About SBY 1.0

for those of you who have no clue what the syntaxes are all about, SBY “should” stand for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesian president with military background, serving his first term in the office and shall ended next year in the upcoming general election. That is to say that he wouldn’t be elected again, since the poll conducted by a prominent media has shown the trend of his sliding popularity.

But does popularity hold the truth? Or whether it is merely the generally accepted rule in the realm of statehood that the voice of the people is the voice of God? (don’t mind the accuracy of these things that i am writing, you’re poking on empty barrel). I would like to assume the assumption that “the people” is formed by many distinct individuals, therefore the voice of the people is a relativity. And in Indonesian politics relativity is the norm not the exception.

I have this idea in mind that i would write all of my assumption about SBY on a regular basis and put it in this space, and I would like to start by reading this book that I have bought yesterday, a compilation of the president’s speeches and thoughts, and perhaps other books, one that I’ve known of, written by his aide, Dino Patijalal promoting all of his grandeur and virtues. No wonder, he still roams in the palace, I suppose a book written post-office should be more objective.

In Defense of Indonesian AdSense Publishers

Some forums, web sites and blog sites authored by Indonesian have been buzzing on a single topic that has taken colors from the face of most Indonesian publishers, the blocking of AdSense. Before we proceed, it is worth remembering that in the past Indonesia has been the site of similar mechanism that put aside Indonesian people from most of the facility of Internet enjoyed by the entire world, save for some countries with certain kind of protective policy. The blocking of Indonesian credit cards, e-gold scheme and some other enterprises.

Now AdSense will be taken as well, it’s simply a slap in the face of any good natured web activists in Indonesia. But it is important to know the cause of the poblems and why it occured, and it will brings us to the fact that some of the offender of the AdSense’s Terms of Service are also victims to schemes brought by some swindler, even organized swindlers taking any chances to legitimize fraudulence.

As with all of the AdSense publishers, they would have known that there are guides and explanations about the program as well as Terms of Service in Google’s web sites in their effort to make the program as applicable as possible. One concept to understand is that the program is there for everyone to use, as long as it is in line with AdSense’s Term of Service, and nobody else’s.

However, it is in the nature of human in general to make any profit in any way possible even as it would contradict the rules applied. Seminars or workshops have been mushroomed in Indonesia lately, some with the honest purpose to take their fellow human to a higher level of possibility, but most have been simply useless or even held with shady purposes.

Samples of these workshops that have been shrouding the mass media in Indonesia lately is about taking profit from the Internet. Some pointed huge numbers to accompany their ad, some pointed to impossible numbers, some had been proved as fraudulence. Various schemes concerning AdSense had been laid out by these hoaxers, from clicking methods, link back, even using bad-wares of their own creations. Some of this fake workshops, seminars and schemes were held for the purpose of merely collecting money from the admission fee, some more evil schemes were used to profit the hoaxers personal on-line business. One report on a certain forum (although still need further verification) stated that they even made scheme that would increase the speaker’s AdSense impression.

Most of Indonesian publishers are still new in this AdSense enterprise, and some of them have problems understanding working English, so most of the information they’ve got about AdSense came from other parties. There are working forums that can be used by publishers in Indonesia to get informations around AdSense, but the pattern of thoughts in Indonesia have made seminars, workshops and schemes took the center stage, people in Indonesia tend to assume that any kind of seminars, workshops and schemes should have more legitimate position as a source of information. Some have never learned anything from the consumer based knowledge sprouting around the Internet, some have been fooled by new, more sophisticated schemes.

This defense doesn’t mean that that AdSense publishers in Indonesia are purely innocent, some are simply irresponsible, while some others are merely victims. But there are others who are trying to make a decent yet just profit from this program, and trying in any way they can to promote appropriate usage of AdSense. I believe that these decent publishers in Indonesia are grateful with this program, and could bring meaningful contribution to overall advertisement revenue worldwide.

