Matt Mullenweg

" A Great Young Man! "
That's what I thought about Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of the Texas based WordPress blogging platform, after I read a blog post in Ndoro Kakung.

I've got every reason to think that way about Matt, because at the age of 25 years old he has successfully lead WordPress into one of the world's largest free blog provider.

Matt came to Jakarta for the WordPress World Camp on 17 & 18 January 2009. And in an interview with Kompas, Matt said that until the year 2008, 230 million frequent visitors have viewed 6.5 billion pages in WordPress. He also said that there are 280,000 blogs using Indonesian language, making it the Third language used by WordPress bloggers after English and Spanish.

Matt, 25 years old on 11 January 2009, said in his blog that he started his carrier by working at CNET Network in San Fransico. After quitting in late 2005 he established Automatic i.e. the company behind WordPress, Automattic, Akismet, Gravatar, bbPress, Intense Debate, dan BuddyPress. For which, he has been named one of PC World’s Top 50 People on the Web, Inc.com’s 30 under 30, and Business Week’s 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

In spite of his achievements, Matt seems to be a simple man, love to wear Jeans, casual shirt & sport shoes. His hobbies are Photography, playing Jazz music with his Saxophone & Dvorak keyboard.

In conclusion, I felt that Matt Mullenweg is a model young man with very strong passion, willingness to work very hard & maintain good cooperation with others to reach goal in life, not merely for his own personal benefit but also for millions of people around the world. Therefore, we are all lucky to have him.


Pic:Facebook

An Erotic Lawyer

I believe that professional men and women are equal in general; they are only different when expressing private matters, whereby women tend to be less expressive.

In this regards, I found it interesting when I read an article written by Robert J. Ambrogi in Law.com about Deidre Dare, a senior lawyer of U.S based law firm, Allen & Overy, who published an erotic novel “EXPAT” in her website DeidreDare.com. The novel featured the tagline "Philosophy can be Sexy" told a story about an American woman living in Moscow and her sexual adventures with several men from different countries, with very detailed love making scenes. Her story was so crude & vulgar that the law firm ordered her to stop publishing it, and erased her biography from its website.

The above story tells us that every professionals, especially senior ones, should always maintain their public image by always paying attention on standard moral values.

The Obama Dolls

Many parents would be happy if their children become models for dolls, but many others would be unhappy like the U.S First Lady Michelle Obama.

According to Law.com Mrs. Obama was unhappy when Ty Inc sells the “Marvelous Malia” and “Sweet Sasha” dolls which resembled her two daughters Malia and Sasha. Mrs. Obama's Press Secretary stated that “it is inappropriate to use young citizens for marketing purposes”.
People has given mixed reaction on this matter, some say that the Obamas can take legal action to stop the sales, but others doubt it because the Obama family are public figures.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that TY Inc.'s spokesperson Tania Lundeen insists that the dolls have nothing to do with the Obama kids.

What happened to the Obamas in this case shows that public figures, especially the top ones, should be willing to sacrifice some of their privacy. In this regards, I hope that our present & futures leaders would be willing to sacrifice their thoughts, energy and time for the happiness of our people.

Image:TyInc.

Fatwa about Voting

" A Moslem who does not vote during the election day, is committing a Sinful act(Haram) ", according to the decision (Fatwa) of the Indonesian Moslem Cleric Council (MUI) last Monday, 26 January 2009.

The Jakarta Globe reported that the Speaker of the National Parliament (DPR) Agung Laksono described that MUI has went too far in this case because voting is a political matter, not a religious matter. And our constitution has stipulated that voting is a political right that cannot be forced. However, the said Fatwa was welcomed by the Speaker of the People’s Consultative Council (MPR) Hidayat Nurwahid, who hoped that it will improve the performances of the government, the General Election Committee (KPU), the legislative candidates and the political parties participating in the election.
Meanwhile, Kompas reported that said Fatwa has been supported by the General Election Committee and the People‘s Development Party (PPP) but criticized by two non profit organizations i.e. Lingkar Madani and Setara Institute who both described that the Fatwa would not be useful, because it cannot be enforced legally.

In conclusion, I say that although according to our legal system a Fatwa of MUI is not part of our positive law, therefore could not be enforced legally, however considering MUI is the highest Moslem religious authority said Fatwa will surely have moral impact especially among people living in rural area.

Most Corrupt in Indonesia

Our Police is the most corrupt institution, and Kupang, capital of Nusa Tenggara Timur, is the most corrupt town in 2008, according to the survey by Transparency International Indonesia (TII) as quoted by The Jakarta Globe.

In reaction to this survey, National Police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira has urged TII to clarify the method used to gather data and asked them to send its finding to the Police so that necessary steps can be taken.

The report is quite surprising, because it has scraped the Parliament & Political parties, No. 2 & 3 last year, from the Most Corrupt Institutions list; while actually in 2008 many of their members were prosecuted for big bribery cases in courts.
Further, the survey’s report that Jakarta is the 35th corrupt city/town is questionable, because Jakarta is the largest city with the largest population, and has long been described by its citizens as “Ibukota lebih Jahat dari Ibu Tiri” i.e. the capital city is more cruel than a step mother, among others because its public officers tends to ask for bribes for their services.

No matter what the result of the survey, actually as citizens we can avoid or at least minimize corruption, i.e. by obeying the laws & regulations, as follows:
1) Always doing things according to the laws & regulation
2) Prepare applications for permits/licence/ID properly & in timely manner
3) Refuse to pay any "extra" payment for any public services
For example, if we violate the traffic signs we should let the Police officer to process settlement through court proceedings, therefore avoid "on the spot" settlement by bribing.

In conclusion, I would like to say that although the result of above survey shows that Corruption is still existing in Indonesia, however if we want we can avoid corruption i.e. by always obeying the laws & regulations in Indonesia.

Happy Chinese New Year

Image:Greetings123

Recruitment thru Facebook

Until a few months ago, I always thought that Facebook is only used by young people to connect with each other for social activities.

Then, I learned that some commercial enterprises have opened Facebook pages to promote their companies as well as their products/services. And yesterday I read an article written by Robert J. Ambrogi in Law.com regarding the opening of a Facebook page by a Texas Law Firm i.e. Munsch, Hardt, Kopf & Barr to increase visibility among young associates and law students. The page provides video testimonial, photo albums and other information regarding the Firm and its associates.

In view of the above, I felt that this is a very creative recruitment method which is low cost but effective, therefore can be adopted by Law Firms as well as commercial enterprises in our country where Facebook is very popular among young people.