Life is a Cake in the Making

I do not actually bake, the only cake I made were some cupcakes about a month ago; but this analogy about life and baking is stuck sooo bad in my head.

A part of baking that fits into our life is: "everything" will work together for good.

In baking, we need to prepare every single ingredients with precision, from flour, eggs yolk, baking powder, salt, sugar, some chocolate chips, oil, and etc. Before you mix all of the ingredients, will you taste every single of it? Sugar and chocolate chips is tasty by itself. What about some flour and oil? Yes, they do not taste good just by themselves. To make the cake, all of the ingredients need to be mixed well, with some precision in mixing, sometimes it is need to be mixed with medium speed for two minutes. Sometimes we need to mix it with high speed for five minutes! And even when all of the ingredients already mixed together - is it going to taste good yet? No way! I even read a warning in a cake mix that I bought, "Do not eat raw batter". Obvious, but I think that the raw batter won't taste good.

The analogy relate the every single ingredients for making cake with every single things that happens in our lives.We could relate that not all moments would be tasty, some of them will be salty, or even gross to be tasted. After all of those ingredients are put together, there are some spinning and mixing happens to it. We, as a human, would never know what are those spinning and mixing of life that will be happened in different speed for different people.

The baking process in the oven itself is not even nice. We would be heated to a high temperature for some period of time. If the cake cannot stand the heat and go out of the oven too early, we would be undercooked and nobody would want to eat it. And there is always a perfect timing for every single cake. When the cake had passed through all of these process; it would be the perfect cakes that taste so yummy (I was drooling while writing this) and delicious. At this point, all of those cannot-be-tasted ingredients are significant part of the cake. Can you imagine making a cake without flour or eggs? And even the very hot baking process that makes the cake cooked.

Remember this analogy - that not all moments in our life will be beautiful. Shit happens. The baking process will be so hot. Yet, at the end, EVERYTHING would work together for good!
And one more thing, note that more delicious cake need more rigorous process.

Roman 8:28 -  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

My Pleasure from Writing

Dear readers,

In this post I would like to share how I end up stumble in writing and much pleasure I receive from writing. :D
So, enjoyyyyy..
---

There are many ways to give good impact to people around us. And I find out that writing could be a great way to positively affect people who read our writing. I am not a natural writer - a person who could seamlessly write a good piece without much hesitant - I am just a writer that share my thought. That's it.

I did not put much interest in writing up until my senior high school (read my post about "When One Door Closes Another Opens" for a detailed story). Then two good friends suggest me to make a blog because they were inspired of my story, I was still in high school back then and thinking that I might not have time to update my blog. Until my first semester in college, I remember my good friends' suggestion which end up being this blog. :)

Several first posts were read by sixteen -ish people, I am excited that some people are really read my post. Going on and on, I start to receive some good comments and inputs from my readers. I met some friends in the US who told me that they follow my blog, and I am more excited to write more.

From my writing, I feel like I have touched some people's heart. I might be impacting them in several ways. I always hope that my writing could be an inspiration for them. :)

AND it is true! About 4.5 month ago I received an email. Here is the printscreen:

The Printscreen - p.s I censored some of personal details for privacy.

Reading this comment, I almost cried. A bunch of thankyous for this man that makes me finally realize that my writing could affect a life. :')

Knowing that I would like my writing to be read by more people, I contacted "Indonesia Mengglobal" and applied to be a contributor. They accepted my application and has published my writing! (http://indonesiamengglobal.com/2013/05/why-i-like-studying-in-the-us/)

One of my biggest pleasure was when I realize that there are more than 190 people has read my post about my meeting with Ibu Sri Mulyani. I hope all of you who have read my posts are inspired. :)

It has been almost a year since I first posted in this blog and I would like to express my gratitude and thankyous for all of you who have read all or even only one of my post. All of you have encouraged me to keep writing. :)

---

I hope all of you have find a way to share your story. From twitter, Facebook, blog, or anything. Because I believe that y'all are unique with your own life story and experiences and somebody out there are waiting to listen to your story!

Please leave some of your thought below!

See you on the next post!

End of Semester Report - 4.0, Ibu Sri Mulyani, and NBA games!

Dear friends and colleagues,

I hope you are in a great shape and always be happy.

Time flies really fast and all of sudden I already finished my first year at Texas Tech University. My first semester was really nice but my second semester was even better. I would like to share some highlights from me at the end of my second semester.

