Notes from Global Forum on Building the Inclusive Internet Economy: Developing Countries Perspectives

Finally, this is the formal one about what I get from the Global Forum on Building the Inclusive Internet Economy: Developing Countries Perspectives which I joined on June 16, 2008. This forum was initiated by United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Center for Information and Communication Technoloy Development (UN APCICT) as a part of bigger forum, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Meeting on the Future of Internet Economy. It took place in Conference Room 402, COEX, Incheon Metropolitan City, Seoul, South Korea.

This forum is divided into four parts, but unfortunately since we could not go back too late to the University, which is located in Daejeon (about 150 kilometres from Seoul), we could only join the first three parts. And here is my resume about it.

First part

The first one is introduction and context of the forum from the Director of UN APCICT, Ms. Hyeun-Suk Rhee. She hoped that this forum can contribute into the OECD Ministerial Meeting by providing perspectives from many developing countries and organizations about how to strenghten Internet Economy by make it inclusive, considering the three factors (convergence, confidence, and creativity). She is an active woman who played big role in the whole parts of the forum.

The second introduction is welcome remarks from the Chairman of Korea Communications Commission, Mr. Byeong Gi Lee. He also represented the government of Korea, hoping that we all enjoy the forum, and in general, enjoy also living in Korea. He had a big hope that this forum could lead us, including Korea and many developing countries to improve their economics conditions using internet as one of the tools.

After those two introductions, finally the theme presentation was given. The keynote speaker was Minister from Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of Republic of Indonesia (my own country! ), Mr. Mohammad Nuh. He was presenting about Today and Tomorrow’s Internet Economy: Developing Country Perspective. He firstly talked about how the internet has given us many advantages compared with the normal one in the economic field, such as less cost needed, more market open, and accept creativity. Then, he explained about the conditions of Indonesia which is so complicated that people say that “If you can solve problems Indonesia faces now, then you will have a great chance to solve problems of our world”. Finally, we showed one way how internet can help to decrease the problem by providing high-availability networks covering all parts of Indonesia (called Palapa Ring project – which is still in progress) so that there are greater chances from every parts of Indonesia to communicate each other. He hoped that this forum can provide more solutions and ideas in order to improve our conditions.

This part is closed by the photo session which includes all the speakers (both which had already spoken and had not yet) and some audiences from different countries and organizations (too bad that we were not included in the photo T_T). So lucky that I – along the exchange students from Indonesia – got the opportunity to take a picture with the minister, Mr. Nuh.

Second part

This is the main discussion in this forum. This part takes form in panel discussions with moderator Mr. Madanmohan Rao, Research Advisor from Asian Media Information and Communication Centre. The panelists there represent developing countries and industries from Asia, Africa, Middle East and the Pacific, which are :

1. Ms. Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director of Association for Progressive Communications (South Africa)
2. Mr. John Buddon, Economic Infrastructure Advisor of Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (Pacific)
3. Mr. Emmanuel C. Lallana, Chief Executive of Ideacorp (Philippines)
4. Mr. Eisa Abdel Galil, Senior Economist from Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (United Arab Emirates)
5. Mr. Kofi Brako Kwarko, Director of Operation of Advanced Information Technology Institute (Ghana)

Below are my complete resume about the content of the panel discussions. Firstly, “What are important things should be considered when dealing with internet economy (find the complete definition about this term here)“.

Ms. Emmanuel (EM) : Firstly, we should build infrastructure so that it will provide us safety transactions. This is the fundamental of ecomony. Secondly, providing local content. Nowadays, hoax, spam, and other negative informations spread so fast that we cannot control it. Therefore, one thing we can do is counter them with positive ones. We must make policies according to that, everyone know that, but why up until now, we have not got policy, local content, ect? In this case, we must consider internet as part of bigger economic structures. For example, why convergence could not happen? Because everyone wants to use the plafrom they create so that they will get the benefit. Therefore, people is our main concern! If you have money, use it for human capital development (develop ICT skills and other needed for 21st century), not the others.
Ms. Anriette (A) : Internet is special case for Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) since internet and economy are related as integral parts. However, internet is not the answer by its own. Poverty, for example, could not be solved by only internet. We should think what other things we could do better with internet, not what internet can do. Collaboration and interaction between internet and the other parts should be done more interactively. Local context and local policies should be customized so that it becomes simpler and implementable.
Mr. Kofi (K) : Internet infrastructure nowadays is not used well since we do not have enough ideas. Thus, creating contents become important. We do what we can do best, look ad our strength, and innovative enough to use and get benefit from them. Thus the main thing here is idea. Internet provides us servide, now how can we use it. Public goods, for example, is the idea resulting from combination of market value and reality which can bring many benefits to their creator. We can say that, in order to make bridge between developed and developing countries, we should bring contents online. One way in order to do this is implement IT education to lower age (in Ghana, for example, there is program to give one laptop for one student).
Mr. John (J) : This problem can only be settled by the concern of whole parties so that convergence of the internet can be achieved. This is to guarantee that contents which in the end can lead people can be implemented
Mr. Eisa (EI) : Internet economy is application of trade economy with indicators such as regulations (how it is safe and can prevent threat), competitions (how people can choice), and products (what it offers). In this case, since there are more people connect to network nowadays, Internet has more value for better future. That is why, we need specific policies for each kind of transactions it provides.

“How to ensure that convergence, confidence, and creativity will be achieved when conducting internet economy.”