Softwares in the world of piracy : A Perspective Rambling from Indonesia

Rambling.
I remember my first operating system: Windows 98. Now it seems that it has been a decade ago (and yes it has). It happened when I was in college, on the phone I told my parent about all the college assignment while my eyes feasting on the newest 3D game that my new PC can handle. One important note is that the operating system was a pirated version, the office applications were pirated version, the image editors were pirated version, the games I played were pirated, just about any softwares that me and my friends used that day were pirated version. No, it’s unlike any version you know on Adobe Photoshop (CS, CS2 etc) or Windows XP (Business, Home etc), it’s pirated. No, we wouldn’t in any circumstance bought original softwares.

To give you the clue, most of the middle class family in Indonesia would earn an average 1.5 to 3 million rupiah per month, that is roughly 160 to 330 US dollar at its best concerning the times when rupiah would reach more than 10.000 per US dollar. College students in Jogjakarta, Indonesia would only have several choices where they can work for additional income: Internet cafes (pirated Windows, pirated browser), game center (pirated Windows, pirated games), movie, music and softwares rentals (pirated, pirated, pirated) and fast food counters (err, pirated chicken?). There are always some other legitimate businesses like bookstores, cellphones and cellphone vouchers, but in this case something shady shines the brighter.

But there was nothing shiny about the income, around IDR 300.000,- to IDR 600.000,- per month, roughly USD 30,- to USD 60,- per month. If you were on a scholarship then you can have days picking food, not the other way around. My PC: Pentium III 800 MHz, 128 MB of RAM, graphic card with 32 MB of video memory and 20 Gigabyte of store room, was something to brag about in the year 2000, IDR 5.000.000,- were the ransom.

That was beside the point. Some of us in Indonesia were and are still acutely lack on information and knowledge about computer, softwares and licenses. Some of us thought that by paying prices for an assembled PC than it would include all the softwares installed. Merchants installed all the pirated softwares that they can think off to attract more customers, there were times when customers would rate merchant by the amount, variations and version of softwares they installed, the fact that those softwares were created by companies that have employees to pay was somewhere beyond our imagination.

Indeed the prices of softwares are also beyond imagination for some of us. Paying millions of rupiah for a set of softwares to boost productivity has never been inside anyone’s consideration, there were also false pride of becoming the enemy of the corporate world. And the profiteers strife.

The open source movements, though there’s a sense of militancy in the way it is called, were rather slow to move on and took advantage of this moment, and the air of conformity in Indonesia gave no space to the development of free software. Virtually every government institutions employed computer technicians recruited with shady methods, from these technicians they got their hardwares suppliers, these suppliers gotten used to the habit of cutting the operational budget to the impossibly minimum level, employed pirated softwares. Since these mainstream softwares are the ones that are required by the institutions they have it pre-installed for the customers’ convenience. These customers would never need technical support and updates, they usually are not connected to the Internet, never know what it is, and the added knowledge of it would jeopardized the existence of the technicians and the suppliers.

Since most institutions required employees with knowledge on mainstream softwares, Microsoft Windows operating systems and their Office Applications being on top of the list (and was the only point on the lists so to speak), so sprouted around the country courses and schools meant to teach people using these softwares. Only fractions of these educational enterprises using licensed softwares, and they charge higher tuition fee and more for the certificate. The result was that courses using pirated softwares would last longer. In the nineties people were just migrated from typewriter to computer, it took some time to differentiate courses on typewriting and courses on computer. When you buy a typewriter, you close your transaction and your done, doesn’t really matter what you would do with it (save for throwing your neighbor’s dog). When you buy a computer, there are terms of service to read depending on the amount of commercial softwares you buy and it would last as long as the whole resources are profitable to any party concerned.

Vista Home Premium
I bought my laptop sometimes ago, a decent one. It had basic Linux operating system pre-installed. This was the specification: AMD Turion 64×2 1.8 GHz, 2×512 KB L2 cache, 512 MB DDR 2. It came with a disc containing all the driver necessary for it to run accordingly… under Vista. When I bought it I’ve heard about Vista for some time, and the news was about it being a hog for system resource. I sampled some operating system before, Linux and Windows alike, and I know 512 MB of any type of memory wouldn’t help you much against new softwares. So it hit me that the laptop’s producer designed it for Vista with such limited resources.

