In partnership with the Communications Department of Paramadina University, Maverick conducts the 3^rd Technographics survey of Indonesian journalist in attempt to find out the answers behind one of the most intriguing questions we had in the back of our mind: is social media actually THAT powerful it can even influence mainstream media’s agenda setting? How much does it affect mainstream media in producing news?

To serve better result, this year we expand our research area to other cities in Indonesia, ranging from Aceh to Papua. A total of 363 journalists from Sumatera, Java, Kalimantan, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Ambon and Papua participated in the survey. We also took an extra step by interviewing major media companies in the country to learn more about how social media affect the process of news production.

The result is this report you are about to read. What we found through our survey and series of interviews may be a little bit unnerving for some of you—but it will, indeed, become a great base for further debate and discussions. Which is good. We’re cool with that. We urge you to debate and discuss about this. Be curious. We believe that questioning about something is a great way to learn about something and to know where you stand. That’s exactly how we started out in conducting this research anyway; and that’s how we approach our business as well: we are a curious bunch.

So enjoy and feel free to leave your thoughts too.

One of the hot cakes in the PR industry today is sprucing up traditional press releases with infographics—a visual representation of information, data, or knowledge, that is (supposed to be) designed beautifully. But does it really makes much of a difference for the journalists?

Arientha Ramdan, a journalist from one of Indonesia’s largest English language newspaper*,  receives loads of Infographics on a daily basis, but she prefers the traditional format. “What’s more important is having the correct and informative sentences,” she said. “If we want to make more than one news story, we want something clear and concise. Only if we want to write a story that involves data (or facts and figures) will the Infographics become very useful.”

“I would go for both, Infographic and sufficient text,” said Lukita Grahadyarini, a journalist from Indonesia’s largest newspaper*. “In this digital age, information presented in the format of graphics, text, and photos, will be more complete.”

Source: GE Transportation

The journalists work on two fronts: the accessibility of information and the format of the information. Maverick’s 2012 Journalists Technographic survey reveals that 62% of Indonesian journalists accessed the Net through their mobile phones, which makes it important to send your information in a mobile-friendly format. On top of that, it turns out that the journalists automatically access corporate’s website to look for the information they need before resorting to other sources of information. This translates to the need of making your website mobile-friendly, too. And it’s not merely about making it appear nicely on your mobile phone’s screen, but more importantly, it’s about easier navigation and making the experience of searching for information more hassle-free.

Then what’s the role of social media when it comes to getting or sharing information?

“Personally, I don’t depend too much on Twitter,” said Arientha. “I use it as my last resort. But it would be helpful if companies do live Twitter updates and have an active website; because if I could not get the information I want from there, I’ll go to news sites.”

“We still check company’s online websites for getting the information we want—or press release,” said Lukita. “It’s just that for company’s live events or press conferences, the company rarely posts it on the website right away. So it’s better for the PR consultant to give out this information to us either in soft or hard copy.”

Knowing that journalists are actually accessing companies’ website before turning to other source of information post another challenge. How much companies’ website out there are designed from PR perspective? How often are PR practitioners being asked by companies to look at the site’s contents and see whether the information has been written or categorized neatly? How many websites have a page whereby their spokespersons provide statements or comments on current industry issues; so that the journalists do not have to call or waiting for their call to be picked up?

Rethinking about your websites along the lines of HARO (Help a Reporter Out), a site linking reporters and businesses or organizations to efficiently post queries and responses, could be an opportunity to cater to this need. Think about an accessible, smartphone-friendly website or an application where PR practitioners can provide quick and proper information to a network of journalists—and for journalists to directly ask companies or PR practitioners for information or contacts.

Technology is changing the media landscape, as well as accelerating how news is gathered and delivered. Our job as PR practitioners is not only to keep up with these changes, but also—most importantly, to be one step ahead.

*Journalists did not want to disclose their media house and opinions expressed in this post are solely their own. 

My last day at Maverick. Shila gave me this cool gift.