I was taking 16 credits hours during my second semester with one of them being an Honors course. All of the subjects were tougher, especially English and my Honors Macroeconomics classes. English has always been a challenge for an international student like me, yet I worked harder for the second (and last) English class. Praise God than I could get an A for my last English course and even I received a 99 on my mid-term paper. Honors Macroeconomics was tough for me because of its discussion-based class. I was struggling to keep up with other Honors students while discussing about American Economics. However, I did not let the challenge bring me down. Instead, I read more Economics news in the newspapers and finally I was able to speak up during the class. I am humbled to let you know that I ended my second semester as well as I ended the first one, with 4.0 GPA. I will study harder to keep my GPA up until my graduation.



My Spring 2013 Report Card



My success in the academic subjects encourages me to do more in non-academic activities. At the end of the second semester, I was accepted as a Rawls Business Ambassador, an elite group consist of 30 students in the Business College that promote the college in various activities such as luncheon with alumni and donors and meeting with prospect students. I am also a member of Alpha Lambda Delta – Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society. I hope these non-academic activities will enrich me with leadership skills, social skills, and more professional connections.

The second semester was also highlighted with several great events for me. I went to Washington DC and met with Ibu Sri Mulyani, an ex-Finance Minister of Indonesia, that I really look up to and also during my visit to San Antonio, I was finally able to watch live an NBA game. I hope these events are not the only events, but could become the first of many for me. And for me the most exciting event is going home to Indonesia during summer.



With Ibu Sri Mulyani



In front of The Reflection Pool - Washington DC



My first NBA game! Watching Spurs v. Mavericks



I am currently enjoying summer in my country, Indonesia. Sampoerna Foundation kindly provides me with an internship in a town three hours away from my hometown which makes me be able to go home during the weekend.

I am honored to cross my paths with you, I am sure I will not be in the same journey if we had not crossed our paths.

I hope this updates finds you well and I would love to hear some updates from you.

Warmest regards,

Christian Timothy Wijaya

Texas Tech Student

A Simple Definition of Success from Different Perspective (WHILAL pt. 3)

Dear readers,

I am currently enjoying my summer in my home country - Indonesia! I will surely make a post about it soon!
This post will be about defining success - from my own opinion - hope this post will give you some insight and inspiration!

---

Success?
Every single person in this world want it. But what is YOUR success?

Definition from dictionary is :
1. The accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
2. The attainment of popularity or profit.

If your parents are asked the same question? They will probably say:
"For my children to have a prosper life and a good job."

If your work-mates are asked the same question? They will  probably say:
"A nice house, good family, and high position in the organization."

If your friends are asked the same question? They will probably say:
"Not a stressful job"

If you are asked the same question?
The answer will be vary:
From making my parents happy, making a bunch of money, having a good family, become the CEO of your own business, etc.

Based on the listed answers, sometimes most people will forget about their own happiness when answering about their success. They will not mention their healthy body as part of their success.

I see success is a life that makes you happy every morning you wake up and have the energy to do what you love.

Which one is your choice?

"Someone say that the key of happiness is spending money for experience and not for material - Unknown."

Underestimation of Indonesian Overall Savings - completed

Dear reader,

My final English assignment asked me to write a scholarly argumentative paper. And I ended up writing about the "Underestimation of Indonesian Overall Savings". 

Here is part one so that you are not bored reading all text. So, enjoyyy and leave some comments below! I will post part two in a couple days. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Understanding savings in a country is important because they are a determinant that shows how the economy is doing (Smith 4). As a developing country in South East Asia, Indonesia has the lowest savings in the region (Collins 352). However, there are some questions about whether Indonesia really has the lowest average savings or if Indonesia’s average savings is understated by researchers. Underestimation of Indonesia’s savings could be a false indicator of its economy and thus skew the government’s economic policy. Researchers’ method of analyzing savings is unfair to Indonesia because Indonesia has many informal savers due to religious constraints and the traditional nature of its culture. Additionally, disaggregated data shows that Indonesia’s average savings is understated by some international researchers. Indonesia’s average savings should be estimated higher by international researchers than they are currently because of Indonesia’s major religion and informal savers.

BACKGROUND OF SAVINGS, INDONESIA’S CULTURE AND GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS

It is important to understand Indonesia’s geographical and cultural background, concept of savings, and researchers’ methods to calculate savings. As a developing country in South East Asia, Indonesia has more than 65,000 households with population of 205.1 million people, and ninety percent of the population is Muslim. Sixty percent of the population is living on the Java islands; the other forty percent of the population is scattered throughout 13,700 islands along Indonesia. The main economies of Indonesia come from industries (40.7%) and agriculture (15.3%) (The World Bank). It can be easily understood that because people are so separated, they have retain traditional ways of saving informally.