I need to use the laptop as soon as possible, so I reformatted the disc, and began installing all the operating system in my collection (yes, collection), whether it was copied pirated discs or the ones with free license. None to be called smooth, I even failed to install some newest Linux distribution with newest kernel. Windows XP was successfully installed, but problems with driver posed even more problems.

I was quite tired, and all the advertisement about the comfort due to an original software purchaser was really got in to me. So I thought why not? I’ve heard about all of this campaign against Vista, read the so called manifesto in some web pages, and how Vista has been a bad corporate scheme. But this was my situation: I tried installing Linux for the sake of the open source spirit, and failed. I posted questions to forums, chat rooms, sent e-mails to pros, but there were no meaningful respond, or even none at all. I learned from some on-line friends that it was quite hard to find laptops compatible to open source operating systems, and mine was just one of them.

So I needed a solution and I needed it fast, it was quite tragic buying a hardware but forced to stare on a blank screen for days. I began contacting some software resellers, trying to count my options, until I finally brought home a sealed box of Vista Home Premium, installed it on the evening, and found a hot-spot late at night to complete all the on-line prerequisites as well as the process that I have never thought of appreciating: the activation process. I’ve been detoxed, so to keep my self clean I used free licensed software to work, that would include office applications, image editor and anti virus.

I have been using my laptop for about a year now, experiencing all the facility that a consumer should have. Problems arose once in a while, but they are manageable. My assumption about the resource was right, so I installed more memory modules, learning that Vista would run better with at least 1 Gigabyte of dedicated system memory.

I am not in any way endorsing any kind of war between the so called monopolistic corporate giant and the free software movement, as a consumer I will chose the one that would benefit me most, convenience is the magic word that anyone should consider. Here in Indonesia even the word convenience is not enough, people would need more information, more power to buy, more options to choose from. It is possible to sell legitimate softwares in this region, it is possible to make average Indonesian to buy commercial software and use legitimate softwares, but they have to understand what its worth and how it will benefit them. All of the issues of piracy are part of a chain reactions, and it will take some times to do anything about it, the broader scheme of wealth and education will provide the necessary cure.

Personal Humiliation and Awareness

Perhaps some of us still recognize ethic as the consideration over our acts, even those which are self claimed ethic. In today’s world with many believes and vague common sense, even ethic has many variations. My friend has her own ethic that should be satisfied by people when it comes to her dog. Never trespass her dog’s territory, never bash (even gently as she said that it is not educative) or even speak harsh words to her dog even when her dog bite a human kid or barking insidiously in sleeping hours, when it comes to supper her dog must come first. Any human passing in front of her house should never do anything suspicious to her dog that will make it bark. As the huge puppy bark endlessly one day on a broom seller, who walked the area just once in his life, she asked me “what have these people done that make my dog so upset? Why are they so cruel to my dog? These rude people, don’t they have any ethic?”

It is useless to talk to people drowned in infatuation upon their own believes, even if I have some knowledge in psychology, which I don’t. I am not talking about discrediting the dog lovers, see when dogs and cats aficionados gathered in one place and watch them quarreling about the virtue of each animals. Let them speak about the ownership of other things, and watch how different they are on the same concept applied on different objects. This case is not exclusive to the world of domesticated animal, but in most every aspect of our life, grand or minuscule.

I assume that the amount of “some” who are still considerate about ethic only have abstraction of it left in their mind, the mind that are easily shifted from objectivity to subjectivity, and rarely the trace of its implementation in our daily life.

I really leave it at that, and shifted to the more general setting. I am a rider, I ride motorcycle everywhere not only that I am one of that strange people who would prefer motorbike rather than cars (considered to be an enigma in most part of developing Asia), but most of all because I am not financially secure to make any purchase on cars. One day I realized that human activity had shifted in pattern generally, under the force of economy every single human is forced to work inconsiderate of the factors, whether it is the distance or time spent doing it.