“The distinction between ‘assistant’ and ‘intern’ is a simple one: assistants are paid, interns are not. But of course interns are paid, in experience.” - Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

Reading the quote we may wonder about the ideal internship. Until today, I have continued to believe that internship is an important learning process for people who are entering the “real world” of the working professional. Some educational institutions, usually national universities, offer a subject called KKL (Kuliah Kerja Lapangan) that basically tries to encourage final-year university students to get practical experience of working in an institution or a company. In my opinion, internship has four benefits for students: to gain experience, knowledge and friends and to expand your network. But not all educational institutions include internship as part of their graduate requirements.

Unfortunately, in today’s college life, internship has somehow lost its importance. Why? One of the factors is the accelerated study period that allows students to finish their study in less than 4 years. It’s not unusual to see your friends finish their study in only 3.5 years. Another thing that makes internship less precious is the stereotyping that internship is nothing but taking care of trivial matters. Copying documents, translating, and listing are things that for some students are below their competency and eventually waste their time. As a result, there are many fresh graduates with very good grades but who lack real experience and a working attitude that in my opinion is more important than the knowledge that obtained in college.

Then Maverick came with a fresh concept of internship called The Recruit. The Recruit is a three-month internship program designed for final-year students and fresh graduates who want to experience working in the public relations industry that in recent years has grown bigger and bigger in line with Indonesia’s promising economic growth. Maverick wants to give you the experience of working with one of the most respected communication strategic consultants in Indonesia. And I have to say, I’m very lucky to be the winner of this program and got this opportunity to have the three-month internship.

You might ask, what did I get after finishing my time in Maverick?

There are people who said that experience is the best teacher, and it can’t be bought. And these three months have proved it. I was involved in many projects, with a lot of great people handling so many accounts, such as Airbus, Anugerah Adiwarta and Acer. Doing so many activities, from researching products, analyzing public response, and activities outside the office such as media relations, made me realize that what you learned in college was nothing without the capability to adapt and interact with people, that I have to expand my network to give me bigger opportunity for my future, and sharpen my analyzing skills to be a great decision maker is something that I learned in Maverick. (Not including that art of “Bluffing”)

Three months in Maverick felt different compared to the time spent in other companies. You’ll facing higher expectations because you’re working with people who are the best in their fields, who always work with great speed, analyzing skills, and precision. At first, this speedy working pace shocked me; today, it feels like the internship program was more than three months. I was involved like a full-time employee. I was involved in the meeting, both internal and with clients, and included in event execution that made me determined to do the best.

And of course, in Maverick they never forgot to have fun. Maverick had a lot of internal activities of various themes, from all-you-can-eat barbeque parties to lose -your-fat at MavSport. And of course, you were getting paid like a full time employee! Why was this important? Because when you get paid, it means that you have to be responsible for the results of your work, you have to be committed and professional. And it was a great experience for me having my first salary as a full time worker. Maybe, I could get another experience at other companies, but my experience with Maverick was worth the struggle to win The Recruit.

In Maverick, internship is not only “helping” as you are involved in their cycle. Not just involved in the processes, executions, and results, but also all the fun. This was an incredible experience. For me, Maverick has set a new standard of internship.

Hal ini tentunya melontarkan pertanyaan besar.  Mampukah media-media tersebut tetap memberikan berita-berita yang jauh dari subyektifitas kepentingan pemiliknya?

Kita ambil saja Jawa Pos sebagai contoh. Sejak akhir 2012 lalu, media yang didirikan oleh Dahlan Iskan itu sudah mulai gencar memberitakan gerak-gerik sang pemilik secara positif. Menteri BUMN tersebut hampir setiap hari hadir melengkapi isi headline surat kabar yang berkantor pusat di wilayah Surabaya ini. Bahkan, untuk beberapa minggu Jawa Pos sempat menerbitkan diri di Jakarta bersamaan dengan anak medianya sendiri, Indo Pos.