EM : Convergence is one example of the usage of technology application. Technology sometimes develop to the level that we are not ready to handle. VoIP, for example, has been banned in several countries do to the loss it brought to many telecommunication providers. In this case, convergence can be achieved by making sure that the interoperability of technology application between several different networks can be made. Therefore, whatever kind of technology used, people using existing technology can still cooperate with.
A : Convergence is real challenge as well as opportunity. Mr. Emmanuel talked about how powerful VoIP is. Nevertheless, In South Africa, for example, mobile is so powerful that VoIP cannot be recognized. This shows that the advance of certain technology varies depending on so many different aspects. This is why infrastructure sharing becomes important. What kind of infrastructure used by the mobile technology in South Korea, and how it differs with the one VoIP used, and so on. This will strengthen the individual infrastrucutes themselvels as well as the combination of them.
J : Policies for ensuring convergence and confidence cannot stand alone. Every single user connected to internet should aware that threats are enormous out there beside the chances internet provides. Wisdom and knowledge therefore are needed to overcome that.
K : Advance of technology should be allowed, not prohibited. Government and rules are only to ensure that they develop to the right path. The same as car goes on – we just make sure that it sticks on the road.
EI : Regulation to strict the advance of technology is not the smart way. Just leave to the market – it knows what best and what the most efficient products or services are.

“How can innovation and creativity to provide strong internet economy be unleashed from developing countries.”

K : Once again, we should emphasize on the content. Once you have an idea, use platform provided by the internet, spread it, and then you will get value from it. This is what we called internet usage for creating and spreading ideas.
EM : IT is not the only part. People has their own competencies. We can unleash their potentials by making sure that everyone has basic skills needed in their fields – in this case, ICT is used to strengthen those skills and make them be useful for wider purpose.
A : Overcome the culture of games. It is acceptable to use creativity and innovation for making and playing games over internet, but not that much. If you want to play using internet, do it earlier when you are still kid. Now it is time for you to do the university project and so on.
J : Chance to provide content and goods is one thing, but improvement of the skills in order to provide those is also important to make sure that the content and goods presented are not nothing – have values in them.

“How to increase confidence in using internet economy – that is, make internet reliable as tools for conducting economy.” In addition, this is related to the question I asked in that forum, which was stated in one of my post earlier, “I am very interested about what Mr. Kofi Said about the importance of giving content – everytime you have an idea, spread it over the facilities provided by internet, and you will get values from it. However, the problem is, just as Mrs. Anriette said, sometimes the context of the content is not general, and thus we need local content among each group or country. In this case, perhaps I can share content about how to start and develop a good company in some fields, but when you try to use my content, you will get field. Furthermore, there are some bad people which intentionally spread bad or wrong information – which often called negative content. Therefore, spreading content can end with misleading. In this case, how can we, as non government parties, you from NGOs, and we students, can minimize the impact of this phenomenon? And do the government has anything to do with it? What roles can they play? Thank you very much.“.

K : When building internet based economy system, we should make sure what can we do with the data provided there, and who should be in charge of it. In this case, we can minimize the probability of the useless contents which now occupies our time quite much (50% of our time using the internet is used to delete information we do not need). Nevertheless, keep in mind that we must still believe in what we are doing. If you are sure that your content will be useful, then spread it.
A : Empowering human resources is the key. Rather than being more strict – use more firewalls, ban more websites, block more communications, and so on, human empowerment, when conducted well, can give more results with the minimized costs. By using human empowerment, we can make sure five principles will be achieved, capacity (ability of the citizens to take-and-give positive contents and throw away negative ones), exposure (each skills can be used wider effectively and efficiently), localization (global contents are assimilated or adapted so that each part of this global world can get the impacts), long term (make sure that our values are dedicated for long life), and getting back (make sure that people who add the value is the one and the only one who will get the value back).
J : Potentialization of each persons connected to the internet should be guaranteed. Then the motivation to share will be much more that motivation to get. This is what Google does (share first, get back later – no need to think about it), and we can see that Google becomes one of the most successful companies in ICT.
EI : We should make sure that each platforms used in every transactions and other economic activities are secure. It can be achieved technically (using many security techniques) and socially (empowerment as stated by Ms. Anriette).
EM : Confidence is one of the enormous challenges provided by ICT. This shows that ICT is a real thing. Furthermore, the challenges are hard, but worthed and fun.

Third part

This is the part in which UN APCICT shows us what they are doing. After congratulatory remarks from Mr. Lee Chang Koo, Deputy Mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City and Mr. Soomann Choi, President of Korea Radio Promotion Agency, Mr. James George Chacko from UN APCICT explains about achivements and activities of UN APCICT, such as APCICT Academy for ICT Essentials for Government Leaders, APCICT Virtual Academy, and e-Collaborative Hub on ICT for Development.

Since that day was also UN APCICT’s second birthday (founded on June 16, 2006), we also celebrated there by cutting a very big cake and view some video presentations about that organizations. I think that in its early age, UN APCICT has shown great achievements and is still conducting to continue to reach their vision – training, research, and advisory for ICT fields in Asia Pacific countries.

Well done, UN APCICT!

Magang di PBB – Kesempatan Tak Terulang

Sebagai bagian dari pertukaran pelajar yang saya ikuti, Daejeon University menjalin berbagai kerjasama dengan perusahaan-perusahaan di Korea Selatan terutama yang berkaitan dengan IT untuk membuka kesempatan kepada kami untuk magang selama libur musim panas ini. Nah, UN APCICT, lembaga PBB yang menjadi salah satu sponsor pertukaran pelajar ini, juga ikut memberikan kesempatan magang tersebut kepada 5 mahasiswa (dari 20 mahasiswa pertukaran pelajar tersebut). Kemarin ( 23 Juni 2008 ) adalah pengumuman siapa saja yang diterima untuk magang di sana. Duyen dari Vietnam, Ira dari Malaysia, Marvin dari Filipina (teman sekamar saya ), Tanis dari Thailand, dan… saya sendiri. Wah, bingung deh saya. Akan saya ambil atau tidak ya kesempatan ini? Lho, mengapa bingung?

