Agung Rino P. and Jean Tania
Jakarta, 27 June 2013
Satya Widya Yudha (51) is a member of DPR (House of Representative) in Indonesia for his first term since 2009 until 2014. He is part of the energy resource commission. Mr. Satya has been working in the energy industry for over 23 years as he was working for BP (British Petroleum). His vast knowledge in this business has led him to become one of Indonesia’s leading experts in energy and education. He has two children; which are now pursuing their Bachelor degree in Michigan (United States) and Manchester (England) respectively. Both of them are majoring in Economics.
Mr. Satya has been working in different positions for BP and being stationed at different countries such as China, Vietnam, and England. These travels and working situations have allowed him to absorb the different cultures for efficiency in education. During the interview, he said that Indonesia still lack the proper education system to compete with other Asian nations.
“My kids underwent a significant transition when we came back to Indonesia, as they are used to the International environment. As a result, I enrolled my kids into JIS (Jakarta International School) because it offers the same environment and network for my kids future.” Said Mr. Satya regarding the standard for education in Indonesia.
His background suggests that he could be a director for P.T. Pertamina, however he still chooses to help the nation. This is a noble act and thought, as in the public’s eye, the members of DPR are mostly considered as people who are corrupters. Some also believe that these people do not necessarily represent the public’s interest. It is interesting to see that Indonesia is undergoing constant changes as it is still developing economically, educationally, and infrastructural.
Mr Satya surprisingly does not only hold knowledge about energy resources but also has a very good point in Indonesia’s education level. Since he completed his Masters in London, he saw the limitations of Indonesian Scholars ability to compete with foreign Scholars; which according to him is one of the barriers why Indonesia’s education hardly can be compete internationally with other Universities.
“The problem with Indonesia is language and the will to act. We are capable of producing journal entries of international standard. It is proven by our nation’s achievements in the science Olympiad and also the mathematic Olympiad. When I was doing my Masters, I was able to access journals from top universities like Harvard, MIT, and Oxford. If I were to order a book from America, it will arrive in less than two weeks via my University library.” Mr. Satya sharing his experience as a post graduate student.
Mr. Satya was very adamant that his experiences teach him to be aware with international standards for education. He explained that China have developed into one of the leading Asian country in the field of economy and education. They have a university called Tsinghua University that has already existed in less than 50 years but it managed to be on the Top 50 list of World Universities. Whereas Indonesia has quite numbers of Universities that have existed more than 100 years but still cannot manage to get into the Top 400 list of World Universities. This achievement is quite remarkable considering the state of development in the world presently.
Recently, Mr. Satya received an award ‘The Right Man On The Right Place” along with Jokowi, Roy Suryo, and Yusril Irza Mahendra. However according to Mr. Satya, this is just a token of appreciation not an achievement. The real achievement for him is being able to contribute to other people. When you contribute, it means that you are giving your best effort in whatever field of expertise you have. For him, helping Indonesia grow as a nation will be the highlight of his achievement. He said that he joined DPR to make his wish a reality. In order for him to contribute to the nation, he must obtain a vast amount of experiences so that he can bring his knowledge and use it to improve Indonesia in his field of expertise.
His plans for the future after the current term is over are to try for a second term of election or go back to the energy industry. With his experience in the industry, it will seem reasonable that he would not have any issues finding a job anywhere in the world. If he were about to be re-elected for the second term, then he wants to contribute further towards Indonesia’s development. Mr Satya also explained that he does not want his children to follow in his footsteps because he thinks that they have the ability to succeed in their own and contribute using their own experiences in bringing Indonesia to achieve an international standard of reputation. And he substantially highlighted of how Indonesia should strive to think for the future.
His message was “Indonesians need to act and contribute on an international level and compete with the world. That is how we can grow as a nation and stamp our place in the world map.”
Monday, 1 July 2013
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Fuel Subsidy
Fuel subsidy: dual price from privately owned car and public vehicles
24 April 2013
Agung Rino Prasetyo
President SBY and his cabinet held a meeting on April 14 to discuss about the fuel subsidy issue to reduce the number of traffic commuting through the streets of Indonesia, especially Jakarta. This meeting was held at the Presidential Palace in Cipanas. It has been a long term issue regarding the increasing number of vehicles that commutes daily in Jakarta, and the number keeps rising day by day. Regional leaders attended the meeting as the fuel subsidy has taken the majority of Indonesia’s budget annually.
The issue discussed in the meeting is the dual price of octane-88 premium fuel for privately owned car and public transport and motorcycles. The price for public vehicles and motorcycle will remain at Rp 4,500 and for the privately owned cars it could increase to Rp 6,500 – Rp 7,000. If this change is implemented, the government could save up to Rp 21 trillion by the end of this year alone. This policy needs to be implemented as soon as possible according to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, Jero Wacik. It can be agreed that this policy might just be able to reduce the traffic and save the government from excess expenses so that other resources can be improved.