Hal yang sama juga terasa pada grup media Viva. Media dibawah kepemilikan keluarga Bakrie ini tidak pernah berhenti menyiarkan aktivitas ketua umum Partai Golkar, Aburizal Bakrie. TV One dan ANTV bahkan memiliki kolom khusus dimana aktivitas Aburizal dikupas secara detil.

Lain halnya dengan MNC dan Media Grup. Setelah kisruh soal pengunduran diri Hary Tanoesoedibjo  dari partai Nasdem beberapa waktu yang lalu, kedua media ini semakin gencar “menjual” berita-berita yang “mengkritik” sang lawan. Kemuduran diri lelaki yang biasa dipanggil dengan sebutan Hary Tanoe ini sempat menjadi breaking news di Metro TV dengan komentar kuat dari Surya Paloh, sang empunya stasiun televisi. Di sisi lain, MNC menjual Hary Tanoe sebagai sosok yang tetap laris dibidik berbagai partai yang menginginkan dirinya menjadi ketua umum di partai tersebut.

Melihat banyaknya grup-grup media yang hadir, dapat kita simpulkan bahwa industri media di Indonesia kini telah menjadi sebuah pasar oligopoli, sebuah industri yang dikuasai oleh beberapa kelompok besar.  Dan dengan berbagai pilihan yang ada, sebenarnya konsumenlah yang diuntungkan.  Bagaimanapun, masyarakat saat ini semakin pintar untuk memilih media apa saja yang dapat dipercaya, dan mana yang tidak.  Ambilah contoh, wawancara TV One dengan Gubernur Jokowi beberapa waktu yang lalu.  Alih-alih berada di pihak TV One yang melontarkan pertanyaan-pertanyaan memojokkan, para pemirsa justru semakin memberikan dukungannya kepada Gubernur yang mempopulerkan aktivitas blusukan itu.

Media memang sebuah medium yang dapat mempengaruhi pemikiran sekaligus tindakan masyarakat banyak. Namun pada kenyataannya, media tidak otomatis membukakan jalan yang mulus untuk pemiliknya mencapai tujuan, seperti tujuan meraih kursi presiden. Masih ada beberapa calon yang tidak memiliki media justru bisa menarik simpati dari masyarakat karena penempatan dan penyampaian pesan yang benar kepada masyarakat.

Masyarakat semakin bisa menilai pesan seperti apa yang harus ditangkap kemudian diterapkan dan mana yang hanya omong kosong belaka. Galibnya, pengusaha media mencermati perkembangan ini. Persaingan antar media yang satu dengan yang lain justru memberikan ruang bagi konsumen untuk menilai kualitas dari informasi yang disediakan.

Dengan semakin cerdasnya masyarakat, para politikus dan pengusaha perlu menyadari bahwa media yang mereka miliki dapat berbalik menjadi senjata makan tuan bila tidak digunakan secara cermat, pintar dan tepat sasaran. Karenanya, sudah sepatutnya  media selalu menjaga kredibilitas dengan pemberitaan-pemberitaan yang obyektif. Bagaimanapun, bukankan  media berperan sebagai pengawal pembangunan bangsa?

Di awal bulan Januari 2013, saya menangkap tweet menarik yang lewat di linimasa Twitter, yaitu tweet dari @newastaga. Pada saat saya klik profile-nya, ternyata ini adalah akun Twitter milik Astaga.com. Hei, Astaga.com hidup lagi ya? Saya coba membuka websitenya, dan ternyata benar. Astaga.com telah aktif beroperasi kembali.

Mau tak mau saya jadi tergelitik untuk mengingat kembali sejarah dari salah satu angkatan perintis portal berita dan gaya hidup di Indonesia ini. Sekitar tahun 1999 untuk pertama kalinya masyarakat Indonesia mengenal situs Astaga.com. Pada masa itu portal berita dan gaya hidup belum menjamur seperti saat ini. Sehingga dengan kontennya yang santai dan lebih condong ke lifestyle, membuat ia berbeda dengan news portal kebanyakan yang ada di masa itu.