Jadi ceritanya, “kondisi” yang ditawarkan oleh UN APCICT tersebut bisa dibilang tidak terlalu menggembirakan. UN APCICT berlokasi di new downtown di kota Incheon, yang berarti jauh dari keramaian (Incheon sendiri berjarak 150 km dari Daejeon tempat kami menjalani perkuliahan sekarang). Ditambah dengan belum adanya kejelasan mengenai akomodasi yang ditawarkan (yang berarti besar kemungkinan fasilitas yang akan kami terima sangat jauh berbeda apabila dibandingkan dengan “fasilitas mewah” dari asrama Daejeon University ini) dan kenyataan bahwa UN APCICT tidak bisa menyediakan insentif bagi kami, membuat saya terpikir bisa jadi selama magang tersebut hidup saya susah hehehe.

Nah, jika saya menolak tawaran magang, dari UN APCICT ini, kemungkinan besar saya bisa magang di salah satu perusahaan IT di kota Daejeon ini, tanpa perlu bingung akan akomodasi selama magang, dan dengan insentif sebesar sekitar USD 500-800. Oh, jadi ceritanya bingung karena matre nih? Hahaha, bukan, bukan. Hanya saja, kondisi terburuk yang harus saya tempuh apabila saya “bersusah-susah” menerima tawaran magang di PBB itu mungkin tidak harus saya hadapi (bahkan mungkin diganti dengan fasilitas-fasilitas yang lebih “menyenangkan”) apabila saya magang di perusahaan lain yang berada di Daejeon ini. Untuk apa menderita nun jauh di Incheon sana, apabila di Daejeon sini terdapat sarana yang lebih menarik dalam melaksanakan magang ini, begitu yang terlintas di dalam pikiran saya.

Tetapi ternyata hati kecil saya tetap memilih untuk menerima tawaran UN APCICT itu (pikiran-pikiran di paragraf di atas tersebut ternyata memang hanya terlintas dan tidak mengendap lama di otak saya). Mengapa? Hei… Kapan lagi bisa bekerja di PBB? Saya sudah pernah bekerja di perusahaan IT murni maupun perusahaan yang terintegrasi dengan IT. Di masa depan pun, sangat mungkin saya berkecimpung dengan perusahaan-perusahaan ini. Akan tetapi, bekerja di PBB? Mungkin sedikit sekali orang yang mendapatkan kesempatan ini. Soal hidup susah, hahaha, bukankah kamu sudah terbiasa dan terlatih untuk itu Jrin? Apa pengaruh PPSDMS, KM ITB, HMIF, dan segenap afiliasi lain yang kamu ikuti apabila mengeluh hanya karena halangan ini? Fasilitas dan materi itu hanya terlihat dari luar, dan itu masih bisa kamu dapatkan nanti, benar?

Dan akhirnya, pagi ini saya mengirim sms ke Mr. Pyo (sang bos pertukaran pelajar, yang meminta konfirmasi dari kami sesegera mungkin mengenai apakah kami akan menerima tawaran UN APCICT atau tidak), “Mr. Pyo, I accept the internship from UN APCICT“. Dan beliau membalas, “I got it right. They will send u email about the details“.

Dan dari sinilah, pemuda kampung Karawang ini, mulai 2 minggu lagi akan bekerja di PBB selama sekitar satu setengah bulan untuk menimba ilmu, pengalaman, dan keterampilan lebih luas lagi. Doakan saya bisa mengemban kepercayaan ini yah, para pembaca yang budiman.

Chance once in a lifetime… you will regret it if you release it… since there won’t always be second, third, and so on… so Allah, please give me directions related to this opportunity..

Menonton Film di Bioskop di Pagi Hari, Menyenangkan Juga :D

Menanggapi postingan saya sebelumnya (yang jika diterjemahkan berarti “Minggu ini Saya sedang Ujian“), maka seiring berlalunya hari kerja, saya nyatakan berakhir pula hampir semua UAS saya. Lho, mengapa hampir? Karena sebenarnya masih ada satu UAS, yaitu UAS bahasa korea hari Selasa depan ( 24 Juni 2008 ) – ujian komprehensif yang menguji keempat komponen berbahasa (writing, listening, reading & grammar, dan speaking) kami.

Tetapi tetap saja, berhubung jadwal UAS seharusnya selesai minggu ini, dan ditambah dengan suasana mudik yang melanda asrama dimana hampir semua mahasiswa lokal mengemas barang-barangnya untuk dibawa pulang ke kampung halaman semasa liburan musim panas ini (huaaaa, kangen kampung halaman juga nih, hehehe), saya dan teman-teman tetap merasa memerlukan refreshing di akhir pekan ini. Kami berpikir, setelah penat dengan segala kesibukan akademis selama satu semester, cukup wajar apabila kita sedikit merasakan suasana yang berbeda.

Karena itu, ketika Ling Wai Chyuan a.k.a. Cyrus si mahasiswa asal Malaysia yang superaktif mengajak saya dan lainnya untuk menonton bioskop dan berbelanja hari ini, saya tidak menolak ajakan tersebut. Apalagi, selama libur musim panas ini, kafetaria asrama kami tutup, walhasil jatah makan gratis kami sebanyak tiga kali sehari pun berhenti total. Tentu saja itu berarti kami perlu menyiapkan makan kami sendiri. Karena biaya untuk makan di restoran di Korea amat mahal apabila dibandingkan dengan di Indonesia (per porsi, paling murah sekitar Rp 30.000,-), sepertinya berbelanja bahan makanan merupakan suatu kebutuhan yang tidak bisa dihindari. Lalu aya bercakap-cakap dengannya sehari sebelum hari menonton-belanja-refreshing kami (FYI 1 won = Rp 10,- bagi yang belum tahu).