Every people who are in the phase of working as worker to other people, understand this scheme, where their life is spent nurturing the dream of others while making any possible earnings to nurture their own life. They will do anything to make it happen, to cut through time and distance, every possible facilities of human machinery are employed to reach the final goal, the assumed objective, money. As I am on my motorcycle.

There’s a day when I’m in the middle of the crowded street somewhere after midday, I looked at the sky and have this feeling of vintage space on an old photograph, where the tops of the buildings emitted the heat of the day pouring mercilessly from the lonely sky. On the asphalt, crowded human sprouting here and there with their machinery and stories too numerous to tell. It is easily observed that that the objects are separate entities, so separated they are that one of them is completely banished from the realization of the other.

Awareness, according to my limited assumption, is the result of two possible circumstances; utmost necessity, or freedom. Utmost necessity should not only be limited to economic issue, but also the complete package of human business that pushed them to surpass the existing limit. While freedom, is the freedom that surpasses the freedom with limited substance that would take human beyond unnecessary clashes of interests and the blind knowledge on rights and obligation.

As the awareness of common necessity blurred under subjective objectivity, and as mutual comfort is way under the rank of personal pleasure, chaos is underway, and we are left with the believe that every single things that we hold dearly are bound to doom. When I am on my bike, burning fuel and looked toward the sky I feel the sky is shifting away and creeping loneliness made me freeze even under the heat of the day. I don’t know if anybody else is feeling the same way.

Deja vu Porong

It has been two years since the mud came sprouting out from the bely of the earth, the surface was Porong, Sidoarjo, many people have been removed from their land, years of their life and pages of their history, millions of economic worth flew right in front of the people’s eyes, one question remain: who’s to blame?

Regional Police of East Java have submitted, for the fourth times, the case files to the high attorney of East Java district, it had been turned down before for the reasons of incompleteness and obscurity. The funny thing is that it has been corrected with the guide of the attorneys, where lies the incompetence when it has been rejected before the court? Or perhaps the case has been rejected beyond the reason of competency and comprehensiveness?

The culprit in the case is Lapindo, a rich mining company under the banner of Bakrie group. If you follow the current of Indonesian financial news, then you know that Aburizal Bakrie was crowned as one of the richest person in Indonesia, though he simply denied it. Mr. Bakrie in my opinion is a power that could affect the demography of Indonesia’s economy, whether he would admit it or not, and he is in the position where he can have all the sayings that should come to his mind, he is the minister of the people’s welfare, and the recent rise of fuel price was one of the result of his sayings.

If, by any fortune of the people, the case files be accepted and considered sufficient for the proceeding of the trial, there is no guarantee that justice be served. For one thing to prove that Lapindo is responsible for the disaster should be an utterly piling of paradoxes, and the bantering would last for the span of times that would last longer than the life of the people involved. Moreover, Lapindo is too precious for some people of power in this country, tickling its stance would mean an act of mockery to some who invested in it, and like Aburizal Bakrie, they are above the law.

For only on the land where its people gave earnest thoughts upon its law then the law is above the people. It has not happen in Indonesia as of late.

It is save for Indonesian not to make a hasty judgment upon Lapindo and all of its components, but news of mishaps have been circling among the people for years that the disaster should have been avoidable but the promises of fortunes sterned the heart of of the people with minds, and the gobbledygook dispersed. But men do have many means, and it is utterly possible to prove the happenstance as a force majeur as some scientists have been saying. Though there are sayings that the scientists are merely the tool of propaganda for the company.

Nevertheless, as far as the company and the government concerned, the deeds of pity (not responsibility) have been conducted, people are urged to take the houses offered in a complex by the company. 7000 houses have been prepared, about a dozen took the keys. This deeds, no less would have an effect to the advancement of the case.

It should be interesting for some people with abundance of energy to follow the stages of this case, but for some other, including me, it is a tiresome toil, and the result should be nothing less than predictable.