Namun pada sekitar tahun 2005 atau 2006, kalau tidak salah, Astaga.com memutuskan untuk berhenti beroperasi. Ini dikarenakan M-Web, perusahaan asal Afrika Selatan yang menyediakan jasa internet service provider ini, memutuskan untuk hengkang dari Astaga.com.

Pada tahun 2009, Astaga.com hidup kembali dengan slogan Astaga.com reborn. Dani Rukmana atau yang lebih kita kenal sebagai salah satu cucu mantan presiden Soeharto yang notabene adalah suaminya Lulu Tobing itu menjadi salah salah satu orang yang berjasa akan hal ini. Ia berkongsi dengan sejumlah pengusaha, salah satunya adalah Phil Rickard yang berasal Kanada. Berbagai fitur dan fasilitas baru mereka suguhkan untuk memperkuat positioning Astaga.com yang menyapa kembali pengguna internet saat itu.

Sayangnya itu hanya bertahan satu tahun. Pada tahun 2010, untuk kedua kalinya Astaga.com harus tutup lapak. Menurut Johana Purba salah satu reporter Astaga.com kala itu, ditutupnya Astaga.com dua tahun lalu ini disebabkan performa finasialnya tidka berjalan. “Jadi perusahaannya bubar,” jelas perempuan yang telah mencium gelagat tersebut sehingga memutuskan untuk pindah sebelum perusahaan tersebut gulung tikar.

Namun sepertinya Johana memang tidak bisa menutupi rasa cintanya terhadap portal yang menjadi wadah untuk mempraktekkan ilmu jurnalistiknya sejak kuliah. Ketika ia mendengar kabar Phil Rickard seorang ingin kembali mengaktifkan Astaga.com untuk kedua kalinya, Johana menjadi jurnalis pertama yang memutuskan untuk kembali, meskipun ia tahu kalau isi Astaga.com tidak akan pernah sama lagi.

“Astaga.com yang sekarang isinya info-info ringan yang nggak akan ada di halaman depan website mainstream. Berita-beritanya weird dan quirky, seperti kumpulan Instragram para seleb atau foto dan artikel tentang binatang. Intinya sesuai dengan slogan yang dicetuskan bos kami, Phil, bahwa we will entairtain you,” ungkap Johana yang kini berkedudukan sebagai editor di Astaga.com. Jelas sudah ‘misteri’ munculnya tweet dari portal yang baru soft launching 3 Desember 2012 itu.

Misteri selanjutnya adalah dengan banyaknya portal berita atau gaya hidup di generasi ini, apakah Astaga.com akan bertahan (lagi)?

“Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others” – Brian Tracy

I’m sure many of you agree with that quote as we do here at Maverick. As a communication consultancy, we believe in the power of sharing. We also believe that the best thing we can share with the community is our knowledge, skills and experience in what we do everyday: Providing communication counsel to our clients.

Over the past six years, Maverick has been organizing Catalyst, a pro-bono program providing opportunities for local non-profit organizations (NGO) to enhance their communication skills. We know that local NGOs play an important role in mobilizing public opinion. We believe that NGOs have important and compelling messages to convey to their audience that can and will contribute to the betterment of our society. But, have local NGOs delivered their messages accurately? Have their messages delivered to the right audience? Have they used the right medium to communicate their messages? Have they reached their desired objectives?

As a communications consultancy and as part of our shared values to our communities, Maverick feels the need to offer our assistance to help these local NGOs in reaching their objectives by equipping them with what we know best, communications skills.

So what exactly do we do in Catalyst?

Catalyst is a series of training session given to local NGOs to increase their capacity in communicating with their stakeholders. The training module is designed so that at the completion of the program, the participants will able to craft a sound communications plan, be clear on their communications objectives, and understand how to achieve it through clean execution.

The module covers several topics including Introduction to PR and Communications, PR Planning, Writing Skills, Media Relations, New Media and other topics that are essential to help organizations in achieving their communications objectives in an effective and efficient manner.