R : What time will we go to the Saytwo (the name of the department store) to watch movie and go shopping?
C : Lets go at around 7.30.
R : What? So early? I thought Saytwo opens at around 10 a.m?
C : The theater there starts in around 8.45 a.m. Lets pick the morning one, since it is cheaper.
R : A chincha (with the Korean style)?? Wow, how much is it?
C : If you watch in the morning, it will be 4000 won. Noon and afternoon will cost u 7000 won. And if you watch in the evening, it will be 9000 won.
R : I see.. okay, lets watch in the morning!

Sampai di situ, saya cukup terkejut. Wah, menonton film di bioskop di pagi hari? Boleh juga. Saya berpikir bioskop di Indonesia rata-rata baru buka sekitar jam makan siang, dengan perbedaan harga berdasarkan hari, bukan berdasarkan jam. Rasanya menonton di siang atau sore hari memerlukan biaya yang sama, CMIIW. Lalu, saya terpikir akan pelajaran ekonomi SMA (tolong diralat ya bagi yang mengetahui) yang mengatakan bahwa bioskop merupakan salah satu jenis usaha dengan fixed cost sangat tinggi, namun variable cost sangat rendah. Seingat saya, fixed cost sendiri merupakan biaya pokok yang perlu dikeluarkan tidak bergantung kepada jumlah barang yang diproduksi / jumlah jasa yang ditawarkan. Sementara itu, variable cost adalah biaya yang besarnya bergantung kapasitas produksi (semakin banyak barang yang diproduksi, semakin mahal biaya yang dikeluarkan).

Dalam usaha bioskop, yang menjadi fixed cost adalah biaya pembelian film yang bersangkutan dari rumah produksi (yang konon besarnya miliaran rupiah). Sementara itu, yang menjadi variable cost adalah biaya penggandaan film (berapa banyak jumlah studio yang akan memutar film tersebut) dan biaya pemutaran film (biaya penggunaan alat untuk setiap kali tontonan). Nah, biaya penggandaan film untuk satu studio itu menurut saya sangat murah jika dibandingkan penghasilan yang bisa didapat dari studio tersebut, dan biaya pemutaran film (untuk satu tontonan) saya pikir akan juga jauh lebih murah – lagi-lagi dibandingkan dengan penghasilan dari banyak penonton yang menyaksikan film tersebut.

Berdasarkan pemikiran tersebut, saya pikir langkah yang dilakukan oleh bioskop di sini patut ditiru (dengan membanting harga untuk memperluas segmen dan kemungkinan pasar untuk menonton film di pagi hari) – karena perbedaan antara biaya yang cukup kecil yang dibutuhkan untuk memutar film tersebut di pagi hari dibandingkan dengan besarnya pendapatan yang diperoleh dari banyak orang yang menonton karena menganggap hal tersebut murah. Hal ini didukung pula dengan tabiat masyarakat Korea yang memang rata-rata rajin dan disiplin, sehingga sama sekali bukan masalah bagi mereka untuk bangun pagi-pagi dan pergi ke department store hanya untuk menonton film di bioskop. Hahaha, terus terang saya sendiri, ketika akhirnya hari ini bangun dan bersiap-siap pagi-pagi, cukup merasa aneh. Berangkat sekitar pukul 7.30, saya berpikir, untuk apa saya pagi-pagi repot-repot hanya untuk menonton film di bioskop?

Tapi toh akhirnya kami pergi juga. Sampai di Saytou department store sekitar pukul 08.30, akhirnya saya, Cyrus, Marvin, Lou, Azi, Cheyear, dan Marina, menonton Incredible Hulk di bioskop bernama CGV di sana. Dilihat-lihat, sepertinya bioskop di sini mirip-mirip saja dengan bioskop di Indonesia. Tidak jauh berbeda, selain seluruh huruf yang ditampilkan (termasuk judul filmnya) dalam bahasa Korea (sebagai contoh, Incredible Hulk ditulis “인크레더블 헐크“). Kemudian, agak aneh juga melihat subtitle film yang ditulis dalam bahasa Korea hehehe. Tidak apa apa, hitung hitung sekaligus belajar membaca huruf Korea dengan cepat. Dan karena saya sendiri terbiasa menonton film barat dengan subtitle, serasa ada yang hilang juga ketika menonton kali ini. Huhuhu, berarti saya masih harus banyak belajar bahasa Inggris juga nih, hehehe

Overall, saya puas menonton film di bioskop kali ini hehehe. Film yang kami tonton cukup bagus, harga yang perlu kami keluarkan cukup murah untuk ukuran di Korea, dan suasana pagi yang sangat menyegarkan (sedikit aneh karena baru pertama kali mungkin, tetapi saya merasa hal ini menyenangkan) cukup membuat kami senang. Saya berpikir, apakah metode semacam ini dapat diterapkan di Indonesia? Saya tidak tahu. Di satu sisi, saya berpikir hal ini kurang feasible karena mungkin orang Indonesia akan menganggap, untuk apa pula capek-capek bangun pagi hanya untuk menonton bioskop. Tetapi di sisi lain, bisa saja dengan harga murah yang ditawarkan, orang-orang akan berbondong-bondong datang. Bagaimana nih, pengusaha bioskop di Indonesia, tertarik untuk mencoba? Bagaimana menurut pembaca, terutama bagi yang sering menonton di bioskop?

There is always be a first time for everything… Including simple one provided here… Nevertheless, it is fun anyway… are you interested?

이번 주에 시험은 있어요…

안녕하세요 여러분! 제 소개를 할께요. 나는 무하마드 파즈린 라시드예요. 저는 린이라고 합니다. 스물 한살이에요 (제 생일은 구월 십일일이에요). 인도네시아에서 왔어요. 나는 대전대학교에 다녀요. 컴퓨터 공학과 사학년 학생이에요.

