This is what I wrote for The Palm Scribe, a platform focussed on the development of the palm oil industry in Indonesia. “Suggest you watch the documentary “Cowspiracy” if you have Netflix,” said the cryptic message from a friend of mine in the palm oil industry. I took his suggestion, watched the documentary that allegedly […]
Author Archives: unspun
An actual story of Indonesia’s loss because of the LGBT madness
It says a lot about Indonesia today that when an employee of mine recently quit his job to apply for asylum in Canada on grounds that he’s gay and feels discriminated against in Indonesia, they not only put him on the Protected Person’s list as they usually do to asylum seekers – they classified him […]
Two sides of IDX head Tito Sulistio in balcony collapse incident
Is Indonesian Exchange President Director Tito Sulistio a callused, professional devoid of any empathy or a caring man of action who responded selflessly and bravely to the disaster when the balcony of the stock exchange building collapsed yesterday? Well, it depends on which aspect you see and base your impression of the man on. If […]
Dumb and Dumber: Water, Water everywhere and Jakartans should be thankful for it
In my old age I had thought I had left hatred behind. You know, that visceral bile-like feeling that makes you want to rage, to laah out at the stupidity before you. I was wrong. Now when I see the faces of Governor Anies Baswedan or his Deputy Sandi Uno, or hear thw utter rubbish, […]
Dumb and Dumber: From Alexis to 4Play
Not since Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels created the characters of lloyd and Harry in Dumb and Dumber has there been anyone as stupid as the celluloid characters as the present Gakbener Anis an and his deputy Sandi. Jakartans who had been used to the former Governor Ahok talk sense and being straight forward have […]
JWT’s decision to tap a PR professional to head advertising and digital agencies – good or bad idea
Unspun thinks its the best idea since tempe but then again, he’s biased to the PR profession. But JWT has taken a huge step in appointing former Ogilvy PR and Pulse boss Marianne Adamardatine to head its operations in Indonesia, that includes digital agency Mirium. If it works it will open the doors to lots […]
The call to boycott Traveloka
I posted this in the Maverick blog today: Deliberate misunderstandings and righteous piety seems to be the order of the day in Indonesia’s poisoned and acrimonious political settingThe latest flap involves a call to boycott travel site Traveloka and uninstall their mobile app following a walkout by detractors when newly installed Governor Anies […]
Where would we be placed?
I suppose one should congratulate The Hoffman Agency for opening shop in Indonesia. They have a curious way of evaluating how they differentiate themselves in this market though, best exemplified by this chart of theirs: In their reckoning, until they came around clients in Indonesia had to choose between bureaucratic, international-standard agencies or high touch […]
Adding a role at The Palm Scribe
Recently I added another role to my LinkedIn account and have since been getting lots of well wishes but also a number of concerned questions on whether I had stopped working at Maverick to become advisor at The Palm Scribe. So here’s a note of explanation to the concerned and the curious. The first thing […]
Alexis: right decision for the wrong reasons
Alexis almost certainly has prostitution as one of its services and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan is right to close it down if morality is his kind of thing. But shutting it down based on press reports rather than on hard evidence is worrying, as it sets a bad precedence of executive action based on suspicion. […]
