He calls himself a Capitalist Lawyer as he believes capitalism is the best system so far to “enable the society to gain the most optimal prosperity and welfare.”

Avid Reader

What does make quality content blog? A lot of reading.  One cannot write a good blog post, unless he/she has a passion in reading.

And because of that avid reading tendency, Pram could write well anything in any topics. In one article he even wrote about Islam, a subject irrelevant to his major. In a blog post entitle “The Illusion of the Islamic State“ he categorically stated that dreaming of establishing an Islamic state is a problem in itself instead of solving it. He concludes:

We have reached an understanding that the concept of Islamic state is mostly derived from experience not religious doctrine. As a consequence, there is no use for discussing the formal structure of the Islamic state. Don’t waste our time preaching the greatness of the Islamic state and the promise that it will bring, instead, we should really focus on how we can manage the state to provide better service to the people, and I am certain that this is relevant for the current Indonesia.

Sense of humor

As a lawyer he should be and must be a serious person. Especially when he is in action doing his duty. As human being, however, he has a sense of humor too, both words and deeds. You may see his good sense of humor when he performs an Arabic dance here or watch it below:

Top Domain Blog

Pramudya’s blog is very good one as elaborated above. That’s said, If I am allowed to give advice, I’d recommend him to have a top domain with his personal name like pramudyaoktavinanda.com with hosting still in blogger.com. Thus, no need to worry about bandwith issues. Having top domain would make his blog more personal as well as look more easy-to-remember. His friend, Mova Al Afghani has used just that: top domain with blogger.com hosting. He may learn about this Blogger costume domain here.

I discovered your site for the first time today, and it’s very interesting to trawl through your past posts. I’m very interested in Indonesian culture, religion and people. I am a young Australian girl who moved to Indonesia at the end of last year and I have been blogging about my experience living in a small muslim fishing village in South West Java since I arrived. .. I’d love to be considered for your blogger of the week.

Unfortunately, the Blogger Indonesia of the Week’s feature has been inactive since then due to one or more reasons. Last night, when I thought to restart this program again, Sash’s blog came first to my mind.

The fact that she’s a cross-border and cross-culture traveler make her really suit  the purpose behind the existence of this BOW feature:  to introduce Indonesia and anything related to it to a broader world.

Shash has gone anywhere across continents you could only dream of: North America, England, France, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam. In 2010 she’s been living in Indonesia which was planned for 12 months. But at the end of her stay, she decided to carry on for another year. This is what she has to say:

17/12/2010: Back in Australia for Christmas, but no plans to remain on home soil. On Boxing Day 2010 I return to the village in Indonesia, the pull of Batukaras takes me home, like a magnet I am drawn to it… I don’t know for how long… I don’t know if forever. But for now, this chocolate beach surrounded by volcanoes is my home, another 12 months… another year of adventure.

What’s it that want her to stay longer for another year in Indonesia? Shah knows best. That’s said it reminds me of similar story of a British traveler who said to me back in 2006 thus:

I have been to all ASEAN countries. I stayed in each country as planned. Not for Indonesia. I planned living there for three months. It turns out I stay there for one year. The reason was I really love the warmth and easy-going Indonesian. I even planned to switch my citizenship to be Indonesian..

Does Sash have similar sweet experience with Indonesian people which motivate her to stay longer? Might be. In her latest post on March 4, 2011 she wrote:

…I am no longer just a traveler [in Indonesia], I’m no longer a temporary guest but its more real coming back here after Christmas at home… and in many ways its much scarier.

Commitment is always scary, leaving your comfort is terrifying… but isn’t that what we are all in this for? To feel alive… To truly feel alive. And even though I’m not always happy, I’m not always satisfied and I’m often trapped in a whirlwind of frustration, I can’t deny, I feel alive.

If she feels more alive in Indonesia than in her home country, we should warmly welcome her and wish her to live happily everafter here.

A Model of Good Blogging

Sash’s blog could also be a model of how a good blogging is all about: original content, blogging with passion and regularly updated.

There are people in Indonesia who are blogging in technical term but not in real sense  i.e. they are called blogger only because they have website which are using such popular blogging platform as WordPress or blogspot. But the contents do not quite represent what blogging is.

