Happy Idul Fitri 1 Syawal 1429 H.

Twenty nine days have passed us by, now we have reached the last day in the fasting month of Ramadhan, it's time for us to take a close look and evaluate what we have done. Have we been fulfilling the commitments that we have made to ourselves? Have we been doing things that we have promised to God and ourselves? If not, how far have we gone to? 90%, or 80%, or 70%, or 60% or below? We all have our achievements & reasons for all the things that we have done and not done in almost one month that we have just spent. One thing for sure is that we are very lucky to be able to live with our loved ones & maintain all the things we have & even get more. If not, let us compare ourselves with the so many others who are less fortunate, who has passed away or still alive but has lost the one that they love and/or things that they have. Let us be thankful for all the things that we have and forgive ourselves for our mistakes and forgive others for the things that made us unpleasant. From the bottom of my heart please accept my apology for any inconveniences. HAPPY IDUL FITRI 1 SYAWAL 1429 H.

Made in Indonesia!

In the early '80s, our government launched a campaign in the mass media, advising citizens of our country to consume Made in Indonesia products. The effect was good in the sense that it has made us aware that we should prioritize buying and using products made by our fellow citizens. Unfortunately, this good effort ended in the mid '90. After that, not only that we have not been advised to use our own products but foreign products seemed to have been granted 'free entrance' to our country, especially after we actively participated in international organizations which foster free trade i.e WTO, AFTA, APEC etc. Our marketplace became full of seemingly good imported and cheap products. Slowly but surely our industries became weakened. For example the Textile industry is now very weak compared to 10 years ago, because their products cannot compete with imported Textiles, so in order to survive they have to a.o scrap their machinaries. I know this for sure because I worked with a Steel Manufacturing company whose raw material is Steel Scrap supplied a.o by those Textile companies. With the existence of Dangerous Melamined Milk products, it is about time that we all start buying and using Made in Indonesia products, whose prices are actually not so different but surely much safer than imported ones. Let us hope that our government will start campaigning Made in Indonesia products once again, and imposing strict policy on imports of goods that can be made here.