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One Child, One Laptop Program

Burhan Abe
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One Child, One Laptop Program

With more low priced laptops on the market, the digital divide in the country is set to become narrower. About five years ago Michael Dell, the owner of Dell Computers, did not believe in a proposition put forward by Nicholas Negroponte from Media Lab Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on low cost laptops for developing countries, or the One Child-One Laptop program.

However, today, Negroponte’s 20-year-old dream is being realized. After lots of research, traveling to a number of countries to source low-cost LCD technology, affordable processors and cooperating with online encyclopedia Wikipedia, Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta is producing a laptop at an extremely low price, US$150 each.

In September, the laptop, marketed as Easy to Learn, Easy to Play, Easy to Work (Eee PC), was officially launched by Asustek Computer. Each laptop, which weighs less than one kilogram, carries a price tag of $250 (Rp 2.4 million).

Just compare the price with that of other laptops available on the market. “Within two weeks after the launch in the United States, more than 10,000 Eee PCs were sold,” said Sunny Han, director of Asus Global Brand Center.

Walter Bender, group president of software and content at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the laptop uses Linux operation mode and is equipped with a digital camera as well as a wireless system. It also has an electronic notebook and a program for composing music.

For its initial launch, Asus introduced just one type of Eee PC, the Asus 4G or Asus 701 in solid white. At seven inches, the laptop’s screen is about the length of an adult’s hand. Although it is of minimalist design it has maximum features. It can operate like most other laptops, including for office work and Internet access. It will be on the Indonesian market in January.

Indeed Eee PC will create a new segment in the laptop market. One analyst has predicted that within three years it will control 20 percent of the international market.

However, many market analysts doubt that it will cut into the market shares of established brands. In Indonesia, for example, the low priced Intel Celeron, which has a processor, does not enjoy robust sales compared to the Intel Centrino, which also has a processor, or the Centrino Duo, both of which are more expensive.

Still, the Eee PC has a different marketing approach, which is not entirely commercial but aimed at assisting developing countries in the One Laptop-Per Child (OLPC) program. A number of developing countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Libya and Thailand, have committed to purchasing Eee PCs. At present the factory is in full speed to produce 44,000 Eee PCs per week. “So far we have received orders for 300,000 units,” said Negroponte.

During the first days of its launch one unit was sold every six seconds. The success story of Eee PC has spurred other manufacturers, for example Intel, to plan production of low-cost laptops, which they say are more for charity. One such laptop, the Classmate, will be released for $150. Just as its name suggests, it is designed for students. Local sales will made through the government, which will receive 100 units before the end of this year.

Mummm Champagne Lounge

Burhan Abe
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Mummm Champagne Lounge

Sebuah lounge di mana para eksekutif muda dapat menikmati minuman Mumm Champage bagu saja dibuka. Lounge yang berlokasi di Hotel Rtiz Carlton di sekitar Kuningan Jakarta ini diadakan sebagai jawaban dari banyaknya permintaan agar ada sebuah tempat di mana dapat berkumpul sembil menikmati Mumm Champage dan menikmati musik.

Tren membuat lounge dengan lebih fokus pada sekelompok eksekutif muda yang butuh penyegaran setelah disibukkan dengan urusan bisnis memang snagat meningkat. Kabarnya tahun depan, akan ada lima lounge baru di sekitar Jl Rasuna Said Jakarta Selatan, setidaknya sebagai pelengkap sejumlah lounge yang sudah ada sebelumnya.

“Mumm Champagne Lounge”, tempat hang out mereka yang gemar champagne (sampanye) di Mistere, Hotel Ritz Carlton, Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan, Rabu (28 November 2007) malam, resmi diluncurkan. Ini merupakan champagne lounge pertama yang ada di Indonesia, bahkan di Asia Tenggara.

Sampanye Mumm termasuk yang terkenal di dunia. Ini merupakan sampanye yang biasa digunakan dalam F1 Racing. Di Indonesia, penggemar sampanye ini ada, tapi segmennya kelas atas, sebagian besar kaum perempuan. Aroma buahnya sangat kental, terutama aprikot dan lemon. Ritz Carlton terpilih karena citranya sebagai hotel bintang lima yang berkualitas. Berikutnya akan ada lounge serupa di Pacific Place di SCBD, yang dikelola Ritz Carlton juga.

