Bulletin No. 6 | November – December 2001

REMARKS FROM THE EDITOR

In  the early days of 2001, government officials, business executives, economic and political observers were busy responding to the demand of regional autonomy in this country, however, towards the end of the year the application of this new concept remains debatable. Today, we see more  and more people are showing less interest in following economic and political debates on television or newspaper. What we know that in reality there is urgent demand for new fields of employment. Millions of job are lost. A clear indication points out to the fact that it takes longer period for job seeker to find a proper job suitable to his academic background. Mergers, Acquisition, downsizing has made companies employ less people with better brain and skills. Human resource empowerment becomes a focus of discussion in government, business undertakings, and professional organizations and in any walks of life. It is not simple though, but take the wise man’s advice: Don’t work harder, but smarter!

Apart from the so many success stories, we have to be realistic. We need to face the challenges of today which demand more focus and priority. And only those who encourage themselves ‘change’ by giving away all day dreams will be then able to cope with this unpredictable future. Nothing can change us, likewise – nothing will wait for us. There is nothing we can do for the  time being, but to empower ourselves to the maximum.

The issues of paradigm, mental change and self development have been the focus of EGA briefings since the initial edition launched in January 20^th this year. We are providing our readers with new ways of thinking, new challenges, new strategy and new tactics particularly in dealing with self development. Through activities, EGA briefings encourage us to have more positive attitude, to have greater self confidence, to exercise more self expression, to be more assertive rather than aggressive, to read more rather than talking and to be more exposed to global language rather than the local one. There is no such thing as global rather multi locals as we experience day by day that there is stronger tendency towards returning to indigenous culture in this global situation. In short, we have to be more Indonesian that we used to be.

In completion of one year issue, I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the Sponsor, Corporate and Individual Member who have shown deep concern and interests particularly in staff development issues raised in each edition. To the speakers of Roundtables, participants of EGA briefings activities, supporters and enthusiastic readers we really appreciate your support. A special thank is addressed to CAKRAM Magazine and staff who have shown their constant support in assisting us promoting our activities. Last but not least to prospective members we wish you could join us in our activities in the near future.

Let us welcome this coming year with new expectations, strategies, tactics with new bosses, counterparts, colleagues and friends. Let us evaluate what we have done so far and what we want to achieve in the following years.

Selamat Idul Fitri 1422 H,
Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year 2002.

Best wishes,
Elizabeth Goenawan Ananto
Editor