Insiden monas 1 Juni 2008

Pada hari itu terjadi lagi kerusuhan, menurut media ada tiga unsur masyarakat yang berserakan di lapangan saat itu. Ahmadiyah, AKUR, dan FPI. Tampak jelas di layar televisi betapa ringannya tangan dan tiang kayu melayang menghunjam kepala bapak-bapak dan ibu-ibu. Sama dengan insiden-insiden pertentangan persepsi mengenai kebenaran di bagian lain di muka bumi, kebencian menjadi satu-satunya kekuatan yang membuat orang bergerak, bukan makanan yang menghasilkan energi, atau semangat atau apapun.

Adalah percuma untuk menyatakan siapa yang salah siapa yang benar, paradox tumpang tindih, insiden itu sendiri terjadi karena masalah kebenaran. Tidak ada seorangpun ingin berada di sisi yang salah, tapi manusia kadang terlalu malas dan bodoh untuk beranjak dari posisi mereka, kemudian mereka mengklaim bahwa posisi merekalah yang benar, supaya mereka tidak perlu beranjak dan tidak perlu diganggu dengan pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang mendasar yang dapat mengganggu keseimbangan hidup mereka.

Saya tidak membela Ahmadiyah, FPI, ataupun AKUR, satu hal karena saya adalah pemalas dan pengecut jika mengingat konsekuensi yang bisa terjadi jika ada orang yang melihat tulisan ini dan menjadi berang, argumentasi manusia pada saat-saat seperti ini tidak lagi mengikut sertakan logika, dan memang logika seringkali menjadi racun bagi sebagian dari kita.

Apa yang terjadi di Monas adalah sampel kecil dalam skala jumlah, namun tetap besar secara esensi, dari insiden-insiden yang terjadi dalam hari-hari umur bumi. Perang besar di atas permukaan bumi - yang makin hancur dan tidak perduli dengan masalah manusia yang remeh - seringkali disebabkan oleh persepsi, yang kekuatannya ditentukan oleh jumlah para pendukungnya, atas kebenaran. Dari mulai tetangga yang tidak bisa teguran selama bertahun-tahun karena masalah yang kata mereka menyangkut prinsip, masalah IRA di Inggris sampai pada perang salib ataupun perang-perang modern saat ini.

Mungkin ini adalah bagian dari proses belajar, dan memang proses belajar terkadang bisa begitu keras, tidak adanya korban jiwa pada insiden tersebut tidak menjadi alasan untuk mengatakan “untung…”.

Hal kekerasan bukanlah eksklusif milik FPI, dan kebodohan bukanlah eksklusif milik pemerintah, semua manusia dengan pengkondisian tertentu mempunyai potensi untuk merusak, dan semua ajakan untuk perdamaian menjadi sia-sia. Pada saat seseorang harus menentukan posisinya dan perannya di muka bumi, maka dia harus berdiri di satu sisi yang dianggap sebagai sisi yang benar, belum lagi dia harus dipusingkan dengan stratifikasi kebenaran, kebenaran pribadi, kebenaran rakyat, kebenaran pemerintah, kebenaran spiritual.

Saya hanya ingin mengusulkan penggunaan semua potensi pemikiran dan hati yang ada pada manusia dalam pencarian (maupun mempertahankan) suatu kebenaran. Kekerasan bisa jadi merupakan salah satu cara, bahkan satu-satunya cara dalam “menyelesaiakan” masalah perbedaan bagi sebagian manusia, dan saya tidak punya argumentasi yang berguna untuk melawan pendapat itu, tapi patut diketahui bahwa ada sebagian manusia yang hanya ingin hidup damai diatas bumi yang mulai mati ini.

Pemasaran dan Iklan, Usaha Tanpa Batasan?

Suatu hari kenikmatan menonton film kartun terganggu oleh sebuah iklan berdurasi 30 detik yang menurut kata-kata yang diucapkan oleh si sales (karena fungsinya sama, saya namakan saja demikian) dapat membuat si pemirsa ketiban rejeki dua ratus juta rupiah (perkembangannya uang yang ditawarkan sampai 350 juta rupiah). Kemudian wanita itu, si sales mengeluarkan kalimat-kalimat yang menarik dengan mengatakan bahwa uang 200 juta dapat dipergunakan untuk apa saja, memberi rumah, menikah, beli mobil, membangun usaha, intinya dia bermaksud mengatakan bahwa dengan sekali mengirim pesan singkat anda dan hanya anda, berksempatan untuk mendapatkan 200 juta rupiah.

