their 2009 budget (APBN) for education!

For 2009, the government has expected income of Rp 1022.6 trillion, while plans to spend Rp 1122,2 trillion, which Rp 224 trillion will be allocated to rehabilitate schools, improve their facilities, improve the welfare of teachers, lecturers, and scholarships. The minimum wage of a school teacher is expected to be Rp 2 million/month and above. Unfortunately, we still have a deficit of Rp 99.6 trillion which we have to get it from overseas loan.

Nonetheless, we are heading the right direction. Education is a long term investment which previous government failed to realise. We will not see the result in the next 2-3 years, we (read: Indonesia) will only start to receive the benefit in the next 10 years.

Education will improve the quality of all aspect in our life. It will improve the quality of individual, community and the whole population. It will reduce unemployment that in return will reduce the crime rate, hence our neighborhood will be a lot safer. Education will reduce our dependency from foreign experts, so Indonesia will not be dictate by other countries. Education can make our city cleaner, because educated people will litter or not throw out rubbish from their car. Education will make our street safer, because educated people do not violate traffic rule.

Again, thanks pak SBY for making education a top priority in this country!

Dirgahayu Kemerdekaan RI ke 63, Jayalah Indonesiaku!

I Did It My (Bus) Way Too...

Have you ever tried to get into a busway during rush hour (5.30 - 7.30pm)? Especially the outbound route, it's just like a can of sardines. The good thing about busway is that when it's full, unlike the regular buses, you cannot force your way to get in.

My route is Kuningan-Ragunan and I usually try to catch the bus between 6-7pm. Most of the time, I have to wait for 2-3 bus to pass by before I can get a slot to get in. One day, I got quite frustrated, I have waited for more than 30mins but the buses were always full.

Ironically, the inbound buses were almost empty you can play tennis inside. Then I got this crazy weird idea, how if I just took the inbound route and eventually go back to my original route. I know it's a circular route and an unlimited ride as long as I don't go out of the shelter. I don't mind take a longer route as long as I get a seat.

Everything was fine, I got a seat, I thought I was smart, I thought I will be seating comfortably all the way home. Until I reach the Halimun interchange, suddenly the conductor inspecting the ticket. Everybody who came from inbound route must get out the bus and take a queue to re-enter the outbound route! And the queue at the Halimun interchange was the worst of all. The queue line was extended until outside of the shelter. People were lined up from the ramp out side.

Even though I finally can enter my bus few minutes later, this is one of the stupid experience I will never forget!

I Did It My (Bus) Way

Nowadays, it is very difficult for me to go to and out from my new office in Gatot Subroto, Jakarta. The three-in-one rules that applied twice a day, make it impossible for me to drive alone to my office during 3in1 period unless I take a detour via Kuningan and queue up with hundreds of other cars on the small alleys that lead to my office back entry.

That's why I often ride the bus on the way back home. My friend who has stopped bringing his car to work since the Kuningan Busway operates, told me these tips :

a. Take Kopaja 66 from Gatot Subroto to Kuningan intersection, pay Rp 2500
b. Go to Kuningan Busway shelter, just 50m from the intersection and take the Ragunan lane, pay Rp 3500
c. Get off at Dep Pertanian, Ragunan and transfer to another public transport

Point a and b works fine except few minor problems :
1. The Busway buses are always full during the rush hour (17.30-19.30)
2. My home is still 25 min drive from Dep Pertanian

Several solutions for point 2 are :
a. Take a taxi, it cost me around Rp 30,000
b. Take a city transport (Angkot maksudnya) S61, Rp 2000 get off at Pondok Labu, but it's also still 7 min drive to my home
c. Take Kopaja 20, get off at Poin Square Rp 2500, but it's still 15 min drive to my home

I once tried a stupid solution "c" and take a taxi from there. The taxi almost cost Rp 25,000 because the traffic at Ps Jumat intersection was a nightmare. This is a total screw up.

Total cost :
1. If I take taxi directly from my office, approx Rp 50,000
2. If I take Kopaja + Busway + Taxi, Rp 36,000
3. If I take Kopaja + Busway + Kopaja + Taxi, Rp 33,500
4. If I drive my own car, wait until 3in1 is over, 14km, max 2liter premium, Rp 12,000

My conclusion, until I solve the problem on point 2 in paragraph 4 above, then driving my own car will be the cheapest mode of transport.

Note :
a. 3in1 periods are 6.30-10am and 5-7pm
b. The official name of the bus that runs on busway is Trans Jakarta. Busway is actually the name of the special lane which the bus is driven on