WWW Bumiputera–Where Were We (Bumiputera)?

Unimportant thing;- Considering the plane departure from Papua—I can’t expect to get free “The Jakarta Post” —one of my favorite newspapers because of it contains “Suduko”, like I used to be if I flew with Indonesian #1 airlines. I decided to buy this newspaper in a bookstore at Soekarno Hatta Airport while I arrived around 3 p.m after my disappointment—I still hope that the stewardess will give newspaper after we transited in Denpasar. This night at home I have chance to read it.

Instead of fulfill Sudoku, I’d like to write this post after I read about a South Korean national (David Baek) who has claimed that he will become a major cassava producer in a matter of few years. I feel so “rusuah”, it’s such asphyxia, when continue to read and I found he plans to grow cassava in some Indonesia’s provinces (Subang, West Java, Ngada Nagakeo, Manggarai, and West Manggarai in east and West Nusa Tenggara).

As I read from the newspaper, David Baek (hopefully he is a good person, in Bahasa; – Baek could be translated as good or kind) enthusiastically explains his dream project. He said that international demands for cassava can be used as a raw material to produce ethanol, paper, food, pharmacy, glue, biodegradable products and confectionery. His company PT. IDB Energy Solution is planting cassava on 20 Ha of land to produce seeds. It will cover more than 900,000 Ha in future. The company has signed an agreement with a Singapore-based energy broker (Ginga Petroleum) that markets biofuels and also signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology and with Deloitte Anjin LLC to conduct a series of studies on how to grow cassava and its usage to produce bioethanol and other products, as he claimed.

I amaze with his cassavas. They are really big. One plant produces about 30 kilograms of cassava. As I saw in picture, the cassavas are about 50 centimeters or more. This is called IDB superior cassava (ISC) and was invented by Abdul Jamil Ridho five years ago in Lampung.

Perhaps with global rising demand of alternative energy this business will become more lucrative and farmers could double their returns with the help of this project, and at least this company is repairing the road leading to its plantation now, it sounds so ambitious and a lot of people might become skeptical but why this idea didn’t come from “Bumiputera”? I remember the problem of Jarak’s farmer in Bali. No matter what, this is still our country. It is very rich, as long as we can maintain its resources mainly by our selves and never let other nationalities maintain it for us for their benefit. There are some examples with this mistake.

For example, I always feel guilty every time I remember Papua, particularly about the mountain that becomes a huge hole in Timika. The claimed they mine cooper and a few of gold (only 3-5% of the productions) and send it to the foreign. Do you know? Some Bumiputeras try their fortune in Tailings River. They– about 6, 000 people, pan for gold starting from the nearest locations in mile 71 to a far location near Mosses Kilangin Airport which is relatively far away from mile 71. In the nearest location these illegal miners could get approximately 5 grams per day and 1 or 2 grams a day in the farthest area. Could we imagine 30,000 grams per day or about 30 kilos per day of genuine gold with the price about 120,000 rups per gram and this is the residual from a mining company! How many gold that has been sent to other countries since 70’s? It is miserable though. Actually, with the current techniques (floatation) that applied by this company—it only captures 80% of gold concentrate. The rests are disposed to Tailings River. However, in Q1 2008, they already booked USD 5, 67 Billion of trade—almost twice than the same period last year.

People made mistakes sometimes. What can we do after we realize that we have been made a mistake? People should think the way to fix it. At the beginning it is such as conducts fire fighting, but at the end we don’t want to fall into the same hole. We can learn from this extraordinary Bumiputera;- Muhamad Misbakhum the founder and chairman of PT. Agar Sehat Makmur Lestari (ASML) in Pasuruan, East Java. He has a dream to be the major of three as Agar (jelly) powder producer in the world by increasing the production from 270 tons per year into 1,000 tons per year and also the flag-carrier of Indonesia in this area.

As I read it in Swa Magazine; – ASML was built in 2003 with the initial outlay about 8 Billion rups, but it started to operate in 2004 after Misbakhum went on a pilgrimage. In 2004, 100% of the products are exported to the foreign. He didn’t want to compete with the local market at that time. He chooses to cooperate with B&V (Buzzonetti & Vitaee) in Italy to distribute its product in Europe. B&V is not only a big jelly powder producer but also jelly powder-machines seller. Misbakhum said, by this way ASML reaches its success in a short period (only 4 years). In a conservative ways it could take longer, it is about 15 years. Now 75- 80% of the products are exported to Europe and USA. ASML penetrates the local market (East Java only for now) with the rest by using brand name; – “Agar Kita”. Misbakhum plans to increase the production by developing a new factory in 4 Ha of land adjacent to the first factory in 1,2 Ha of land in Pasuruan in near future.

Hopefully, somebody starts to contemplate and wakes up from a long “Siesta”. I just wonder. Where were we? Where were you? Where was I?

Note;-
Rusuah :- Minang’s term for a conditions that make you feel uncomfort and “heavy to breathe”.
Bumiputera :- Bahasa’s term for Indonesian/native.