 

Dibawah layar televisi, tidak sampai sepertiga dari seluruh layar, terdapat syarat dan ketentuan yang ditayangkan dengan huruf-huruf yang begitu kecil yang membuatnya begitu mudah untuk terlewatkan. Inti dari pesan yang disampaikan oleh huruf-huruf tersebut adalah bahwa jumlah uang 200 juta rupiah tersebut akan dibagi pada beberapa orang dalam kurun waktu tertentu dengan menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang dkirimkan melalui beberapa kali pesan singkat. Bahasa lisan dan tulisan dari satu paket iklan tersebut sudah merupakan kontradiksi.

 

Saat ini orang berusaha menghasilkan uang dengan cara apapun, berusaha dari kesederhanaan dan kejujuran yang tidak jauh dari kemiskinan dan pengangguran sepertinya saat ini merupakan dosa yang jauh lebih besar daripada menipu.

 

Saya tidak kenal dengan orang yang begitu kreatif menggunakan media televisi menyampaikan iklan dengan cara yang demikian, yang pasti alasan ekonomi adalah pendorong yang menjadi alasan pembenar untuk tiap-tiap hal yang mereka (juga kita) lakukan. Namun saya merasa terganggu dengan perbedaan informasi yang disampaikan sebagai satu paket tersebut.

 

Kalau diperhatikan iklan “acak kata” ini lebih sering tampil pada saat-saat penayangan acara anak-anak maupun remaja, pangsa pasar yang pencernaannya lebih mudah dipengaruhi, walaupun sepertinya prinsip pemasaran dari produk tayangan menyasar semua target umum. Tanpa batas.

 

Saya sendiri pernah menjadi sales bagi perusahaan, dan tidak hanya pada satu perusahaan tapi dua perusahaan dengan karakter produk yang berbeda. Perusahaan pertama adalah perusahaan asuransi dan perusahaan kedua adalah perusahaan yang menjualkan berbagai jenis produk bagi para kliennya, perusahaan-perusahaan lain.

 

Lowongan kerja bagi tenaga penjual bisa dikatakan relatif melimpah. Pada umumnya seseorang harus mengantongi ijazah SMA untuk dapat direkrut sebagai tenaga penjual. Dan perusahaan-perusahaan pada umumnya tidak mengalami banyak masalah dalam menangani para pekerja. Para tenaga penjual biasanya menerima penghasilan berdasarkan komisi dari keuntungan yang didapatkan dari volume penjualan, pada beberapa perusahaan tertentu, mereka mendapatkan fasilitas pendukung seperti uang transport dan uang makan. Tidak ada gaji tetap, dan kontrak kerja yang tidak terikat dengan produk hukum ketenagakerjaan di Indonesia dengan alasan bahwa para tenaga penjual memiliki hubungan yang unik dengan perusahaan, tidak sama dengan hubungan antara buruh dan pemilik modal seperti pada perusahaan konvensional.

 

Metode yang saya lakukan pada kedua perusahaan tersebut adalah penjualan langsung atau direct selling. Saya pergi menemui pemegang keputusan pada perusahaan-perusahaan serta keluarga untuk menjual asuransi kolektif pada mereka. Pada perusahaan kedua saya menjual produk nutrisi atau produk elektronik langsung dari pintu ke pintu, salah satu yang paling saya ingat adalah produk yang dapat menghemat penggunaan listrik.

 

Tidak dapat dipungkiri bahwa tenaga penjual dengan metode lagsung hendaknya memiliki kemampuan komunikasi yang baik, sebagian orang sudah memilikinya, sebagian harus berlatih dan beradaptasi. Saya termasuk pada kelompok kedua, dan kemudian seharusnya tidak ada masalah.