저는 한국에 올 봄 삼월 이십칠일에 왔어요. 대전에 삽니다. 한국에 재미 있어요. 날씨가 좋아해요. 한국 여자들이 아주 예쁩니다. 한국 음식도 좋아요. 칼국수하고 해물볶음밥하고 닭비탕하고 계란짐이 맛있어요. 한국 음알을 듣고 싶습니다.

데학교 기숙사에 살고 있습니다. 제 방이 춥습니다. 방 안에는 친구가 한 명있어요. 필리핀에서 왔습니다. 우리는 기숙사 식당에서 먹습니다.

그러나, 여기에 나는 공부해야 한다. 이번 주에 시험은 있어요. 많이 있습니다. 그럼, 안녕히 계세요…

Pengalaman Pertama Bertanya Dalam Forum Internasional – So Nervous! -_-

Oke, jadi ceritanya kemarin ( Senin, 16 Juni 2008 ) saya beserta teman-teman lain sesama mahasiswa program pertukaran pelajar di Daejeon University ini diundang untuk mengikuti forum internasional bertajuk “Global Forum on Building the Inclusive Internet Economy: Developing Countries Perspectives” yang diselenggarakan oleh UN APCICT, lembaga PBB yang bertujuan mengembangkan ICT di kawasan Asia Pasifik. Acara ini sendiri merupakan bagian dari rangkaian acara tingkat dunia yang membahas tentang perkembangan ekonomi berbasiskan internet berjudul OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) Ministerial Meeting on the Future of Internet Economy (visit the website here).

Kami sendiri diundang karena UN APCICT adalah sponsor pertukaran pelajar yang kami ikuti ini, sebab pertukaran pelajar ini adalah salah satu dari banyak agenda lembaga tersebut yang dalam jangka panjang bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kapasitas ICT di negara-negara ASEAN khususnya. Tetapi, tetap saja kami langsung merinding melihat siapa saja peserta yang terlibat di forum tersebut. Menteri-menteri (termasuk menkominfo RI Bapak Muhammad Nuh), CEO-CEO (wakil presiden Google, CEO Skype, CEO Fujitsu, bos Toyota, dsb), direktur NGO-NGO tingkat dunia, profesor-profesor dari berbagai universitas top dunia, dan segala nama besar lainnya pun dijadwalkan hadir disana! Glek, terus kenapa kami bisa ada disana? Apa hubungannya kami dengan sederetan tokoh-tokoh penting dunia tersebut?

Kemudian, saya berpikir, sepertinya ini forum yang sangat besar (dalam arti ada sekian ratus atau mungkin lebih dari seribu orang yang duduk di satu ruangan), sehingga kehadiran 20 orang mahasiswa culun seperti kami ini mungkin tidak mengubah keadaan. Saya terbayang kami duduk di pojok belakang di ruangan sebesar gedung MPR, dalam suatu forum yang terbuka untuk hampir seluruh pihak dari seluruh dunia, sehingga kehadiran kami sama sekali tidak mencolok, cukup mendengarkan dari jauh para pembicara-pembicara itu mengungkapkan pemikirannya, mengambil makanan, lalu duduk diam dan mendengarkan lagi, dan pulang. Tidak ada pengaruh selain untuk mengisi kursi yang kosong.

Pikiran itu masih ada dalam benak kami ketika kami berangkat pagi-pagi buta dengan bus meninggalkan kota Daejeon tercinta ini. Dan akhirnya, sampai pula kami di pinggiran kota Seoul, tepatnya di Incheon Metropolitan City. Gedung COEX, tempat penyelenggaraan forum itu, sungguh megah, seperti tampak pada gambar di bawah ini.

Tentu saja, hal yang membuat kami semakin ciut. Untuk apa pula kami ada di sini? Apa sih yang kami miliki? Ah, tidak apa lah, orang diundang ya hadir saja. Toh kita hanya penghibur kan? Apalagi, kami hadir dengan pakaian tradisional masing-masing (saya sendiri mengenakan kemeja batik), yang seolah mengisyaratkan bahwa kami itu hadir sebagai produk si UN APCICT itu, hahaha. Setelah sampai di ruang forum, kesan bahwa kami-hanya-pelengkap-di-kursi-paling-belakang pun luluh. Ruang forum itu hanya berkapasitas sekitar 100-120 orang. Sehingga, kedatangan 20 mahasiswa dengan pakaian unik benar-benar jadi sorotan. Saya sendiri tidak mengenal secara langsung orang-orang di dalam ruangan itu (Pak Nuh belum datang), tetapi sepertinya mereka orang penting dari berbagai negara, terlihat dari papan nama mereka di meja masing-masing (Mr./Mrs. XXXX, CEO / Direktur YYYY, Country ZZZZ).

Mati kami. Lho, kenapa? Hahaha, yah karena, dengan disandingkannya kami dengan hanya sekitar 80-an orang penting, tentu kami tidak boleh mempermalukan Daejeon University, UN APCICT, dan semua lembaga yang kami wakili, dengan tidak berpartisipasi dalam forum tersebut. Apalagi, yang tambah membuat saya kaget, Menteri Komunikasi dan Informatika Republik Indonesia Bapak Muhammad Nuh lah yang menjadi keynote speaker forum itu. Kami diingatkan oleh Mr. Pyo dari kantor hubungan internasional Daejeon University yang mendampingi kami di forum ini supaya sebisa mungkin kami aktif bertanya dan menanggapi forum tersebut. Glek, pertanyaan atau tanggapan seperti apa yang bisa kami sampaikan agar tidak terkesan culun dan tidak memalukan – dibandingkan dengan orang-orang penting tadi? Jadilah saya berusaha sebisa mungkin untuk mengikuti isi forum dengan setotal-totalnya, tanpa ingin bercanda-canda.