Mumm Champagne merupakan salah satu champagne ternama dari Prancis. Minuman jenis ini pertama kali dibuat oleh salah seorang pemilik kebun anggur di wilayah Champagne, Goerges H Mumm pada tahun 1827.

Uniknya, jenis minuman ini sangat mudah dikenali, pasalnya dekorasi mereknya menggunakan pita warna merah. Tak heran apabila, champagne merek ini termasuk yang terkenal di dunia ini dan memiliki segmen pasarnya kalangan terbatas.

Interior Mumm Champage Lounge di Jakarta ditata sangat apik. Sofa-sofa dengan warna merah dan kream terang sangat sepadan dengan beberapa gambar Mumm Champage yang melekat pada dinding. Botol-totol Mumm Champage yang besar juga dipajang sebagai tambahan pemanis Lounge.

Launching Mumm Champage Lounge malam itu boleh dibilang cukup semarak, sejumlah eksekutif muda pria dan wanita datang dengan busana resmi dan dari penampilannya mereka baru saja meninggalkan tempat kerja. Sesampainya di dalam Mumm Champagne Lounge mereka disambut dengan Female Presenter yang cantik-cantik dan langsung dapat menikmati Mumm Champage.

Kemeriahan malam itu juga bertambah dengan penampilan apik para pragawati cantik dari Look Model yang malam itu membawakan koleksi terbaru gaun-gaun karya dari Serafina Boutique. Teddy Harris sebagai koreografer memang mempersiapkan secara matang mulai dari pemilihan busana, pemilihan pragawati dan cara mereka tampil membawakan gaun-gaun.

Semuanya ini menurut Teddy agar citra Mumm Champage benar-benar terlihat pada penampilan pragawati dan busana yang dikenakan malam itu. (hb)

Window to the World, Window to Business?

Burhan Abe
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Window to the World, Window to Business?

“Books are a window to the world” is not an empty saying. Reading books certainly broadens our horizons and increases our knowledge. However, in Indonesia, books are not one of life’s essentials. Interest in reading among Indonesians is the lowest in Southeast Asia, lagging behind Malaysians, Thais and Singaporeans.

This low interest in reading is probably connected with the country’s low income per capita. Buying books here is not a priority for most. However, is it really correct to assume that low purchasing power affects interest in reading?

Well, the answer could be yes or no. The fact is certain books enjoy a great readership here. Indonesians also caught the Harry Potter fever, making JK Rowling’s books best sellers here. Indeed Nobel class novels, such as those written by Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, etc. do not interest many, but teenager novels sell quite well.

Chicklit, short for chick literature, are novels that mostly tell about the world of women in their 20s, about the trials and tribulations of a young woman’s career and love life. It is about their struggle in coping with the quarterlife crisis. Such novels seem to offer a new insight into young urban women and have drawn the interest of many readers.

Gagas Media is one of the country’s publishers that believes in this concept. Established on July 4, 2003 it has quite a number of such popular novels with the teenage segment as the target market. Some of its successful books are: Jomblo, Cintapucino, Miss Jutek, Sihir Cinta and Kok Putusin Gue.

Gagas Media, which publishes at least four titles every month, has a vision to introduce books as something popular. Another publisher, Gramedia, which started out in the business in 1970, has also joined the chicklit bandwagon by publishing the metropop novels written by some of the country’s best sellers in this genre — Albertine Endah, Syahmedi Dean and several others.

Next to pop novels, religious literature is starting to interest a larger number of readers, so much so that according to Kompas Study and Analysis Center such books have for the past four years been leading in sales, just slightly below comics and children’s books. This trend has been strategically anticipated by Gramedia as well as other publishers, such as Mizan, LKIS and others.

The strength of Gramedia, which was established by the Kompas Gramedia Group, lies in its interesting topics as well as its distribution system. From a small 25-square-meter shop on Jl. Gajah Mada, West Jakarta, in 2002 Gramedia bookstore had 50 major stores spread throughout the country’s large cities. In the early days it sold only books, however in later years the products offered included stationery, fancy gifts, office equipment, sports items as well as high-tech products like CD-ROM and audio-video books.