 

Pada awal perekrutan dan pelatihan, pada umumnya para tenaga penjual di “isi” dengan pemahaman-pemahaman mengenai pentingnya profesi sales dan semua pengetahuan tentang berpikir positif dan, yang sedang trend saat ini, menjadi individu yang “dahsyat”. Saya adalah individu yang berpikir bahwa “terlalu” positif bisa berpengaruh buruk terhadap hidup manusia secara keseluruhan. Dan itu menimbulkan berbagai pertanyaan yang seharusnya tidak ditanyakan oleh pekerja yang “baik” kepada atasannya.

 

Suatu saat saya di instruksikan oleh kepala grup untuk menjual sebuah produk asuransi yang ketika dilihat sekilas memberikan keuntungan yang sangat besar bagi para pemegang polis, dibandingkan dengan produk-produk lain, produk tersebut adalah produk yang paling mudah untuk dijual. Berdasarkan pengalaman, seorang konsumen yang paling aprehensif sekalipun akan relatif lebih mudah di bujuk dengan produk ini. Kepala grup saya begitu “positif” atas penjualan produk ini, tidak demikan halnya dengan pengawas klaim.

 

Dalam pembicaraan empat mata dengan pengawas klaim dia menceritakan bagaimana sejarah produk tersebut yang dimaksudkan sebagai penggenjot volume penjualan yang dapat menutupi kekurangan pendapatan dari produk yang lain. Pada kenyataannya kantor pusat sudah tidak lagi mendukung penjualan dari produk ini, dan klaim terhadap produk tersebut akan sangat sulit sehingga banyak ditemui permasalahan dengan para klien. Dengan cara yang sama sekali tidak offensif saya sampaikan hal ini pada kepala grup dan manajer cabang. Jawaban yang saya dapatkan mencakup rangkaian kata-kata seperti “…nggak perduli, pokoknya…” atau “…kamu nggak mau uang?…”

 

Pada perusahaan berikutnya saya menjualkan barang-barang yang lebih praktikal, terbebas dari masalah pola pikir masyarakat, yang berpengaruh di sini adalah pendekatan dan bujukan. Kondisi ekonomi calon konsumen memang menjadi pertimbangan, namun berada pada peringkat ke sekian, barang tidak bisa ditawarkan jika kepedulian terhadap kondisi konsumen jadi hal penting dalam pertimbangan.

 

Pada perusahaan ini, sebagaimana perusahaan lainnya, ada bentuk pelatihan yang ditujukan agar para tenaga penjual dapat menjadi lebih efektif dalam mencapai target penjualan, dimana paling tidak 10 persen dari nilai tiap penjualan menjadi komisi bagi tenaga penjual, dan sisanya untuk kemakmuran perusahaan. Pada pelatihan tersebut para (calon) tenaga penjual dilatih untuk melakukan pendekatan, berbicara atas nama produk, serta penguasaan sejumlah poin-poin tertentu untuk kesuksesan sebuah penjualan. Namun pada akhirnya saya mencium suatu indikasi, bahwa konsumen hanyalah sebuah unsur dalam kesuksesan suatu penjualan, dan langkah-langkah pendekatan dilakukan untuk memanipulasi konsumen agar menjadi salah satu faktor dalam kesuksesan penujualan. Sudut pandang konsumen bukanlah hal yang penting disini, tujuan utama dari tiap-tiap penjualan adalah target penghasilan, bagaimanapun caranya.

 

Tiap-tiap operasi dimulai dengan pengiriman tiap-tiap grup untuk mencakup wilayah penjualan tertentu. Pada saat itu kami menjual alat penghemat penggunaan listrik, sebuah alat dengan penampilan yang ringkih, berupa kotak hitam sebesar inverter, dengan kabel yang kelihatan rapuh. Kami ditugaskan menjual alat tersebut seharga Rp 600.000,- per unit, dan memberikan potongan senilai Rp 100.000,- dengan metode kuis.