Lalu, tentang apa sih isi topik forum tersebut? Intinya adalah bagaimana mengembangkan penggunaan internet untuk kemajuan ekonomi, terutama ditinjau dari tiga aspek, yaitu convergence, creativity, dan confidence. Nah, isi selengkapnya tentang forum tersebut saya kemukakan di postingan selanjutnya ya, tetapi di sini, saya ingin bercerita apa yang terjadi setelah sesi tanya jawab tersebut. Mr. Pyo berbisik-bisik kepada kami, membujuk supaya ada yang bertanya di antara kami. Sambil mendengarkan pertanyaan-pertanyaan berbobot yang diajukan oleh audiens lain, saya terpikir akan satu pertanyaan dan menuliskannya di buku saya. Sialnya, buku itu dibaca oleh yang lain, dan saat itu tidak ada teman-teman yang ingin bertanya, karenanya mereka langsung mendesak saya untuk bertanya.

Sial! Saya langsung berdegup karena grogi, apakah pertanyaan saya cukup pantas untuk diajukan? Belum lagi bagaimana jika bahasa Inggris saya kacau? Tetapi, karena didorong oleh rasa bahwa “kami harus berpartisipasi di forum ini, bukan tanpa alasan UN APCICT mengundang kami kesini“, akhirnya saya memberanikan diri mengacungkan tangan ketika si moderator menawarkan ada yang ingin bertanya atau tidak. Dan akhirnya saya pun berbicara. Deg..deg..deg.. Jantung masih saja berdegup kencang ketika saya memulai mengungkapkan kata-kata. “Thank you for giving me the opportunity. My name is Muhamad Fajrin Rasyid, from Indonesia, but now, along with these 20 students, I am representing the exchange student of undergraduate level from Daejeon University, South Korea.“

Saya bisa merasakan (bukannya ge-er ya, haha) hampir semua audiens menatap saya, mahasiswa biasa berbaju batik ini yang sangat jauh apabila dibandingkan para pria berjas itu. Apalagi, para panelis, termasuk wanita cerdas yang bernama Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director APC (Association for Progressive Communications) juga ikut menatap saya. Saya berhenti sebentar, menarik napas. Fiuhhh. Saya melanjutkan. “Sorry for being nervous, being with all of you great people, man. Okay, let me start my question. I am very interested about what Mr. Kofi Said about the importance of giving content – everytime you have an idea, spread it over the facilities provided by internet, and you will get values from it. However, the problem is, just as Mrs. Anriette said, sometimes the context of the content is not general, and thus we need local content among each group or country. In this case, perhaps I can share content about how to start and develop a good company in some fields, but when you try to use my content, you will get field. Furthermore, there are some bad people which intentionally spread bad or wrong information – which often called negative content. Therefore, spreading content can end with misleading. In this case, how can we, as non government parties, you from NGOs, and we students, can minimize the impact of this phenomenon? And do the government has anything to do with it? What roles can they play? Thank you very much.”

Hahhhhh… leganya… tidak tahu juga apakah pertanyaan saya itu cukup penting atau tidak, yang penting lega sekali rasanya. So nervous, dude! Deg-degan selama berbicara, keringat dingin keluar, dan segala macamnya terjadi pada saya, mengingat ini pengalaman pertama saya bertanya pada suatu forum internasional. Pada akhirnya, Mrs. Anriette sendiri menjawab, “I will start with the question from the student, who gave the most difficult questions I have to answer.” Really?? Wah, alhamdulillah, ternyata pertanyaan saya tidak memalukan hehehe. Akhirnya dia menjawab panjang lebar yang pada intinya, daripada membatasi konten-konten tersebut, pelatihan terintegrasi (empowering human capital) menjadi poin utama yang bisa membuat masyarakat lebih cerdas dalam memilih. Wah, senangnya pertanyaan saya bersedia dijawab dengan jawaban yang memuaskan . Perasaan lega bertambah karena teman-teman pun senang dan memberi selamat kepada saya, termasuk bercanda, “Wow Rin, how many days you spent to think about that question?”. Hahahaha. Lalu, ketika mengantri untuk makan siang setelahnya, saya mengantri di belakang wanita setengah baya perwakilan pemerintahan dan universitas dari Sri Lanka, yang langsung menyapa saya, “Hey, you provided good question just now. You know, I agree with you, the negative content has been problems in my country, and I think also in the world. Blablabla…“

Alhamdulillah… Thank God… Anything which is correct, it comes from You, ya Allah… and anything which is false (including my nervous and the others) just show me that I still need to improve myself… being more mature… study more…

About Handphone in South Korea

Setelah hampir tiga bulan berada di negeri ginseng Korea ini, akhirnya saya memiliki handphone (HP) juga. HP CDMA second bermerek LG dengan harga yang sangat murah apabila dibandingkan dengan di Indonesia – bandingkan saja, HP second dengan harga sekitar 200 ribu rupiah itu sudah dipersenjatai dengan 3G, kamera 1,3 megapixel, layar yang tampak lebih jernih dari HP saya di Indonesia (Sony Ericsson W810i), mp3 player, dan kamus English-Korea (hal ini yang menjadi syarat utama saya membeli HP disini, kakas untuk membantu menambah perbendaharaan kosakata Korea dengan cepat). Dan… introducing my handphone…

Sebentar sebentar, apakah postingan ini hanya untuk pamer HP? Haha, tentu saja tidak. Dibalik harga murah HP tersebut, tersimpan perjuangan berhari-hari melewati berbagai proses rumit yang harus dilalui. Mempunyai HP merupakan suatu hal yang sangat sepele di Indonesia, bahkan bagi penduduk asing, tetapi tidak di sini. Apa yang dibutuhkan untuk membeli HP di Indonesia? Miliki sejumlah uang, datang ke counter HP yang sudah sangat menjamur, beli dan pilih provider yang juga menjamur di sana. That’s it. Langsung kring. Tetapi hal yang sama tidak bisa dilakukan di Korea. Cukup dengan punya uang? Tidak. Bahkan, percaya atau tidak, untuk memiliki beberapa HP baru bahkan tidak memerlukan uang sama sekali, tetapi kita tetap tidak bisa mendapatkannya. Lho!!?? Maksudnya??