It is clear that the upper middle class are enjoying the benefits of subsidized fuel. Many of the family in this category have more than the number of vehicles that they really needed and therefore creating an unbalanced advantage between them and the poor. Motorcycles are also a big issue, not only for the safety reasons, but also for the total census of motorcycles that travels everyday. As we know, many of the working class citizens in Jakarta rely on their motorcycles because of poor public transportation.
SBY has the power and authority to directly say that this policy needs to be implemented. However there would be risks involved with this decision. There will be political and social unrest triggered by this policy. The last time the fuel prices have increased, there were major demonstrations demanding the government to re-evaluate their decision to increase fuel prices. The most significant incident involving the rise of fuel prices came in 2005 and 2008. Back then, the inflation rate was not as bad as it is today. It is estimated that if this policy does come through than the inflation rate will increase again by 6.1 percent according to Bank Danamon chief economist, Anton H. Gunawan.
As the inflation rate increases, it gets harder for the poor to stay stable in the economy. This jump will no doubt cost workers their job as companies will need to cut their spending. For the people that got laid off from work, it can lead to unemployment because if the economy is down, then the possibility of getting a job becomes smaller. It is important to note that while SBY is concerned about how the public will react if the dual fuel price policy is imposed, he should not neglect the importance of this decision. During his regime, he has tried to do his utmost to improve Indonesia. From the economical point of view, he is quite successful as Indonesia is now part of the international trade that has quite the power to import and export goods.
This policy seemed quite outrageous after governor Jokowi proposed that Jakarta should use an odd and even plate number system. It would then follow the date of the calendar, allowing only the car that have the correct odd or even number to travel on that date. There is more important matter for SBY if he is concerned about his legacy in his regime. Economy Minister Hatta Rajasa has said that this fuel price increase will help the country to focus their budget on other aspects of the economy.
There are many suggestions that by improving the public transport, more people would actually consider taking the bus. Trans Jakarta Busway is the best public transport in Indonesia. The train system is chaotic with the schedule not running on time, and the quality of the train itself is not satisfactory. Jakarta needs a good public transport system that will ensure safety and comfort to the citizen of Jakarta.
24 April 2013
Agung Rino Prasetyo
President SBY and his cabinet held a meeting on April 14 to discuss about the fuel subsidy issue to reduce the number of traffic commuting through the streets of Indonesia, especially Jakarta. This meeting was held at the Presidential Palace in Cipanas. It has been a long term issue regarding the increasing number of vehicles that commutes daily in Jakarta, and the number keeps rising day by day. Regional leaders attended the meeting as the fuel subsidy has taken the majority of Indonesia’s budget annually.
The issue discussed in the meeting is the dual price of octane-88 premium fuel for privately owned car and public transport and motorcycles. The price for public vehicles and motorcycle will remain at Rp 4,500 and for the privately owned cars it could increase to Rp 6,500 – Rp 7,000. If this change is implemented, the government could save up to Rp 21 trillion by the end of this year alone. This policy needs to be implemented as soon as possible according to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, Jero Wacik. It can be agreed that this policy might just be able to reduce the traffic and save the government from excess expenses so that other resources can be improved.
It is clear that the upper middle class are enjoying the benefits of subsidized fuel. Many of the family in this category have more than the number of vehicles that they really needed and therefore creating an unbalanced advantage between them and the poor. Motorcycles are also a big issue, not only for the safety reasons, but also for the total census of motorcycles that travels everyday. As we know, many of the working class citizens in Jakarta rely on their motorcycles because of poor public transportation.
SBY has the power and authority to directly say that this policy needs to be implemented. However there would be risks involved with this decision. There will be political and social unrest triggered by this policy. The last time the fuel prices have increased, there were major demonstrations demanding the government to re-evaluate their decision to increase fuel prices. The most significant incident involving the rise of fuel prices came in 2005 and 2008. Back then, the inflation rate was not as bad as it is today. It is estimated that if this policy does come through than the inflation rate will increase again by 6.1 percent according to Bank Danamon chief economist, Anton H. Gunawan.
As the inflation rate increases, it gets harder for the poor to stay stable in the economy. This jump will no doubt cost workers their job as companies will need to cut their spending. For the people that got laid off from work, it can lead to unemployment because if the economy is down, then the possibility of getting a job becomes smaller. It is important to note that while SBY is concerned about how the public will react if the dual fuel price policy is imposed, he should not neglect the importance of this decision. During his regime, he has tried to do his utmost to improve Indonesia. From the economical point of view, he is quite successful as Indonesia is now part of the international trade that has quite the power to import and export goods.
This policy seemed quite outrageous after governor Jokowi proposed that Jakarta should use an odd and even plate number system. It would then follow the date of the calendar, allowing only the car that have the correct odd or even number to travel on that date. There is more important matter for SBY if he is concerned about his legacy in his regime. Economy Minister Hatta Rajasa has said that this fuel price increase will help the country to focus their budget on other aspects of the economy.
There are many suggestions that by improving the public transport, more people would actually consider taking the bus. Trans Jakarta Busway is the best public transport in Indonesia. The train system is chaotic with the schedule not running on time, and the quality of the train itself is not satisfactory. Jakarta needs a good public transport system that will ensure safety and comfort to the citizen of Jakarta.
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