 

Jelasnya seperti ini, kami pergi dari rumah ke rumah dengan modus melakukan pendataan tentang penggunaan listrik. Setelah mendata dengan mencatat angka pada meteran kedalam form yang sudah ada, kami menjelaskan tentang program hemat listrik yang dijalankan oleh pemerintah (insentif dan disinsentif) yang mengantar kami pada penawaran alat penghemat listrik tersebut. Setelah melakukan penawaran kami melakukan kuis kecil yang pertanyaannya hanya mencakup “apakah anda pernah terlambat membayar listrik?”, jika si korban (baca: konsumen) menjawab tidak, maka kami memberikan selamat, menjabat tangannya, mengucapkan kalimat-kalimat seperti “luar biasa” atau “anda dahsyat” dan mengatakan bahwa dia berhak atas potongan senilai 100 ribu rupiah tersebut.

 

Saya berkata pada senior saya tersebut bahwa saya merasa ada yang tidak benar, selain karena tidak ada satupun dari kami yang tahu persis cara kerja alat tersebut, kami tidak memegang surat tugas apapun dari PLN, juga karena saya merasa harga dari barang tersebut tidak sesuai dan cara kami menawarkan barang tersebut terasa manipulatif. Tapi senior saya dan seorang lagi teman dalam grup yang terdiri dari 3 orang tersebut mengatakan bahwa begitulah metode yang diajarkan pada mereka. Saya merasa beruntung belum pernah ikut pelatihan. Kemudian saya melakukan penelitian kecil-kecilan tentang barang tersebut dan mendapat informasi bahwa harga barang tersebut di tempat lain tidak mencapai batas harga 200 ribu rupiah per unit.

 

Dua pengalaman pada kedua perusahaan tersebut membuat saya mengundurkan diri, opini saya mengenai pekerjaan penjualan yang sebelumnya memang tidak terlalu baik menjadi semakin buruk.

 

Saya tidak mengatakan bahwa marketing itu buruk secara umum, ada usaha penjualan tertentu yang berhasil mengantarkan kesadaran konsumen akan nilai dirinya, nilai produk dan kerjasama yang baik dengan perusahaan, dimana etika tidak hanya omong kosong dan sedikit tawar menawar untuk suatu penghasilan masih berada dalam batasan yang dapat diterima, walaupun batasan ini masih diperdebatkan (ingat planned obsolescence?).

 

Tapi menurut saya memang perkembanganya tidak terlalu menggembirakan, apalagi pada proses pemasaran yang mencakup penggunaan media seperti televisi. Pada saat manusia Indonesia dibuat susah dengan berbagi permasalahan, mereka harus menghabiskan lebih banyak energi dalam kehati-hatian, baik dalam menjaga kesadaran diri sendiri maupun anak-anak mereka dari perangkap yang memanfaatkan kekurangtahuan masyarakat akan informasi tertentu.

 

Komisi penyiaran seharusnya lebih cerdas dalam menyeleksi apa yang layak dan tidak layak ditayangkan dengan lebih mencermati isi dari suatu tayangan, tidak hanya masalah perijinan. Perijinan juga membawa kita pada departemen sosial, yang nomor ijinnya ditayangkan dengan huruf yang super kecil di pojok layar, saya jadi bertanya-tanya mengenai apa fungsi departement sosial sesungguhnya, apakah fungsi pegawainya sudah beralih menjadi tenaga penjual ijin?

 

Saat ini, untuk mencapai kehidupan yang lebih baik, yang secara umum diartikan dengan kepemilikan materi yang memadai, memang sepertinya harus melakukan segala cara, namun saya berpendapat bahwa itu tidak berarti menghalalkan segala cara. Dalam fase kehidupan yang begitu cepat, dimana tiap-tiap orang berpacu mencapai tujuannya, orang-orang yang benar-benar menjaga etika akan kesepian, dan disini saya tidak berbicara tentang orang-orang yang menanyakan etika yang tidak lebih dari objektifitas yang subjektif. Kalau batas kewajaran dengan mudahnya dipindahkan oleh materi maka etika dan moral juga dapat dijual, hanya masalah waktu saja sampai ada perusahaan yang melakukan usaha penjualan di bidang ini.