One of the great things about Indonesia at a local level, away from politics andpower plays, is the tremendous community spirit, which especially express itself on 17 August every year when Independence Day is celebrated. For those lucky enough to have well organized local committees, and good parks or open spaces to enjoy, the celebrations

Even if you’re the most selfish person in human history, it’s still in our nature to give. We give different things, for varying purposes, to accomplish different goals. We gift a special someone a box of chocolates in hopes of receiving gratitude (maybe in the form of a kiss or a hug), or we invest

Did you know there are 24 public holidays in Indonesia in 2017? Yes I know it seems more – and so many of them on Thursday, Friday or Monday creating the inevitable long weekend! Since three fell on Saturday or Sunday that’s 21 working days or 8% of the working year. Now I know I’m

I am surrounded by experts. So many people I meet are start-ups, entrepreneurs, go-getters, amazing achievers, dedicated, visionary, brilliant, community-oriented and environmentally focussed. Everyone knows everything about sustainability, responsibility, CSR, recycling, repurposing, re-everything. There are more experts online, in consulting groups, in advisory companies, in multi-national’s, in CSR departments, HR departments, PR departments. It’s a

Political correctness has become part of all our lives over the last couple of decades. Everyone now needs to be very careful not to offend anyone by anything they say or do, and this is becoming a real issue for people making a living in the very subjective comedy industry. Is everything “fair game” for

It was on my mind to write about our new Governor and Vice Governor and look at their campaign promises and get myself all worked up about “how would it be possible to fulfill them” and get you all worked up about how we are constantly deceived, diverted and ultimately disappointed by politicians and government

The British Fire Service uses an excellent and unique shift system to provide the British public with emergency cover 24 hours a day. Each of four watches, always code-named Red, Blue, Green and White, works two nine-hour days followed by two 15-hour nights. The day shift starts at 9 AM and finishes at 6 PM,

One of the most annoying things about life in Jakarta is the traffic. There can surely be no more mind-numbing, frustrating feeling than that feeling of total powerlessness in a line of dead stopped cars. “Oh“, you say, “what the []$#% is going on?” Well it’s simple, as was revealed last week, the contractors for

Dear Readers, The incredible development of the digital media scene has changed our whole way of getting information. Partly for the good, partly for, to be honest, really bad and dangerous reasons, since much of what we see now is either unnecessary, irrelevant or sadly completely untrue. We at NOW! JAKARTA have always striven to

My maternal grandparents were a product of the 1920s and 30s, and from as early as I can remember, I absolutely adored them. My grandfather unfortunately passed away peacefully at the age of 84 after a fascinating life, and my dear old Nan joined him when she was 97. Until two weeks before her death

Indonesia is an exceptionally large and unique country. There’s no disputing that. If you were to visit one island every day, it would take you almost 50 years to see all of them.  With our vast spread of islands, we also have quite a large population to match. With our ever-increasing headcount, the national motto,

This is such a terrible ritual, this making of promises to yourself that you may never keep! In fact, so often we make them not even knowing how or when or where to start, but I guess while having good intentions isn’t enough, it’s better than having bad intentions! Here is my list of (im)possible