Wawancara dengan majalah Luar Biasa No. 44/Tahun IV, Agustus 2012 (halaman 42) yang didirikan oleh Andrie Wongso, Motivator Indonesia No.1.
Interview with Luar Biasa magazine, a motivational and inspirational monthly publication by Andrie Wongso.
Download Profile Jennie in Luar Biasa Magazine in PDF
by Jennie S. Bev
The U.S. economic recovery is underway—albeit with a mixed picture. Some sectors are showing impressive improvement, while others are still in the doldrums. Meanwhile Europe is in crisis and China is slowing down, so the U.S. recovery is experiencing a lukewarm reaction from the corporate sector marked by limited hiring activities and a reluctance to make investments.
The weak job growth is due to tight corporate spending and cautiousness over another wave of recession brought on by the European crisis. Lower state spending on education, welfare and transportation is expected later this year, despite the fact that 31 states have enjoyed increased revenues.
Furthermore, budget balancing has been dragging on the economic recovery despite an improvement in fiscal conditions. With tax cuts of $600 billion slated to expire at the end of this year, a new spending cut of $100 billion shall start on the first day of January 2013. The Congressional Budget Office warns that these factors could trigger another bout of recession.
Continue reading "Whither Indonesia Amidst Global Uncertainty? " »
Download KONTAN artikel Mengkritisi Program CSR
oleh Jennie S. Bev
(Versi yang belum diedit.)
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) sudah sangat sering kita dengar. Berbagai bentuk aksi sosial diselenggarakan oleh korporasi sebagai bentuk solidaritas kepada publik. Bentuk-bentuk karitas sebenarnya hanyalah salah satu dari serangkaian ekspektasi publik terhadap korporasi. Tidak kalah pentingnya proses internalisasi kesadaran tinggi akan akuntabilitas sosial dalam proses manufacturing dan pendistribusian produk.
Di Indonesia, sudah menjadi “kebiasaan” pemerintah yang meminta korporasi untuk ikut serta memajukan kesejahteraan publik dengan kegiatan-kegiatan karitas. Ini sebenarnya suatu kerancuan. Dalam sistem yang kurang berjalan dengan semestinya, pengalihan kewajiban-kewajiban pemerintah kepada korporasi memberikan kesempatan bagi para oknum untuk menggunakan “celah” CSR ini.
Di kawasan Tebet Barat Jakarta, misalnya, taman publik yang nyaman dibangun bukan oleh pemerintah daerah namun oleh korporasi sebagai bentuk CSR. Taman ini kalau tidak salah dibangun dengan dana oleh salah satu perusahaan otomobil Jepang.
Dalam aktivitas-aktivitas bisnis dalam kerangka kapitalisme, eliminasi social debt (hutang sosial) semestinya dijadikan acuan dalam setiap tahapnya. Ini merupakan nafas bisnis yang semestinya disadari setiap korporasi. Salah satu pilar dari CSR adalah HAM (Hak Azasi Manusia), yang termasuk hak-hak para stakeholders, termasuk hak akan kesehatan jangka panjang. Sebagai contoh, sepotong hamburger di AS dijual seharga $3-$5, namun dampak jangka panjang terhadap kesehatan konsumen dan perusakan lingkungan mencapai $1,000 atau bahkan lebih.
Coba Anda perkirakan berapa social debt yang ditimbulkan oleh pembuangan limbah kimiawi secara sembarangan? Berapa besar kerugian kesehatan dan opportunity loss yang Anda akan rasakan di kemudian hari hanya karena suatu korporasi semena-mena dalam menjalankan bisnis mereka? Jelas di negara yang perlindungan konsumennya masih lemah, social debt yang ditanggung publik bisa jadi menjulang setinggi Gunung Himalaya.
[Read the article on SheTakesOntheWorld.com.]
by Jennie S. Bev
Do we teach for others or for our own self? Professional teachers might consider their vocation a privilege to help shaping students’ worldview and character. If you’re a coach, a mentor, or a trainer, then you are a teacher too, naturally. And all teachers teach for both others and themselves.
That’s what I love about teaching.
To be able to teach, we must continuously upgrade our skills, knowledge, and things outside the field that are related to the topics we teach. As a teacher, we also observe others who are our students, our subjects of teaching, and ourselves as a purveyor of messages and an idea generator.
Teaching is also a form of self-therapy. While the acting profession is hypothesized as the chosen profession for those with overconfidence and having a tinge of narcissistic tendency, those who teach for a living may be trying hard to prove that we are worthy to others. Teaching also means re-learning every time we convey our knowledge to the students (or coachees or trainers). This process is a reaffirmation of what we have, thus it reinforces our subconscious need for recognition.
by Jennie S. Bev
Love makes the world go round. So does responsibility.
To survive as an individual, a family, an institution and a country, we rely on responsible individuals and groups of people. Without the responsible parents who raised us, it would be impossible for us to live and breathe today.
Without responsible spouses, it would be impossible to have harmonious families where love endures and flourishes. Without the responsibility we have for our own selves, it would be impossible to lead a normal life with a good family, a good career and good prospects for the future.
Without responsible leaders, it would be impossible to get anything done properly or manageably. A country led by irresponsible individuals is likely to suffer a great deal in the long-term: Unnecessary conflict, insecurity, and lack of political stability can be expected. These elements will break a strong country into pieces, something we all need to avoid.
Continue reading "The path to harmony: in search of a responsible person" »
by Jennie S. Bev
A few days ago, I was in shock and in tears. The father I never had has died a month ago and his family didn’t even bother to tell me. The man was my biological father, a confused person who didn’t know what he wanted for life, left my mother when she was pregnant with me for another woman, and led a miserable and regretful life.
Nonetheless, he was the man who brought life into me. A man I rarely knew. A sad man.
by Shalene Gupta
(Read the article directly on TheJakartaGlobe.com.)
They say the people who truly love you are the ones who constantly urge you to improve. Jakarta native and award-winning writer Jennie S. Bev embodies this. Though she has lived in America for more than a decade, Bev writes exhaustively on Jakarta, its people, its activism and its future.
Bev, a Chinese-Indonesian, maintains a strong connection to her birth country, while at the same time identifying as a member of the Chinese diaspora. Bev moved to America in 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis to attend graduate school in California and ended up making it her home.
While Bev lives in California, she has not forgotten her Indonesian roots. Her connection to Indonesia goes deeper than simply missing home; it means actively continuing to be part of Indonesia’s future by constantly striving for social progress here.
Bev’s writing on Indonesia ranges from topics such as gender equality to poverty, but they all share the same theme: the pressing need for reform. Her writing is at once tender and critical. Bev delves into the manifold reasons she chose to leave Jakarta — racial discrimination, political censorship, traffic jams — yet her work displays a deep belief in the city’s potential for change.
Continue reading "Interview: An Indonesian writer who knows her roots" »