For us at Maverick, it is really rewarding to see how participants are actually benefitting from the Catalyst program. And here is a comment from Rahmat Danu Andika, Engagement Officer of Indonesia Mengajar, a participant in 2012 Catalyst program.

“As an organization that has a mission tomanage the education movement, which aims to invite all layers of people to deal with challenges in the filed of education, communication skill is a must-have. Indonesia Mengajar learned a lot from Catalyst. As we all know, non-profit organization has its limitations, and Catalyst has improved our media sensitivity, strategy management, and media interaction knowledge. After the program was done, we continue to develop the communications skills that we have acquired, so we can make maximize the impact of Indonesia Mengajar in the community”

This year, Catalyst will commence in April 2013. We will invite local NGOs to submit their work plan as we hope to continue our commitment by offering a more refined syllabus that willbe adapted to their program. It’s going to be an exciting year, and all of us at Maverick are looking forward to meet new people from NGOs that will be participating in this year’s Catalyst program.

This is how Maverick shares, and let’s do good things in 2013.

Ahok dalam rapat dengan Dinas PU

Jika pertanyaan itu diajukan tahun lalu saat Foke menjabat gubernur—atau enam tahun lalu saat Sutiyoso masih menjadi DKI 1, saya tak yakin semua warga Jakarta mampu menjawabnya. Kala itu popularitas wakil gubernur tenggelam di balik punggung sang orang nomor satu—bahkan wajahnya tak mampu kita ingat. Tapi di periode ini, lain perkara. Sang gubernur berbagi sorot lampu dengan wakilnya di panggung pemerintahan, melalui media sosial serupa yang melambungkan nama Justin Bieber: YouTube.

Ya, tak hanya selebriti Amerika atau Norman Kamaru yang jadi populer berkat media video sharing yang satu itu. Sang wagub, Ahok, begitu populer di internet berkat video-video rapat dengan para dinas di bawahnya yang ia unggah ke YouTube, melalui akun PemprovDKI yang telah memiliki lebih dari 37.000 subscribers. Yang paling terkenal ialah video rapatnya dengan Dinas Pekerjaan Umum (PU) berdurasi 46 menit yang telah ditonton 1,5 juta kali dalam sebulan. Terkenalnya video ini bukan karena konten yang semenarik serial Glee, tapi karena sikap emosional Ahok dalam rapat yang dinilai mengintimidasi para pejabat dinas. Sejak saat itu, ketika mengetik nama Ahok di YouTube maka rekomendasi yang muncul ialah “Ahok marah” atau “Ahok ngamuk”. Di satu sisi sang wagub dinilai temperamental, tapi di sisi lain banyak pula yang menganggapnya tegas, transparan, dan membawa angin segar untuk memberantas para pegawai negeri yang dianggap tidak kompeten.

“Saya memang sengaja upload ke YouTube. Tapi bukan buat pencitraan! Agar semuanya transparan,” ungkap Ahok saat ditanya apakah video itu diunggah semata-mata untuk menaikkan popularitasnya, “dan itu bukan marah-marah. Saya cuma mau pastikan pegawai saya dan keluarganya makan uang halal.” Benar atau tidaknya maksud Ahok mengunggah video itu, serta apakah ia memang melakukan PR stunt demi mendongkrak namanya atau tidak, yang jelas tindakan tersebut telah sukses memenangkan hati publik—setidaknya hati 16.000 orang yang mengklik “Like” dan memberikan komentar dukungan di video tersebut. Ahok berhasil menjadi PR bagi dirinya sendiri.