After understanding Indonesia’s geographical and cultural background, it is also important to understand the concept of savings and international researchers’ methods of calculating savings. The argument in this paper is related to Indonesia’s average savings, which is calculated by savings over income. Researchers are using different methods to measure average savings in a country; for instance, many researchers are using the “wealth cross section” method (Sabelhaus and Pence 3). The wealth cross section calculates savings by measuring change in wealth and also active savings, which are savings in banks (Sabelhaus and Pence 3). A research method that only calculates these active savings causes the understatement of Indonesia’s average savings.

ANALYZING INDONESIA’S DISAGGREGATED DATA WITH REGARDS TO AVERAGE SAVINGS

Indonesia’s average savings are understated because of lack of analysis in disaggregated data and researchers’ method of calculating savings. The term “understated” means that Indonesian average savings should be higher than have been researched. Proof of this understatement can be seen from Collins’ table where Indonesia is ranked the last compared to other South East Asian countries (353). The table does not make any sense where it compares Indonesia and Burma. There are two factors that affect saving behavior in developing countries: income and demography (Deaton 61). Demography is characterized by dependency ratio, which is defined as the ratio between the non-working age population and working age population. The fact that Indonesia ranked last on the table is very inaccurate because Indonesia has higher a per capita income and smaller dependency ratio compared to Burma (Collins 353). Higher per capita income and smaller dependency ratio should lead to higher average savings (Collins 366; Loayza et al. 399). Thus, it is impossible for Indonesia to rank below Burma. Collins’ table shows that Indonesia’s average savings is understated by international researchers.

The analysis of disaggregated data explains why Indonesia’s average savings is understated by international researchers. Based on the data from the World Bank, only 68.1 percent of total population saves. Out of 68.1 percent who saves, only 41.8 percent has their own savings account in the bank, and 6 percent is using another’s account. Then the other 18.2 percent is saving informally. These informal-savers are not using bank savings account, they use informal financial institution, land, cattle, and jewelry as their savings method. Since researchers are using the “wealth cross section,” that only measures savings in formal banks, to measure savings these informal savers do not show up in their calculation of Indonesia’s average savings. If we count all savers, including informal savers, Indonesia’s average savings should be 40 percent higher than stated because there are 47 percent of people who are counted but 18 percent are not counted. The claim of understatement of Indonesia’s average savings is supported by disaggregated data and the fact that there are 18 percent of informal savers. 

THE EFFECT OF INDONESIA’S MAIN RELIGION TO AVERAGE SAVINGS

Religious belief, specifically Islam, is a major reason people save informally, which leads into underestimation of their household savings by international researchers. Up to 90 percent of Indonesians is Muslim, and they believe that saving concept is not only residual concept but also there is “social welfare dimension” for a Muslim’s savings behavior (Jalalludin 75). Islam’s savings concept should lead to a higher average savings in Indonesia; however, many Muslims do not want to save in formal banks to avoid “riba or usurious interest” (Mauer 8). Due to their belief that it is a sin to receive interest from formal banks, many of them are saving informally. The fact that 41.8 percent of Indonesia’s population has their own bank account shows that some Muslims in Indonesia do use formal banks. Nevertheless, there is still a large portion of Muslims who would like to use Islamic banks in Indonesia. Several Islamic banks have been started recently, and they are growing fast in Indonesia with the purpose of accommodating these religious beliefs (Kasri 41). However, at this point, the fast growth of Islamic banks is not enough to accommodate all Muslims in Indonesia who would like to save there. Research conducted by Kasri reveals that Islamic banks only contribute 1.8 percent of total banks’ assets in Indonesia (41). Religious constraints from the major religion in Indonesia could explain why some people are saving informally thus leading to the understatement of Indonesia’s overall savings by international researchers.

