Indonesia, we are coming to you!

  

Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education office at Jakarta

After our fruitful trip to Myanmar, we decided to visit our close neighbour, Indonesia. We contacted the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia representative office at Jakarta right after we spoke to Puan Yahurin, MOHE officer at Jakarta. We truly agreed with Puan Yahurin that in order for us to know Indonesia market, we have to be there to see and experience it ourselves.

           We headed to Jakarta in less than a week after the first phone call with Yahurin. When I arrived, I headed to the MOHE Jakarta office with the anticipation of meeting Yahurin. The MOHE office is located at Wisma Kodel, Kuningan, Central Jakarta. I reached the office in an hour, which I was later told that it would take usually 2 hours during peak hours.

Me and Pn Yahurin Mohd Yassin 

After waiting for a while, I met Yahurin, storming in after a meeting with the Malaysian embassy. She was a gracious host and we had a great brainstorming session. We mapped out a proposal on how we can approach the Indonesian market where she advised that we make plans to visit the various parts of Indonesia - Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Kalimantan to start and perhaps, heading to further places such as Makasar in our future plan. It really feels like we are in a global environment where we have now become an ambassador and explorer for our organisation.

Yahurin was a very influential lady. I was supposed to meet another agent named Audy. She called him to come to the MOHE. Audy politely accepted and was at the MOHE office momentarily. I was fortunate with this arrangement as this would mean that I did not need to brave the traffic jams, which are notorious in Jakarta.

After a fruitful discussion, Audy sent me to Tamrin City, a shopping centre, which neighbours Plaza Indonesia and Grand Indonesia - all gigantic developments, which makes our shopping centres in Malaysia, pale in comparison. I took some pictures of the shopping bazaar, had a burger for dinner and then, had a cake for dessert.

I then headed to the hotel - Manhattan Hotel, which is ranked 5 star but the price was quite reasonable. I had a room on the 28th floor, which offers a picturesque view of the Jakarta skyline. The evening was swift as I started early and wanted to retire early. I watched the movie Black Swan, headed to bed and slept snugly.

  

   

View from my room

a wide variety of food for breakfast at Manhattan Hotel

The following day, I visited another partner - Cosmo Education. It is an organisation run by ladies which I was impressed by their professionalism and also, their diligence. After the meeting, I headed to the Jakarta Airport, to head back home. We are hopeful that this visit is the first of many to come as we start to discover more about Indonesia.

The professional ladies at work - Cosmo Education

By Lee Wee Loong, Director of Vision College
Study Ultrasonography in Malaysia