The marketing of Gramedia is also supported by a large number of international and domestic publishers and suppliers, including its own internal publishing companies, such as Gramedia Pustaka Utama, Elex Media Komputindo, Gramedia Widya Sarana, Bhuana Ilmu Populer and Gramedia Magazines Publishing. For foreign books Gramedia has a links to a huge number of leading international publishers that today number more than 250.

Among the United States publishers are Simon & Schuster, Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill, Maxwell Macmillan, Addison Wesley, John Wiley, Harper Collins, Bantam, Random House and Baker & Taylor, while from Europe there are Penguin, Cambridge, Oxford, Elsevier, Grossohaus, Hachette, Longmans and MacMillan.

Welcome to the Platinum Community!

Burhan Abe
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Welcome to the Platinum Community!

A credit card is not merely a loan facility for shopping but is also a status symbol. When someone pays for something with a credit card, particularly of the platinum class, what may come to mind is not only the high credit limit but also the high level of prestige involved.

The BNI Visa Platinum Card, for example, positions its owner as an established and successful individual, especially because it comes with a credit limit starting from Rp 75 million, giving the cardholder the freedom to make transactions at millions of merchants or ATMs in the Visa or Plus network the world over.

In addition, service access and features are made available for this “special individual”, ranging from travel accident insurance of up to Rp 4 billion (about US$440,000), purchase protection of up to Rp 100 million and a “Perisai Plus” of up to Rp 300 million for facilities of The Platinum Life, which comprise Visa Platinum Club, Bon Appetite Club and Luxury Golf Holidays, all representing special offers from world-class merchants.

Although not in exactly the same way as BNI, Bank Niaga also pays special attention to premium-class customers. Through special programs for its premium credit cardholders, this bank, now over four decades in existence, continues to fulfill the expectations of its customers for an attractive credit card that gives them lots of benefits.

Bank Niaga has two service units for its top customers, namely Private Banking and Preferred Circle. Preferred Circle, established in 1991, is an exclusive banking service aimed at promoting relations with Bank Niaga clients so that they become loyal customers. Preferred Circle focuses on ease in transactions and optimum management of a customer’s assets.

Each person’s lifestyle and needs are indeed unique, which poses challenges for banks to meet the requirements that suit the changing times. It is for this reason that BCA launched its BCA Visa Platinum credit card in the middle of this year, when it celebrated its 50th anniversary.

A Visa Platinum Credit Card is an all-in-one package representing a combination of benefits offered by other BCA credit cards, such as the “Pay One For Two” offer at 21 cineplexes and Hard Rock Cafes in regards to BCA VISA Batman Credit Card and BCA MasterCard MC2, or special offers at particular outlets such as at Bakerz In, Healthy Choice and other places, in the case of BCA Gold Card Credit Card.

Of course, the Visa Platinum Credit Card also has its benefits, such as medical assistance covering health consultation services to evacuation, as well as life insurance worth Rp 1 billion in the case of an accident while traveling. “In addition, BCA collaborates with VISA to ensure that holders of this card can also enjoy the exclusive services offered by VISA worldwide privileges, with their round-the-clock services, and Visa Platinum Club,” said Suwignyo Budiman, BCA director.

At least three banks have launched platinum credit cards this year. Besides BCA, Panin Bank introduced its Panin Platinum Visa and United Overseas Bank (UOB) Buana has re-released its new credit card in Singapore.

UOB credit cards, namely Visa Classic, Gold and Platinum, said Armand B. Arief, president director of UOB Buana, give holders a low exchange rate when they shop in Singapore. These credit cards also offer an attractive travel program in cooperation with Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer.

Security, Between Threats and Opportunities

Burhan Abe
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Security, Between Threats and Opportunities

If you are a Jakartan then security checks on cars and visitors are nothing new to you every time you enter a hotel or a prestigious office building such as the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building. Even the tenants of these buildings have to use special ID cards. This type of security system is used to check each person entering the JSX building at each entrance.