Dalam dunia pemerintahan, “winning people’s heart”adalah salah satu aspek humas terpenting yang harus diperhatikan oleh seorang pemimpin, apapun tujuan politisnya suatu hari nanti. Memenangkan hati rakyat berarti mendapatkan kepercayaan dan dukungan mereka, sehingga apapun langkah eksekutif yang akan, sedang, atau telah diambil lebih mudah mendapat persepsi positif dari masyarakatnya. Kadang seorang pemimpin melakukan segalanya untuk memenangkan hati masyarakat, seperti mengeluarkan kebijakan atau sikap yang secara pribadi tidak disukainya namun populer di mata publik. Contoh yang mungkin masih kita ingat, Ratu Elizabeth II pernah dikecam seluruh warga Inggris karena tak bersedia memberikan penghormatan terakhir di pemakaman Lady Diana. Namun demi tujuan “memenangkan hati rakyat”, agar tetap diidolakan serta tidak dibenci warganya, ia pun “terpaksa” menghadiri seremoni tersebut. Rakyat kembali mengelu-elukan ratunya, dan beliau pun sadar bahwa walaupun ia adalah Queen of Wales, namun Diana merupakan Queen of People’s Heart. Elizabeth pun berhasil menjadi PR bagi dirinya karena mampu membaca apa yang publik suka. Dan seperti kata jenderal perang serta filsuf China yang menulis buku The Art of War, Sun Tzu, “Understanding your public is a half way to win the battle.”

Kemampuan untuk mengerti keinginan publik itu pulalah yang dimiliki Ahok—serta tidak dipunyai oleh wagub-wagub DKI terdahulu. Ia melakukan terobosan orisinal lewat sosial media yang sudah tak asing bagi mayoritas warga DKI, menunjukkan taring dan cakarnya dalam membumihanguskan korupsi—dengan bonus: diidolakan warga. Dan saat ditanya siapa Wakil Gubernur DKI saat ini, tak akan ada yang tak mengenal Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. Paling tidak jika nama itu masih asing di telinga kita, nama “Ahok” akan jadi jawaban singkat yang menjawab dengan benar.

“I was the best because the crowd loves me.” –Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator (2000)

500 push-ups for latecomers! And it was no bullshit.

You’d really have to get sweaty if you were late. That’s what happened to Archie and Wisha, two participants of Maverick Boot Camp, which was held at Layang-layang Centre, Energy Building, SCBD, 29th Floor on Friday, 21^st Dec 2012. Well, with the generosity of the other participants, they didn’t precisely do 500 push-ups. It was actually 20 push-ups for Archie, and 30 push-ups for Wisha.  Go Archie and Wisha!

But save your energy, the real exercise was about to begin. When I was told that I was participating in the Boot Camp, I was both thrilled and a little disconcerted, because this was the first boot camp held by Maverick. Recently, Maverick did welcome a group of new members (including me) to the team, so they set up this special training program to give basic survival kit to start working at a communication consultancy. And we were lucky enough to be the first 11 participants to experience the camp.  Don’t think that it was a GI Joe/Jane kind of training. It was actually a much more fun sharing session about life in Maverick with presentations from Maverick’s top-notch yet funky speakers.

Ong provided a glimpse of Maverick’s history as a communication consultancy in Indonesia. In addition to the “history” lesson, Ong also talked about Maverick’s values and culture. Clear thinking, clean execution; that’s one thing that keeps tangling on my mind. It is one work culture that needs to be preserved in Maverick. Riri gave us insights on day-to-day communication planning. The basic lesson was on how to make a PR proposal. We also had Shilla deliver a presentation on interpersonal communication in work environment, on how we can effectively and accurately deliver our messages to both colleagues and clients. Last but not least, Hanny was also there to flip our world upside down to challenge us to maintain our creativity, even when we’re not in the mood.

At the end of the day, we all had so many new information and lessons from the sharing sessions. The Boot Camp really helped the rest of the newbies and I to gain insights about cultures and routines in the company that we’re going to experience in the future. We were given basic skills that we need to continue to improve as a communication consultant, but of course, this was only the beginning of our ‘study’ at Maverick. The real challenge is to start working on day-to day basis after the Boot Camp is over. So let’s bring it on team!

Have you ever dreamed of paradise?

It`s a long long way from here.

If ever you decide.

I`ll take you there, away from here…

Personally, I’m not much of a fan to a music group named T-Connection. But the lyrics to their song called “Paradise”, which the lyrics I mentioned above, really got to me. Want to know why?