Hal yang menjadi syarat pertama untuk memiliki HP adalah memiliki kartu identitas yang jelas. Hahaha, harusnya saya sudah menduganya. Keaslian identitas memang menjadi penting karena telekomunikasi dapat disalahgunakan untuk banyak hal – penipuan atas nama, telepon dan sms bom, dan sebagainya. Di negara maju seperti ini, sepertinya hal semacam ini lebih penting daripada sekadar uang tunai yang tidak seberapa besar jumlahnya. Jadilah, untuk mendapatkan HP, kita perlu memiliki nomor KTP yang sudah teregistrasi di sistem pemerintahan Korea (kalau di Indonesia, seperti pernah disebut oleh Bapak Cahyana Ahmadjayadi dari Depkominfo, disebut National Identity Number – tetapi saya tidak tahu apakah sistem identitas tunggal ini sudah digunakan atau belum?).

Nah, berhubung saya adalah orang asing, saya harus memiliki kartu identitas penduduk asing yang bernama cukup unik, Alien Registration Card (hahaha, berasa berasal dari planet lain saja). Proses mengurus Alien Card ini pun cukup rumit dan harus mengisi berbagai formulir (bukannya bertele-tele seperti di Indonesia, tetapi memang cukup banyak data yang harus dimasukkan, sampai-sampai riwayat kesehatan termasuk operasi apa saja yang pernah kita lakukan).

Baiklah, setelah memiliki kartu penduduk Alien Card tadi, hal yang perlu dilakukan setelahnya adalah memilih jenis pembayaran telepon, prabayar atau pascabayar. Tadinya teman saya si entrepreneur ulung, Zaki, mengira bahwa sistem prabayar hanya ada di Indonesia, tetapi ternyata tidak demikian adanya. Di sini, prabayar memiliki keuntungan tidak perlu membayar biaya abonemen setiap bulan, tetapi memiliki kerugian HP baru yang memiliki support terhadap prabayar sangat mahal (di atas 500.000 won atau 5.000.000 rupiah, FYI 1 won = Rp 10,-) sehingga pilihan yang sangat mungkin adalah membeli HP second. Pascabayar memiliki keuntungan HP baru yang mensupport sangat murah, bahkan hampir 50% diantaranya gratis, tetapi kerugiannya adalah, kita harus membayar biaya abonemen per bulan yang besarnya 10.000 sampai 15.000 won – tentunya ini belum termasuk pulsa yang kita bayar.

Nah, jika kita ingin memiliki HP bersistem pascabayar, kita harus berlangganan selama minimal 3 bulan, sehingga dengan membayar biaya abonemen untuk 3 bulan (tiga kali 10.000 won atau 30.000 won), kita bisa mendapatkan HP pascabayar tadi (banyak HP baru berharga 0 – 50.000 won). Namun, tentu saja penambahan biaya abonemen pada HP pascabayar itu berarti biaya yang kita keluarkan per bulan akan sangat mahal T_T. Padahal, survey ke beberapa masyarakat di sini, sebagian dari mereka hanya menggunakan pulsa sebesar 10.000 won. Artinya, biaya pulsa yang perlu dikeluarkan tiap bulan adalah dua kali pulsa apabila menggunakan HP prabayar.

Selain itu, untuk mendapatkan HP pascabayar ini, kita perlu melakukan prosedur lain lagi yaitu membuka rekening tabungan kita di bank. Biasanya apabila saldo rekening kita kecil, mereka akan menolak untuk menjual HP tersebut kepada kita. Biasanya yang menjadi patokan adalah rata-rata biaya abonemen dan pulsa selama 12 bulan. Sehingga, meskipun kita bisa memperoleh HP pascabayar dengan sangat murah bahkan gratis, kita perlu memiliki saldo tabungan sebesar 12 kali (biaya abonemen + biaya pulsa rata-rata) = 12 x (10.000 + 10.000) = 240.000 won.

Atas pertimbangan itulah, saya memutuskan untuk membeli HP prabayar second di atas. Tidak apalah bukan barang baru, yang penting kan fungsionalitas dan efektivitasnya hehehe. Lalu, apakah masalahnya selesai? Ternyata tidak juga. Perlu diketahui bahwa ternyata sebagian besar HP di Korea bersifat bundled (apa ya bahasa Indonesianya? dipasang) dengan provider telekomunikasi yang ada (ada tiga provider besar di sini, serupa Telkomsel dan Indosat di Indonesia, yaitu LG Telecom, KTF, dan SK Telecom). Dengan demikian, si HP tidak dipasang kartu seperti di Indonesia, melainkan sudah terpasang semacam electronic chip di dalamnya yang menandakan provider apa yang dimiliki HP itu. Perhatikan gambar HP saya sekali lagi, terdapat tulisan LG Telecom di bagian atas HP tersebut bukan? Nah, itu berarti HP saya ya hanya bisa menggunakan provider tersebut.