The JSX building is one of the top three most expensive buildings in Jakarta today and is home to the offices of the World Bank, Microsoft, oil companies and of course the Stock Exchange itself where the trade in stocks has an impact on the country’s economy and finance.

What should be noted is that since the wave of terrorism, internationally and domestically, good security has become essential. Business tends to mean very little these days without the availability of professional security.

Indeed, sophisticated security and detection equipment as well as high standards of security systems do not automatically guarantee an absence of terrorism. Therefore, early detection and sophisticated preventive measures are needed to minimize terrorists’ opportunities to strike. Early detection should be practiced not only by law enforcers, but also by every citizen.

Certainly there should be an excellent internal security system comprising security officers, police officers, metal detectors, security alarms, closed circuit televisions (CCTVs), video tape recorders plus good recruitment, training and other skill enhancement.

Not all building or office managements can make available the required security equipment or officers. That is why security providers are needed, especially with Jakartans having grave concerns about security. Even without acts of terror in the city Jakartans have long felt insecure in the city. This concern is the basis of the businesses that provide security.

They offer various security products and services. Based on permits issued, the National Police recognize six types of private security businesses, namely security consultancy, providers of education and training in security, suppliers of security guards including body guards, providers of security equipment, for example weapons, alarms and bulletproof vests, providers of guards for cash in transit, and Search and Rescue teams.

There are at least 75 companies in Jakarta that provide such services, with each company having its own specialization. Bravo Humanika Perkasa was set up in 1999 and hires out security guards that are trained based on the police curriculum. But that is not all that is needed from a security guard. A manager of the company said that clients have become more demanding. “Like when one television station asked for handsome security guards,” he said with a laugh.

Understanding the needs of clients is of paramount importance, which is why many security companies also provide cash in transit security. In fact, a number of security companies only deal in this sector, such as Securicor, Transnational and Tunas Artha Gardatama. The latter company also provides security services for delivering cash from banks to customers or from customers to certain places. Included is the payment of employees, filling ATMs with cash, which is double checked for the correct amount according to the standard set by the Bank Indonesia.

Previously, many managers viewed security as an added cost, and as such kept the cost low as possible. However, the perception has since changed and now security is seen as an investment against loss prevention. That is why security companies are thriving, from the ones that provide basic and simple services to the ones that offer sophisticated services along with high-tech equipment. Secom, for example, not only provides security guards, but also security solutions that have been tried and tested for more than 40 years.

Leaving Security Matters to the Real Experts

Burhan Abe
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Leaving Security Matters to the Real Experts

If you are a tennis fan, you no doubt attentively watch the most prestigious and reputable tournaments, such as Wimbledon. Besides being familiar with the top players who handle their rackets with adroitness, you must have also noticed how professionally the tournaments are organized. In fact, besides the competition management that is prearranged by the World Tennis Association, the security of every match at Wimbledon is also managed by one of the world’s leading security providers, Securicor (Group 4 Securicor).

Securicor deploys about 20 security personnel to oversee security at the matches that involve world-class players. They usually wear white uniforms. Securicor, which has offices in 100 countries providing high quality security services, has been handling security at Wimbledon for the past 20 years.

And just like Wimbledon, all sorts of businesses demand one important thing: security, which can be quite expensive in these days of escalating crime. For banks, for example, security is a sensitive issue. A bank has to be a safe place for financial transactions apart from being prudent. A bank also has to secure transactions at the bank as well as at its ATMs. Therefore, ATM booths are equipped with CCTVs that are monitored by security officers.

Developments in CCTVs have been fast and as such they have become easier to control and more reliable. Security companies, such as Securicor, supply CCTVs as well as security guards and related equipment in one-stop services.

Due to the importance of this business, hundreds of security companies exist in Indonesia. They are all members of the Security and Rescue Services Agency (BUJPP). “This business has grown from year to year,” A. Azis Said from the Indonesia Security Managers Association (AMSI) recently told the media. Among AMSI’s members are a number of multinational security companies.