THE BREAKDOWN OF THE INFORMAL SAVERS – PROOF OF SAVERS WHO ARE NOT COUNTED

Researchers’ method that does not include informal savers in their calculation causes underestimation of Indonesia’s average savings. Indonesia has two unique informal savings methods, “arisan” and “koperasi,” that are available almost everywhere. The term informal saver is defined as a person who is not using a formal institution to save money. This group can save their money to any informal financial institution or save their money by buying land or cattle. World Bank data mentioned that only 52 percent of Indonesians have access to formal financial institutions. The rest of the population only has access to informal financial institutions. Seibel and Schrader emphasized in their paper that “arisan” is one of the informal savings methods in Indonesia (53). “Arisan” is a form of savings that includes usually more than five households. “Arisan” is not included in the household overall savings by international researchers because it is not a form of formal savings, but it is active in almost every part of Indonesia. Another form of informal savings is “koperasi,” or cooperative, that mostly supports farmers in rural areas with their savings to buy seeds and fertilizers in the harvest season (Suradisastra 1). As mentioned before, almost 16 percent of Indonesian economy is based on agriculture, and farmers who save in cooperatives are not counted by international researchers because they save in informal financial institution. The large number of “arisans” and cooperatives has proved that many Indonesians are informal savers. If international researchers develop some method to count these informal savers, Indonesia’s household average saving must be higher than stated.

COUNTER ARGUMENTS – INDONESIA’S HOUSEHOLD AVERAGE SAVING IS NOT UNDERSTATED

Some people argue that Indonesia’s household saving is not understated because 13.33 percent are under poverty line and 64.25 are living in rural areas (The World Bank). Indonesians who are under poverty line could not afford to save, and those who are living in rural areas do not have access to formal financial institutions. Thus, Indonesia’s household average saving is really low due to these two facts. These two facts mentioned are true; however, cooperatives are mostly in rural areas and those who save in cooperatives are not counted in the calculation of average savings by international researchers. Therefore, the Indonesia’s average saving should be higher than appear in research papers. Some people also believe that if Indonesia’s average savings is understated, then all developing countries’ average savings are also understated. Therefore, Indonesia will remain as the lowest savings among South East Asian countries. However, the counter argument is invalid because not all developing countries have the same geographical, cultural, and economic background as Indonesia. The fact that Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world shows that Indonesia has the largest number of informal savers compared to other countries in South East Asia region (The World Bank). Assuming that researchers include informal savers in their calculation, Indonesia will be the most understated country in terms of household average savings.

CONCLUSION

Indonesia’s household average savings is understated by international researchers due to lack of availability of disaggregated data, Islam’s standing as Indonesia’s main religion, and the existence of many informal savers in Indonesia. Disaggregated data proves the existence of informal savers that do not show up in the researcher’s calculation. These informal savers are the result of restriction from Islam as the main religion and Indonesia’s geographic condition that affects citizen access to formal financial institutions. People who either do not want to or cannot save in the formal banks use “arisan” and “cooperative” as their savings methods. As many as 18 percent of Indonesians are using informal methods to save their money, and about 47 percent use formal methods. If the researchers include informal savers in their calculation, Indonesia’s household average saving will increase by almost 40 percent. If researchers could develop some methods to calculate these informal savers, Indonesia’s average savings will be higher and thus will help Indonesia’s government create effective economic policies.

 

__________________________________________________________________________________

Work Cited: 

Collins, Susan. “Saving Behavior in Ten Developing Countries.” National Saving and Economic Performance (1991): 349-376. NBER. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

Deaton, Angus. "Saving in developing countries: Theory and review." (1989): 61-96. WBER. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

Jalaluddin, A.K.M. “Savings Behavior in Islamic Framework.” Economic Bulletin Persatuan Ekonomi, Kajian Perniagaan dan Pengurusan, Shah Alam 2.3 (1992): 71-85. Web. 2 April 2013.

Kasri, Rahmatina A. “The Determinants of Islamic Banking Growth in Indonesia.” Journal of Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance 6.2. (2010): 41-64. IBTRA. Web. 1 April 2013.

Loayza, Norman et al. “Saving in Developing Countries: An Overview.” The World Bank Economic Review. 14.3. (2000): 393-414. JSTOR. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.

Mauer, Bill. "Engineering an Islamic Future: Speculations of Islamic Financial Alternatives." Anthropology Today 17.1 (2005): 8-11. Web. 31 May 2013.

Sabelhaus, John, and Karen M. Pence. "Household Saving in the'90s: Evidence from Cross-Section Wealth Surveys." Review of Income and Wealth 45.4 (1999): 435-453. CBO. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

Seibel, Hans Dieter, and Heiko Schrader.” From Informal to Formal Finance: The Transformation of an Indigenous Institution in Nepal.” Working paper/University of Cologne, Development Research Center 1999.1 (1999): 1-34. ECONSTOR. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

Smith, Roger. “Factors Affecting Saving, Policy Tools, and Tax Reform: A Review.” Staff Papers – International Monetary Fund 37.1 (1990): 1-70. JSTOR. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.

