Marketing and Self-Esteem?

Do u think these two words have any correlation? for u guys I dunno. But for me? It means A LOT!!

Studying overseas faces huge number of problems. Even if you're an Indonesian. You will realize you do . I don't mean to undermine or wat, but people somehow see you from the stereotype of your country. Forgive me once more, but frankly speaking (and I bet this has been a "top" secret of all time) that our country does not have a very good track record in the world out there.

Maybe ppl studying in engineering won't really feel bad about this as my Singaporean friends have ever said that Indonesian guys are known for their terribly excellent math and science. And this is , yes, very true. Just count how many Indonesian guys in NTU have got outstanding achievements. How many Indonesian guys are there have won olympiad? How many guys are there have joined URECA? Maybe not as much as Chinese do but we're still on T.O.P position. Undeniable...

But what about ppl like me? Studying business in other country would be a good mean of education. But with Indonesia's economy that seems to worsen (added by those disaster...my friends ever said "how could such a vast country like yours develop if disaster keeps coming and riots are everywhere?" You know wat? She's rite. Although I can not blame God for the disaster He gave), you inevitably got a slight mental shock.

Professor Lang ever mentioned about 5 stratas in the human Hierarchy Needs. One of them, which is after love and social acceptance, is Self-Esteem. It is the need of being respected by others. And in some cases, my marketing lesson has fulfilled that need of mine in this so scarce-esteem world.

You know Hermawan Kartajaya , dun u? He's one of the greatest marketing man of the age. And one thing that is important for me : He is an INDONESIAN.




Imagine..in other lectures, the lecturers often take Indonesia as a bad example. You can still recall those hazy days resulting from the illegal forest burn-out, cant u? You can still remember where the wind brought the haze to, cant u? Singapore suffered badly from the haze (even there was almost a possibility that schools from elementary to poly got dismissed as the haze was really bad). The haze also became a headline in the Tribune (or Nanyang Chronicle I forget). Can you imagine how blushed I was at that time when this problem was addressed in class? It actually really hurts inside...


And in marketing?? everything turns up to the opposite way. Kartajaya is the one who co-founded the market-ing concept (together with Phillip Kotler). If Phillip Kotler is the Global Father of marketing, then Kartajaya is the Asian one. Indeed, he is a hero from our country, who proudly says that he is an indonesian.



My lecturer, Prof Hooi Den Huan, is a big fan of him, I can say. He wrote rethinking marketing with Kotler, Kartajaya, and Sandra Liu. He keeps mentioning Kartajaya and his concept in lecture. I can guarantee you that he never omit to mention Kartajaya and Kotler , even to skip it in one single lecture.

Kartajaya has given me a passion to move on (not neseccarily in marketing, cos at the moment I'm so pissed off by my marketing lesson). When I met him he said , "Jadi orang Indonesia jangan malu-maluin!!" so simple but kinda stab inside :(
You know wat? he's right.
Gee...I can recall almost everything in my first semester...
I have done nothing, still so far away from my perfect model of an Indonesian....