Selanjutnya, tentu saja mengaktifkan HP tersebut. Sebelumnya, saya mengira untuk menggunakan HP tersebut saya cukup membeli nomor (kartu perdana) di counter counter yang juga tersebar seperti di Indonesia. Ternyata, counter counter tersebut hanya berfungsi sebagai service center. Untuk memperoleh nomor agar kita bisa menggunakan HP tersebut untuk berkomunikasi, kita perlu pergi ke LG Telecom center dan melakukan registrasi – mengisi berbagai lembar informasi. Nah, karena saya membeli HP di hari libur, saya harus menanti hingga hari kerja -_-. Dan akhirnya, pada hari kerja saya pergi ke sana, mengisi berbagai lembar informasi dan memperlihatkan Alien Card saya untuk meregistrasi, akhirnya saya memperoleh nomor juga, which is +82 10 5805 2070 (Hehe, tidak perlu disensor ah, sepertinya tidak ada juga yang mau iseng terhadap saya – buat para pembaca yang ingin mengirim sms atau menelepon saya, silakan menghubungi nomor tersebut). Untungnya, saya tidak perlu membayar biaya sama sekali, cukup membayar pulsa perdana sebesar 10.000 won. Dan akhirnya, HP saya kring juga.

Kring… “여보세요?” (dibaca “yeoboseyo?” yang berarti “halo?”).. Nb: sebenarnya bunyinya bukan kring sih, hahaha.

Finally it becomes easier to communicate… No doubt that it plays important role in our lives, doesn’t it?

Third Trip – Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)

This week we went to Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). Still located in Daedeok Science Town (also known as Daedeok Valley or Daedeok Innopolis) and with the same route to go there did not mean that this trip is boring. In contrary, I like this trip better than the last trip – perhaps due to the places we visit which – I think – are more related to our specialties.

KISTI / 한국과학기술정보연구원 (http://www.kisti.re.kr/) is the first place we visit which indeed represents how Korea is now struggling to be one of the best countries leading in ICT. KISTI is research center providing various scientific information and infrastructure in most of Korean company. It is the place where we can see a lot of supercomputer which can handles various multi-advanced calculations such as particle moving simulation, earthquake prediction, and airplane design and error testing, which being almost in the level of Peta-Flop (about 1000 Tera-Flop or 1,000,000,000,000,000 floating point operations per second).

There are also big networking components there, which stand in the special room with the special characteristics – whenever there is an earthquake; the room along with the components inside are safe. I am really amused about what I saw inside there – and imagined how I can do calculations like that in the future. Oh, I really want to get involved with this kind of technology?.

After about one hour, we went to KARI / 한국항공우주연구원(http://www.kari.re.kr/). All I can say about this place is amazing. This institute is focusing about how Korean research is conducted and what have they done in aerospace field – such as developing aircraft, satellites, and space launch vehicles, conducting GIS, and simulation and real world testing about living in outer space. I saw so many space things there – rocket, spacesuit, even the real satellites which need about 5 years to integrate all of their components so that they can work out there. There are also big rooms in which we can simulate how to live without gravity. It was a great chance to visit this, especially with the plenty of hi-tech tools we can see with our own eyes.

Overall, this trip is great. One thing I remember from the officer from KISTI is, “It is not how fast technology can develop, but how fast our creativity and way of thinking can grow”.

Really drives me to study hard, do researches, and produce thing that we can only imagine now.

Brain Drain and Brain Gain

It is very common to hear about our Indonesian science Olympiad alumni students which continue their studies outside Indonesia. Many countries offer great opportunity to them, namely a full and partial scholarship to study there. It is difficult to find the correspondence ones here. Therefore the number of the stated students increases every year.

Some people said that this fact had brought negative impacts to our country. They which indeed have a great potential in academic things – in the other words, have great brains – more and less will give whatever inside their brains to the universities they are studying in the form of research, learning activities, and many more. The country, as well as the university they belong to will get the advantage from them for every research they conduct will cause the good effect to those two sides. Indonesia, which clearly does not belong to the countries in which they are continuing their studies, on the other hand receives nothing. Chivalry noted, the students’ brains are drained by other countries outside Indonesia. This phenomenon is called brain drain.

Brain drain is so ironic since Indonesia is so poorly developed even though there are a lot of good brain resources. With the enormous amount of high potential students, Indonesia should be able to chase developed countries such as USA and Japan. Nevertheless current condition states that those people are staying outside Indonesia, which results that Indonesia does not grow well while many other countries do using the Indonesian things.

Despite those negative estimations, the fact that many Indonesian students study abroad on the other hands also bring positive impacts to our country. This can happen since those students will get many knowledge and experiences about many things – their educational field they are getting in and general things such as culture – they did not receive in Indonesia. When they come back into this country, they will bring along those potential resources which can be used to improve our economy conditions. That is why this fact is called brain gain – our students gain many knowledge and experiences outside Indonesia (stated as gain more brains from others) and use them to make our country become better.

Big question arises here: which phenomenon is true more exactly, brain drain or brain gain? It is true that it partially depends on those students themselves. Are they willing to develop this country by working for Indonesian government? Or will they choose to live wealthily outside Indonesia and do not do anything to improve this country condition? In this case, we cannot judge them by only that consideration. Likewise, cannot say that those who choose the latter option thus do not have the responsibility as Indonesian citizens.

As an easy example, we may ask ourselves how they can develop Indonesia if it gives them nothing. Therefore it is task for our government to rethink about how well we conduct them. It is also common to hear that our scientists do not live wealthily. Their salaries, which are around 4 to 6 million rupiahs per month, are even fewer than celebrities. Thus making them comfort to live in Indonesia may be a small thing, but solving it will give us answer about the question arisen in the beginning of previous paragraph. It is brain gain.

So ironic to post this, as I AM also the one who are now studying abroad, away from my beloved country, Indonesia… So which path will u choose, Fajrin Rasyid? Being drained to other countries, or gain something u can apply in your country?