DAY ONE

Journey Begins

It started when I used my very first Personal Development Fund on 8 December 2012. Personal Development Fund or PDF as we, Mavericks, call it, is an amount of budget given to permanent employees who has worked for a year at Maverick. We are to use our PDF to take courses that we’ve always wanted or travel to a place that we’ve never been before. The idea is to use the fund to develop ourselves to become rounded persons. So, I decided to use my PDF to travel to a place I’ve always wanted to go, “GILI TRAWANGAN”, an exotic island located not far from Lombok. All this time, I had only read about it, heard stories about it, but not knowing when I could finally visit it! Therefore, I’m really grateful to Maverick for providing this wonderful opportunity.

Public boat to cross to Gili Trawangan

Without wasting a single second, I hustled myself to plan the trip, requested my annual leave, took care of the accommodations, and off I went!

I arrived at Gili Trawangan around 4:00pm, which meant I had half of my first day left to find out what this place is really about. Guess what? There are NO motorized vehicles here at all, just bicycles and Cidomos. A Cidomo is a horse drawn carriage and I don’t think they are any better than motorcycles, they honk their horns but if you don’t jump out of the way fast enough, you WILL get trampled. Another thing that caught my attention, around 90% of the guests are foreign tourists. It was actually difficult to find local ones.

First thing I did was to settle in at Dream Divers, a nice small hotel I found just right in front of the beach. The hotel is actually run by a couple of expats who were helped by several locals. Then, it was straight to the beach! By that time it was late in the afternoon, so there weren’t much people left playing at the beach. One thing fascinated me though, the sand there was like powder and the water was crystal clear.

Situation at Gili Trawangan

Since I didn’t last too long on the beach, looking for fresh seafood was up next. The most pleasant surprise was finding lots of small cafes and bars scattered along the beach. A whole bunch of different restaurants bringing in fresh catches and you can order anything from grilled corn on the cob, to vegetable stir fry, to a whole roasted fish. The jumbo prawns are massive! Like the size of a large banana, literally! I settled for some fresh local fish roasted with an unusual but delicious sauce. Yumm….

Fresh catches at Gili ‘Night Market’

DAY TWO

Under The Sea

Gili Trawangan main road

I think I’ve checked out almost every shop on the main strip. I’ll tell you one thing, water is a precious commodity back there in Gili. In some parts of the island, it is hard to find mineral water. So don’t forget to pack some waters before crossing to Gili, folks.

Later on that day, it was time for some adrenaline rush. I have to remind you that snorkeling is a MUST at Gili. Only with Rp 100,000 you will be taken to three snorkeling spots around Gili Trawangan, Gili Air and Gili Meno. It was one of the most amazing experiences that I had during the trip. The weather was fantastic, sea was awesome, and some turtles were spotted. Yup! I spotted sea turtles swimming around just about one meter away from me. Too bad I’m not a good swimmer, so I couldn’t go deeper to get a closer look.

Snorkling spots at Gili waters

After five hours of hot and exhausting adventure in the sea, I headed back to Gili Trawangan. Normally after snorkeling all day, people will want to head straight back to their hotels to take a shower and have a short break. But not for me! I couldn’t wait to explore the island even further by bicycle. The cost is fairly cheap, Rp 15,000/hour or Rp 50,000 for a whole day. It was really nice to see what the other side of the island was like.

Bike for rents

Tonight, We Are Young!

For a distant and remote island with limited electricity, Gili’s night life is massive. Remember when I said that there were lots of small cafes and bars along the main strip near the beach? Well folks, it gets more frenetic at night. Reggae parties, DJ performances and live music shows just wouldn’t stop. I hung out with several tourists from France, Slovenia, and Holland. Boy, they were bound to party! Yeah, it was one crazy night.

At Gili Trawangan, the night life’s main attractions are usually divided at two or three spots. Each spot offers different kinds of lifestyles, entertainments and music. The Reggae party was at the harbor, while DJ performances and live music shows were located around 100 meters from another. The funny thing was I found several bars offering liqueurs at only Rp 12,000 a glass. You have got to be kidding me! I had gado-gado for lunch, and it cost me Rp 35,000. Unbelievable!