Along with rapid developments in telecommunications and IT technology, manufacturers and sole distributors of security equipment are involved in stiff competition and have broad concepts of security. Today’s CCTV is not only monitored manually at a specific location, but also on a laptop or a PDA via Internet and cellular technology. Other customized CCTV monitoring is also provided not only for a small booths like those housing ATMs but also for huge buildings where important events are held using high definition cameras for day and night recording.

The type of cameras used are no longer the conventional CCTV CCD, but Dome, Infra-red Dome, Waterproof Infra-red Dome, Speed Dome (PTZ), Hidden Camera, Wireless, Vandal as well as the high tech mini-camera.

“The banking and finance world are now most concerned with security control and monitoring in remote areas,” said Muhardi, technical director of Symbio Corp., a company that designs security technology for banks and airlines.

“Today’s security monitoring devices are highly accurate and easy to operate. Also, we can provide security equipment and services whenever and wherever needed in real time,” said Muhardi, who graduated from the Bandung Institute of Technology’s School of Aviation Technology.

According to Muhardi, criminals will face a tough time if they want to steal a bank’s assets if it has an integrated security system. Just imagine, he said, CCTV monitoring can be done wirelessly using a PDA (live streaming from CCTV camera) and the result can be automatically stored on a hard disc that can be checked regularly. The equipment also reacts to anything suspicious (motion detect). The software can also be designed in such a way that when there is a problem with the equipment the alarm goes off and alerts a cell phone, PDA or laptop via the Internet.

Jakarta Offers Various Aphrodisiac Menus

Burhan Abe
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Jakarta Offers Various Aphrodisiac Menus

Many people have spent their lives in search of ways to maintain their love life with their partners. They look for tips and best articles in the magazines and books, ask opinions from experts, even go to the doctors just to find out how they can preserve the flame they felt when the first times they met. Nevertheless, there are also people who seek the answer through the most simple and even probably the most enjoyable way, which is food.

Just like scents, doctors and experts have believed that food can help the mind in terms of stimulating certain senses, including passion for sex. That actually initiated people to start creating menu from certain ingredients that they believed could arouse this particular sense. And that was the word aphrodisiac came from.

Certain ingredients, like chili and curry, and others that have strong aroma which can easily make our body sweat are believed to be the basic ingredients to create powerful aphrodisiac menu.

Also, we have oyster. This type of sea being has long believed by people from around the world to have strong influence in stimulating our sex desire instantly even for all ages. The list of other ingredients and food that used in aphrodisiac menu can go down further long, including caviar, truffle, horseradish, onion, ginger, coriander, spring-cucumber, leek, celery, jinsom, ginko biloba, vanilla, chocolate, banana and honey.

Jakarta, home to modern and busy living, has offered restaurants with different aphrodisiac menu to those wanting to try out each food’s stimulus on them. (Burhan Abe)

The Peak, January 2008

Rediscover Northern Italian Cuisine

Burhan Abe
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Rediscover Northern Italian Cuisine

Rosso has been established for only a year, but the restaurant has been famous amongst Italian food lovers in Jakarta. Rosso in Italian means “red” represents the color of passion, heat, and everything exciting in life, and Rosso prides itself with presenting authentic northern Italian cuisine with a fiery Italian vibe.

The difference between northern and southern Italian cuisine is the chosen ingredients and the types of pastas used. For example, people from northern Italy use butter, cream, polenta, mascarpone and parmigiano cheese, risotto and pastas made from fresh eggs, while Southern Italians rely heavily on tomato paste, use dried pasta and caciovallo or pecorino cheeses, and prepare creamier sauces for dressings.

Given that pizza is actually a southern Italian dish, it is not included on Rosso menu. The Rosso menu includes ravioli, risotto, spaghetti, and an array of antipasti and delicious homemade sorbet and gelato treats. The richness and high quality of the butter, cream and cheeses used, and the elegant methods of stewing, slow-braising, and using wine or broth is the key to Rosso’s fabulous and authentic northern Italy cuisine.

But the most interesting ingredient in all menu of Rosso is some of them use truffle mushroom. We can identify truffle easily with our senses since this type of mushroom has a very strong scent each time we put the food inside our mouth. Although it is not yet proven scientifically, many people believe that truffle has aphrodisiac impact to those eating it.

