hermansaksono

As much as I hate Giordano clerks, nothing beats government employees for it’s obnoxiousity and arrogance.

Last Tuesday, my good friend’s brother run ovar a man at the mBanteng area. So we rushed to mBanteng (we were at Lor Kali Cafe when the accident took place) and helped the guy to the hospital. It was a no-plotless story with lots of uninteresting details, so I’m not going to write the entire story, but this incident reminds me how much I hate government employees (pegawai negeri).

Government employees should realize that they are working for us. We paid you guys! Everytime the government taxed our salary, everytime we paid extra 10% when we buy something at McDonalds, everytime Pertamina sucks Indonesian oils reserve (technically Indonesian oils belong to us), and so on.

Wanna know the best part of it? We have to pay 330,000 rupiahs for slow and unfriendly service (all in my friend’s debt), just to find out that the guy who was hit is completely ok. Just a couple of bruises. No fractured bone. No brain damage.

SBY, if you are reading this, aren’t the extra cash from funding cut for unleaded gas (Pertamax) should go to public health? Especially for the poors? 330,000 rupiahs is quite a lot of money.

Anyway this is the guy who was hit by my friend’s brother:

I took the picture when we were waiting for X-Ray photography result.

You might not notice this until you are going to buy a pair of shoes.

Since my old Converse starts tearing down, I decided to buy a new pair of shoes. Frankly, after hopping from one shoes store to other shoes store I still can’t find a good model. I dont know why, but these days, every single shoes sold in shoe store are very lame looking. And then, I started noticing something really queer: nobody sells Nike shoes anymore.

Then I decided to go to Semarang, hoping to find a really cool looking shoes, only to be dissapointed by the fact that Semarang stores sells the exact same models as in Jogja. Just as lame and mediocre as the shoes sold in Jogja. Even worse, they also doesn’t sell any Nike shoes.

Are we being embargoed by Nike? I hope not.

I might ended up buying those Converse shoes at Malioboro Mall….

Whoever invented Giordano marketing strategy needs a swift kick on the ballz.

I hate when companies changed their logo just for fancy’s sake. Some recent logo changes were good (BII, Excelcommindo) because logo adjustment were necessary to suit their new philosphy. But take Indosat for example, it’s new logo is making Indosat looking like a weak newcomer in communications industry. And list goes on.

But the award for worst new logo goes to SCTV for it lame ass logo hyped as Satu untuk Semua. Not only it looks amateurish, its philosphy doesnt seem to serve anything.

Even worse, 20 were poisoned during the logo’s launch event. The culprit: Boxed Rice that was served during the event!

My office is just a few feet away from the famous UGM’s Roundabout (aka. Bunderan UGM), which is a popular venue for UGM students to protest against…. everything. So, everytime SBY’s administration is proposing something, I have to hear annoying march and disturbing oration. It’s not that I against them, because most of the time I go for their views. It takes quite sometime for me to realize what they are doing wrong. It’s not the content that makes me sick, but the presentation that stirs me (and the rest of Jogja community) away.

We live in a world where package is everything. Where package overshadows the actual content. By saying that, I didn’t mean that you should protest against Sumadi’s appearing on Kedaulatan Rakyat collumn every single edition, and wearing a pink and cuddly outfit. For non Jogjakartans out there, Sumadi is the person who owns the largest selling newspaper in Jogja, Kedaulatan Rakyat. And yes, he appeared on every single edition of KR.

I’m saying that student protest should package their statement in an effective manner as possible to achive the ultimate goal(s). Shouting and yelling is not effective at all. It is, infact, very ineffective.

Therefore, I decided to write several tips for student protester out there on: ‘How to protest in an effective way’:

1. You protest to raise awareness on certain issue to the public, press, or even better international community. Don’t mix your personal sentiment to the government with the protest. It’ll make you looking like an emotionally-unstable student who has no life. TIP: Try to appeal the public by doing something that appeals them (doh!). Don’t give away flower becuse it is so overused and thus making it very ineffective.
2. Dress and groom nicely. The other day I saw a lead protester wearing a green army jacket that seems hasn’t been washed since it was bought. And don’t get me started how ugly the hair looks. You may think that people doesnt judge the way you look, but the truth is they DO. TIP: Take a bath before protesting. If you dont take a bath often, take a regular bath a week before protesting. Wash your hair. Put on some Nivea moisturizer (or even better: Body Shop’s Tea Tree Oil Mattifying Moisture Gel&mdhash;pictured right) to enhance your skin’s complexion. On P-day, wear a clean clothes. Tucking your shirts will helps.
3. Make a nice protest boards, because a good and visually engaging protest boards can be as effective as a good oration. Don’t just write a lame-ass phrases and write it on a piece of cardboard. TIP: Ask a friend majoring in communication and/or graphic design to design a complete visual communication tools. It doesn’t has to be expensive, but it has to be visually effective.
4. Be a good PR. Practice your speech few days before protesting. As a friend who you think a good speeechwriter to help you wrting your speech.
5. Drop happening-art. It sucks, weird, and making you looking like an emotionally-unstable student who has no life.
6. Behave. Manner does matter. Act like a responsible adult.
7. Be creative. Design an integrated concept for your protest. Create a distinct visual identity. This will helps people to recognize what you are fighting against.

Well thats about it. Happy Protesting!

To be honest, I’m impressed how Yogyakarta’s Governor, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono 10th performs lately. I’m not a big fan of his, but his recent moves shows a bold direction where our crowded dan human-resource-rich province is heading, namely with the recent development of infrastructures and commerce facilities.

Recently, the local newspaper writes a report on possible hurricane in Southern Yogyakarta beaches. Thay said, that it will be a big hurricane and may cause a major damage.

I didn’t expect the government to do anything, because thats what they normally do in the past: always late in anticipating any disasters. However, I was suprised when I read today’s paper, where Sultan start commanding many organizations to prepare for the disaster, in case it does happens.

I’m impressed. If he keep on impressing me like that, I might eventually voted him.

Provided that our legislative body changed the status of my Province…