Suradisastra, Kedi. "Agricultural cooperative in Indonesia.” Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia: Innovations and Opportunities in the 21^st Century (2006): 1-17. IMITA. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

The World Bank. “Indonesia at a Glance.” Worldbank.org. 9 Mar. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

Finals - Semester Ends - Going Home

Dear readers,

I honestly thought that my last post is just very good then I push myself to make a better post. Yet, I don't think there is any. LOL. That is the reason why I did not update this blog for three weeks (or more) already.

Here I'll simply share what's gonna happen to me in the next two weeks.

I am a lucky young man that will only have two finals next week (May 9-14). I supposed to have three but my history professor is just so nice that he lets us choose to use either doing finals or use our highest test grade for final grade. Fortunately, I had a 101.00 as my highest test grade, so no more history finals. :D
The rest two finals are Introduction to Macroeconomics (May 11th) and Business Calculus (May 13th). I guess the Macroeconomics will be tough because the last chapter is pretty intense talking about the effect of fiscal and monetary policy in the economy. Wish me well on these two exams!

I really wish I can get another 4.0 this semester. As I had a 4.0 last semester, and my mid term grades also 4.0.

My Spring 2013 Mid Term Grade

As you know that as the semester goes far, the motivation to study is going down. That is exactly what happens to me. LOL. But I have a good motivation to finish strong this semester apart from the grade! I will go home to Indonesia this summer having internship at the HM. Sampoerna then meet my family. I miss all of them already. :')

Alright, please wish me luck on the finals and surely I wish you success for finals (for my US friends), for school (for my Indonesian friends), and for life (for any readers that I might not know). I will keep you posted after the finals! And a new WHILAL series probably came out in less than two weeks!

Thanks for reading, and leave comments below!

See ya!

Passing the Torch - A Meeting with Vice President of World Bank (Sri Mulyani)

Dear readers,

I was visiting Washington DC from April 13 to 16. During my visit, I had a great surprise by meeting Indonesia's ex-Minister of Finance, Ibu Sri Mulyani.

I have a dream to be Indonesia's Minister of Finance one day. And Ibu Sri Mulyani is the one who made me have the willingness to be like her. She is such an amazing lady - became the best South East Asian Minister of Finance a couple times. Due to her great job during her term, Indonesia could avoid huge financial crisis in 2008. Also her amazing work made her nominated as World Bank president. Right now she is the vice president of the world bank. She is such an exemplar for me and meeting her once made me more motivated to pursue my dream. Here are several conversation between me and her today (April 14, 2013).

 T = Timmy - SM = Ibu Sri Mulyani

T     : (I introduced myself and told her that I am from Kediri)
SM  : You know what, my father was also from Kediri. He was an orphan since he was 12 years old, and he is such a great father.

T      : (I told her that I am her huge fans and also I would like to be Indonesia's Minister of Finance one day)
SM   : Haha, I think that your dream is a little too small "only" to be Indonesia's Minister of Finance. I think you should made your dream bigger. Maybe become the president of the World Bank. Or at least you should say you will be better Minister of Finance than I was! (smiling)

T      : (I only could smile and praying in my heart that her wish will become true) Amen amen, Ibu. I actually was at science stream in my high school, but I wanted to affect more people by studying Finance for my undergraduate degree.
SM   : Wow, I guess you are on the right track right now. I was also a science major back then and then I continued my undergraduate majoring in Economics. That is why I said that you should be a better Minister of Finance than I was! I had my undergraduate "only" in University of Indonesia (p.s University of Indonesia is the best university in Indonesia) then continued my master and doctorate at University of Illinois. And you have already started your undergraduate in the U.S! Also you dare saying to me that you want to be Minister of Finance!

(the conversation finally ended)

SM    : Please do not waste your time when you are in the US. You have better opportunity than I did. I wanted to go overseas when I was senior high school, but I could not because my parents did not have the money. You have so much better opportunity than me. You should live up your dream! I put a lot of pressure to you, didn't I? (laughing)
T        : It was such an honor to meet you, Ibu. Please pray for me, I will surely keep doing my best. :)



---
That was a summary of my conversation with her. I adore her a lot and she believe that I should do better than her. After going out of her house, I could only slap my own face to make sure it was not a dream. Here is my picture with her.

Indonesia's ex and future Minister of Finance - A moment of passing the torch for me

 
She also left me with some last message: "Never become full of yourself, because there are many people out there that way smarter than you! Keep your heads down and work really hard!"

This was such a moment for me. Also I hope reading this will be an inspiration for you all!

Please leave some comments below.

See you soon on the next post!