Truffle is a type of mushroom that grows 5 – 40 cm below the ground in certain places. According to Chef Alessandro Santi, white truffle (Tuber Magnatum), the type of truffle that has even stronger scent compared to Black Truffle (Tuber Melanosporum), has been used by Italian people to spice up their food since hundreds of years ago. Not long after that, the mushroom has become famous to countries around the world.

Truffle can only grow in the wild and lives with Oak tree. This type of mushroom also has very short living period. People collect truffle between the month of October to mid of December. We cannot find white truffle before or after those period, which makes this type of mushroom very rare and expensive. Per kilogram, truffle is sold for US$3,500 or around Rp 31.5 million. Quite a number. In the place where truffle originally grew, the plant strongly related with Christmas. For such reason, Rosso can only provide menu with white truffle only in November and December.

Rosso Restaurant & Lounge
Shangri-La Jakarta
Jl. Jenderal Sudirman Kav. 1
Jakarta 10220
Ph. (021) 5707440 ext. 6030, 6031, 6032
Fax: (021) 21 2511258

Bangkok, Hottest Destination

Burhan Abe
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0
Bangkok, Hottest Destination

Rather than buy Bangkok durian, just fly direct to Bangkok! is AirAsia’s advertising spiel for its Jakarta-Bangkok route. A one-way ticket is really cheap at Rp 99,999 (from Jakarta) and 380 baht (from Bangkok) for flights taken between Nov. 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008. This low airfare is aimed at giving everyone the chance to enjoy affordable air travel.

Unsurprisingly, lots of people rushed to book for the maiden flight on Nov. 1. Seats on the 737-300 Boeing aircraft, which can carry 148 passengers, were sold out on the first day. “There is indeed vast potential for passengers flying direct to Bangkok. People usually have to fly via Kuala Lumpur. With the commencement of this new route, AirAsia, as a regional brand in Asia, connects two major Asian cities. We offer affordable fares for flights to Bangkok to support tourism and trade between the two countries,” said Widijastoro Nugroho, marketing and distribution director for AirAsia Indonesia.

Currently, AirAsia flies from Jakarta to Bangkok once a day at 4:20 p.m. (West Indonesian Standard Time) and arrives in Bangkok at 7:45 p.m. local time. The flight from Bangkok to Jakarta departs at 9 p.m. local time. However, with Bangkok being a popular tourist destination among Indonesians, AirAsia is not the only airline that has a direct flight there.

Bangkok has overcome its reputation as a destination for sex tourism and is now a thriving tourist hub that offers various kinds of entertainment. To some, Bangkok is a magical land with beautiful temples and the impressive Royal Palace. To others, it is a city with a bustling nightlife that has a great variety of entertainment to offer: discotheques, clubs with the best DJs, bars, Thai dances, Ramayana performances and transvestite burlesque shows. And who has never heard of the lively Patpong bars, where tourists go more out of curiosity than for titillation. Everything is there for the taking in Bangkok!

Bangkok, or Krung Thep, which means the City of Angels, was established in 1782. With a population of some 10 million people, it is a blend of traditional and cosmopolitan. Thailand has everything to offer and more. It is laden with creativity and excitement. Despite its rapid development, the Thai people have not lost touch with their roots — temples create tranquility with monks chanting mantras; along the Chao Praya River and various canals, boats carry people and goods just as they did centuries ago.

Every year, Bangkok celebrates festivals such as the Thai New Year and Loy Krathong (Festival of Light). Most special of all is the celebration of the birthday of His Majesty the King of Thailand.

To get with the spirit of Bangkok, just board a ferry on the Chao Praya River. From the Shangri-La Hotel and the famed Oriental Hotel, see the old villas that form part of the ancient city and sail past Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) with its imposing chedi. See the green and red roof and gilded spire of the Royal Palace. Don’t miss the imposing gilded statues and murals depicting scenes from Ramayana. To see these objects more closely, visit the Jim Thomson House, a grand house filled with beautiful artwork. American Jim Thompson was the founder of the modern Thai silk industry before he mysteriously disappeared in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, in 1967.