Gili night life

DAY THREE

Back To Real Life

“The public boat departs from Gili Trawangan to Bangsal Harbor at 7:00 am. If you missed it, there will probably be another one that departs after lunchtime, if you’re lucky. But don’t hope to much, because usually there is only one boat, and it departs at 7.00 am.”

I picked up that information from a local guy at the Tourist Information Center on my last night, just before I went back to the hotel. And frankly, I was shocked. Are you serious? There’s only one boat to take us back to Senggigi, and it departs at 7.00 am! But then later on I found out that there were speedboats available for rent, but it costs around Rp 200,000/person. Well, 7.00 am it is then. There’s no way I’m paying that much money for a 15-minute ride, while the public boat only costs Rp 10,000 /person.

I repacked my things, checked out of the hotel, walked slowly to the Harbor, and then left Gili Island. I have to admit, that was one of the saddest moments of my life. So I stood there on the boat, staring back at the beauty of Gili’s beach, watching it getting farther and farther as I was led closer to Bangsal Harbor, Senggigi. The boat docked and passengers stumbled out one by one.

Gili Harbour

Before I departed, I had one last look at the sea, facing Gili Trawangan and I said to myself, “I just spent three days and two nights in paradise. It’s worth coming back. I will come back.”

However, for now, I am happy that I finally got to visit Gili Trawangan and now I came back to work refreshed with so much great memories in my mind.

Commercial Christmas decorations have already hyped me up as early as November! Charles Areni, Marketing Professor at University of Sydney said that Christmas is the boom time for the retail section, which is why they prepared the decorations early to create the festive mood and to get people thinking about Christmas.

It is not a secret that these days Christmas is not just about commemorating the birth of Jesus.  But in fact, there has been a shift from what was supposed to be a religious celebration into commercialism phenomena.

I have been lucky enough to travel to different parts of the world during the holiday season. I can tell you how impressive and over the top those shopping malls are in decorating their property carrying the spirit of Christmas. Shopping malls in Indonesia are definitely also in the competition of creating the most eye-catching Christmas decoration to attract kids, adults, older people and most importantly shoppers!

The Santa Sleigh is hanging on the ceilings in one of the major shopping malls in South Jakarta. Just down below there is a seasonal ice skating rink accompanied by winter and Christmassy decorations, for people who want to get a feel of white Christmas or winter holiday in tropical country. The surrounding clothing stores are also seen promoting discounted boots, jackets, and scarf among other stuff that are actually designed for winter season. Christmas decorations are definitely bringing more traffic into the shopping malls.

It is too often for a woman like me, who initially goes to a mall with no shopping intention, becomes an impulsive buyer as soon as I see all kind of different Christmas offers and end-of-the year Sale. Christmas shopping is a once-in-a year splurge! That’s how I justified it to myself.

Professor Areni has his own explanation why people like me tend to spend more during Christmas season, even if I don’t necessarily celebrate it. He said marketers from retail sections see the opportunities in this jolly season by stimulating customers’ shopping mood through a series of marketing strategy that involved Christmas decorations, music tempo and kids’ activities that have profound effect on consumer behavior and perceptions. Many people bring their kids to see the Christmas celebration in the malls. When kids see Santa they are likely to wish him things that they want for Christmas, which make parents end up with 30% or 40% more stuff in their shopping list.  Eye catching Christmassy decorated window displays, complemented with discount signs in every corner of the store have also attracted shoppers to do holiday shopping while their kids are sitting on Santa’s lap or playing with fake snow on the other side of the mall. The Santa Effect, that’s what it is.

And though we have just passed Christmas day, the holiday season is still in effect until after the New Year. So, next time you go visit your favorite mall during holiday season, prepare more cash and credit cards as you may still experience the Santa effect during this jolly shopping season! Happy holidays!