[pistons92] Global ...

Kata orang dunia emang sekarang udah jadi global village...

Dulu ketika era industrialisasi baru dimulai, hampir semua kegiatan industri 
bersifat seperti bengkel. Butuh sumber keuangan dari para pemilik modal 
(London Stock Exchange dan Wall Street dimulai sebagai kongkowe2 pemilik modal 
di abad ke 16 dan 18. Yang satu di warung kopi yang lain dibawah pohon), 
Kemudian satu atau dua orang yang bertindak sebagai designer dan mandor 
sekaligus. (Di UK ada Isambard Kingdom Brunnel yang bikin jembatan, terowongan 
kereta bawah tanah, railway network dan kapal, vritually everything you can 
name in Victorian Britain) Dan tentu saja buruh yang cukup murah. This small 
bussiness model means everything can be under one roof. The western world was 
grown from this. Until 1900 the US was only an ordinary country,even less 
attractive than Argentina. UK's GDP at that time was four times as high.

Then the economic success came. With that people expects more complicated 
product, thus company structure became more complicated. At the same time the 
poor labour became richer and attaining middle class status. They'd like a 
better job, or at least the same job with better payment. Thus a multinational 
company was born. To make it competitive the manufacturing must be shifted to 
the place where labour and off-course environemtal cost is still cheap. 
(Unfortunately Indonesia and other is still in this position). The design 
office and the nerve centre of the company remain where it was. Logically, the 
marketing stays where the people has prosper... (That's the western world)

Have you heard an innovative vaccum cleaner called Dyson? (It has funky design 
from the outset. The technology inside is also attractive as it is the first 
vacuum cleaner work based on conical vortex structure principle: The air is 
released at the top of the cone while the debris is thrown to the side of the 
cone by "centrifugal" force. A principle known for long time but only recently 
harnessed by vacuum cleaner industry). In early 90s it was still a small 
company somewhere in the midwest of England. Now, its sucess makes it shift 
its manufacturing to Malaysia (Unfortunately not Indonesia) So it becomes a 
multi-national company in a sense, although it is still not listed in any 
stock exchange in the world. It is controlled by the inventor called James 
Dyson who never go to any technical school. Mind you he went to a design 
school. 

So where we are now can be traced on the way a country has been developed in 
the past. Nggak ada gunanya blaming the US dan sekutu2-nya. Siapa pun yang ada 
di posisi itu berusaha mempertahankan posisi dominanya. The so-called 
Rent-seeking economy seems to be the favourite scape goat. Di negara Barat 
sendiri banyak orang yang bilang kenapa utang dunia ketiga nggak dihapus? Well 
it has been tried to celebrate our third millenium on some African countries. 
The result is there was a President who decided the free money should go 
towrad buying himself a private jet!

Kalo penjajahan yang mau disalahkan, kenapa Korea (yang dijajah dengan brutal 
oleh Jepang), Taiwan dan Singapore (virtually a farming community until 
recently) bisa maju dan Indonesia nggak? The answer is obvious. Solusi sudah 
jelas cuman emang untuk melaksanakan membutuhkan kemauan besar untuk melawan 
inertia yang ada. Emang benar tax Indonesia sebagian terkumpul untuk membayar 
utang. Tapi setelah otomi daerah, kewtika para raja kecil mulai ikut memungut 
tax (they don't call it pajak do they) yang nota bene nggak dipake untuk bayar 
utang LN, kemana larinya uang itu? Of course anggota DPRD dan pemda butuh 
penghasilan dan tunjangan yang sesuai dg status sosial...


****


Konsumerisme di dunia barat emang kepanjangan logis dari struktur ekonomi 
mereka. In fact it ws consumer spending that brought world recession of 1970s 
and 1980s to end. Currently, high level consumer spending in the UK and US has 
stoped the economy from being collapse completely. (Unlike Indonesia, US 
consumerism is done by large part of the socisety plus it is backed by the 
world powerhouse status. That's my main concern about Indoneisan consumerism 
which has very weak basis. We can not compare world number 1 with number god 
knows in this.). Japan that is in their 10th years of recession is still seen 
as not harnessing their spending power enough to overcome recession. (I must 
say I don't like consumerism myself. It makes the job of raising a kid is 
extremely difficult here. By six years of age girls has played with Barbie 
doll and its accecories. By 10 yrs, it's make up time! Boys are equally 
difficult as they'd go for computer games that cost GBP 35 for a new release 
game. I don't know wheteher I'll manage to make my kid a devout Christian.) It 
stemmed out of desire to achive a better living standard as soon as the 
rationalism of 18th-19th century becomes a way of live. Mind you given chance, 
all Indoneisan would like to do so. But our mindset has been conditioned to 
think that the westerner decadency will ultimately decays their society.... 
Why? for our generation one of the slogan we encounmter in school is western 
value must be filtered with Pancasila. Now it is continued using different 
filter. It amused me that many articles about globalisation must be tied up 
with religion in Indonesia.