Bangkok is also a shoppers’ haven. Great department stores and shops can be found near the Skytrain Siam Station, stocking various fashion products, electronics and audio equipment, bookstores, candle shops and local designers’ outlets. Traditional products, colorful silk items, embroidered cotton shirts from the north, silverware, porcelain, dried fruit, etc. — it is possible to get whatever you want in Thailand! To improve your bargaining prowess, visit the local markets. The Chatussak weekend market is the largest in Southeast Asia with thousands of stalls. Closer to downtown is Silom Road night market, which attracts Thais and foreigners alike.

Bangkok is also noted for its culinary delights. Dishes such tom yam soup, green curry chicken, Thai noodles, green papaya salad and fish cakes are popular dishes for foodies in Thailand. There are also food courts for snacks or lunch. It is a real treat for visitors because they don’t have to visit top restaurants to enjoy Thai cuisine. You can enjoy delicious Thai food at a low price by simply grabbing a meal at a food stall. All this is affordable with the savings made on low airfares from AirAsia. Just as its motto, “Now Everyone Can Fly”. (Burhan Abe)

The Jakarta Post – November 04, 2007

3G Euphoria, Where to from Here?

Burhan Abe
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0
3G Euphoria, Where to from Here?

How is 3G faring in Indonesia? While it is still being promoted, this third-generation cellular telephone service seems to be losing its sheen. The presence of this latest technology in the mobile phone industry, advertisements of which feature a number of celebrities ranging from Gigi and Krisdayanti to Muslim religious teacher Jefry, it appears to be a wilting flower.  

It is true that when 3G technology was first introduced in Indonesia, users lacked proficiency in this technology. It calls for a change in the habit of making a telephone call, namely from merely speaking and listening to speaking, listening and viewing.  

However, it is not the lack of proficiency in this latest technology that is responsible for the very slow development of 3G in Indonesia. According to several observers, 3G operators seem to pay more attention to video calling services while in fact subscribers need speedy data access.  

Obviously, GSM operators in Indonesia have invested hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars to develop 3G service. A year after its introduction here, however, the number of 3G subscribers stands at fewer than 3.5 million people. Telkomsel, who had 3.2 million subscribers up to July 2007, claims to be among the 10 biggest operators in the world. Meanwhile, XL claims to have 100,000 subscribers making video calls every day (HandPhone magazine, October 2007).  

These figures, however, are far from the estimate by International Data Corporation, a leading data institution, which has predicted that Indonesia will have 300,000 3G subscribers using video call-up by late 2008. The 3G euphoria in Indonesia, which operators have plugged since September last year, has failed to gain a proper response. GSM operators initially set a minimum target of 15 to 20 percent of their subscribers being users of 3G mobile phone technology. This means by 2008, there would be a potential for 10 to 12 million 3G subscribers.  

The question is, how willing are these subscribers to spend money using 3G technology, which is certainly more expensive than using the ordinary mobile telephone? The number of subscribers may be real but they are not active users as they have simply registered. “My cell phone is 3G equipped, but I very rarely use it for video calls. I use this technology only when it is really necessary,” said A. Baihaqi, director of Tactic Communications.  

Baihaqi is just one example. In fact, over the past year, the average revenue per user rate has continued to drop. It therefore comes as no surprise that some people question the future of 3G in Indonesia. Will it fizzle?  

In 2003, the director of Pyramid Research, Ross O’Brian, predicted that 3G in the Asia-Pacific region would sell well only in Japan, South Korea and Australia. As for countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, he said it was not time to implement 3G serviced because the markets in these countries were not ready for 3G technology, plus the income level of Asians was still relatively low.  

Perhaps the promotion period needs to be longer so that 3G investments in Asia will increase. In addition, in most Asian countries teledensity is still below 50 percent, while there is more concern about augmenting the capacity of the network for voice rather than building a new service based on 3G technology. Operators may claim that they are on the right track in developing 3G services, but facts illustrate the opposite, if not indicate that they have used the wrong tactic.  

At the initial stage, operators prioritize the video calling service to lure the public. In fact, what subscribers need is not a video calling or video streaming service but high-speed data access, or an Internet service using HSDPA technology.  

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