The truth is any religion in itself is good (as politics is) since they were 
created to improve the life on the socity where its founder live years ago. 
(It is ongoing process as up to now there are new religions being created). 
Unfortunately, many people found it a useful tool to be a rulling elite. Pre 
17th century europe was such place where most of the rulling elite use 
Christianity for the purpose. Catholic Pope should have been lived in celibacy 
but many 15-16th century Pope had illegitimate children. (Of course one or two 
present day priest still abusing their power and being exposed by media all 
over the world). People was kept on the dark through elitism education system 
and deprived economically. Then French revolution took place, churches was 
burnt, peiople turned to atheism. It did not stay longer than 20 yrs, but the 
idea that religion can be missused to deprived ordinary people from their 
rights has been exposed. You must be remember what Bang Akbar did when he was 
detained by Kejagung years ago... How many religious people you see lives as 
the poorest of the poor in your society? How many religious people live above 
society prosperity average?

Of course there was charity works. How many of them is genuine. To raise a 
fund for giving 100 kids from poor background to elementary school (I bet not 
the elite prive school) is ludicrous. (Especially it was done by a three 
pointed star brigade)

In this sense, Indonesia is simply an old carbon copy of the western world. In 
fact most of the Arab world is not different from Indonesia. (Few moths ago 
there was a special program about Saudi Arabia which was filmed in secret as 
the Saudis wasn't happy being seen as they actually are). I must say that the 
westerner still bear some paranoid from their pass: people who still live like 
them 200 yeras ago might try to destroy their current lifestyle through 
terrorism. Quite unfortunate for people who pride themselves as open minded.


******


Another miss-conception is the western nations getting stupider all the time. 
Well, self parody (just like "The stupid white man" that must be popular among 
people who like to slag-off the Amricans) is a common trend now. Dumbing down 
also happen in the UK. But as far as science is concern, this so called 
"Dumbing down" is mainly trying to use common english in place of scientific 
jargon. So it makes science more accessible to people. In recent survey of 
greatest Britons of all time, there are many sportsman and Actor/Actress but 
Adam Smith is absent from the top 100 list. If the similar survey is held in 
Indonesia, I am sure similar result will emerge. Many Actor/Sctress from 
Sinetron with people like Raden Widjaya or Anthony Fokker (That's right this 
aviation pioneer was born and bread in Jawa Timur) will be left off. After 
all, we are a product of our age.

It is true that the percentage of local people doing science (or PhD perhaps) 
is getting lower in comparison to foreigner. But, many of these foreigner does 
not go back to their home country in the end. In CFD field, the gurus (in 
English it has the original Sanskrit menaing: the exceptional expert) are of 
European, Indian, Chinese even Middle East origin, who most of them work in 
the US with US passport. If you look at School of Aero and Auto Eng in 
Loughborough University website, youd' see many foreigner (notably Chinese) 
work as staff. Guess what? All of them is British National. Most have kissed 
goodbye to their original passport, a few retain bi-nationality. (Even when 
the current political climate made people with Indonesian passport under close 
scrutiny, once the person has European Passport, they will be treated as 
normal citizen). Many racist people in the west see this with disgust as it 
will dillute the white race. (To see the increasing of scintific foreigner as 
a bad thing is unfortunately a bit racist. Unfortunately, years ago I saw 
Indonesian doing PhD in Manchester expressing the same thing... I wonder where 
he is now as he might have to chew part of his own word)

The fact the UK governemnt has made it easier to get a job for foreigner with 
education and skill. (Many stress-man from IPTN works in the UK these days). 
After having job permit for 4 yrs, one can get permanent residence status. 
Then (i can't remember howlong) one can apply for a Passport. This is what has 
been called: Brain Drain....

After all the whole world is a one big global village....

PS: Toi Sadewa, keep up the good work of trying to be a private investor. (But 
as Sony said, if something looks too goog to be true, it usualy is.) 
Harnessing world capital seems to be way forward... Like it or Not! (Well I am 
a believer in socialism, actually)


Cheers.

Indi H. Tristanto

Dept. Aero. and Auto. Eng. (AAE),       tel  : ++ (0)1509 227 242
Stewart Miller Building,                fax  : ++ (0)1509 227 275
West Park,                              email: I.H.Tristanto@xxxxxxxxxxx
Loughborough University,       
Loughborough,                
Leicestershire LE11 3TU         
United Kingdom

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