Jennie S. Bev once complained to me why so many Indonesian bloggers are filling their blogs by copying other blog contents. I did not respond to her query back then. I thought then it’s ok for beginner. But now I think  it’s time for Blogger Indonesia to be more dignified by not copy-pasting other’s blog content. It’s time for Indonesian bloggers to really write what they are good at and what they enjoy writing.

A good blog should start from original content.

Some readers who don’t know much about how WordPress work think that I rarely update my blog. The reason is two of old articles keep appearing in the frontpage namely Ten Reasons Why We Blog in English and English Media in Indonesia. Those two posts/articles are called sticky post. A post which is set to be sticky post will show on the frontpage for as long as you want it.

Here’s a simple step to make a sticky post (You can use two options)
Option 1

1. After login -> Posts -> Edit -> Choose a post / article -> Click “Edit” on the post you have chosen
2. On Visibility: Public -> click Edit
3. Check “Stick this post to the front page” -> OK -> clik Update. Done. (see picture 1)

Option 2

1. After login -> Posts ->Edit -> Choose a post / article ->clik Quick Edit
2. Check the “Make this Post Sticky” -> Update Post. Done. (see picture 2)

Notes:

• Sticky Post is used when a blogger think that a particular post / article is important and wants it to be on the frontpage a little longer.
• Option 1 may also be used if you decide to make a sticky post at the time you start writing a post. Use steps #2 and #3.

***

Sideblog
Apart from implementing Sticky Post in my frontpage, I also use Sideblog WordPress Plugins (also called, Asides, Miniblog, Sidenotes plugins) to make some of my posts are only showing in Sidebar i.e. in the Top Recent Stories (right sidebar). The reason why I used Sideblog is explained here:

…when I am not in the mood to write a long post or article, I write in the Sidenotes or Sideblog with a link or two to other blogs or websites. Likewise, whenever I found a nice link which I don’t have time to read now yet it’s too important to miss or just to share the link with readers, I save it in the Sidenotes. There are times when I write a long article (more than three paragraph) but I just don’t want it to appear in the frontpage for a reason or two, so I use this method.

So, if you want to know the latest article I write in this blog, just check out the right sidebar titled LATEST ARTICLES. You’d find what the newest post/article I’ve just written.

Here’s the Top Ten types of bloggers you may find when you do a blogwalking

1. Diary. Many old time bloggers consider this blogging technology as the continuation of their diary-writing habit. A blog is a daily notes one used to scribble on a diary book or a piece of paper. They don’t care too much about traffics. They’re careless about SEO. They just enjoy writing whatever, wherever and whenever they want to write. They used to blog in a free blogging platform like Blogger.com and WordPress.com. The most prominent among which was the late (almarhumah) Bunda Zidan whose diary blog and recipe blog are still alive four years after she died. Just think it over, what would have happen to her blogs had she blogged in a paid self-hosted blog.
2. Store house. Blog as a place to store articles about him/her which were published in media. A famous personality, such as Tariq Ramadan (tariqramadan.com), has his name scattered everywhere in the media. He wants to keep them in one place. A free blog is a good place to save them all.
3. Commentary. One who used to make a critical commentary on anything (culture, current events, social, etc) through print media or mailing list want to have a blog which represent that tendencies. Most of their blog contents are original and unique and therefore worth visiting over and over. I honor the blogs and the bloggers most of whom, particularly those who blog in English, has been chosen as Blogger Indonesia of the Week. A weekly program of this blog which is now on hiatus for the time being. In the US in particular, commentary blog is common among university professors, academicians, journalists and serious students.
4. The Niche Blog. There are two types of niche or specific blog. One, specific on a particular field of study such as a blog which specifically discuss economy, or philosophy, etc.  I call this kind of blog as expert blog since it’s usually created by those who have expertise in a particular field of study. Two, a niche blog which is created based on the most trending issues on the internet such as gadget, digital camera, computer, Apple, Google, etc. The blogger is not necessarily expert. But finally they become one, at least to their blog readers. Unlike the first one, the latter type has the priority to monetize their blog. They are called the professional full time blogger, meaning a blogger who is blogging to make a living.
5. Money Blog. Or blogging for money. They prefer to be called Professional Blogger. The information through ads or the words of mouth is such that everybody who knows and has access to the internet wants to have a try at least once to make money online. They blog not because they enjoy writing. They just want to make money in the first place. Some succeeded. Some end it up in failure. Some try professionally with quality contents. Some just copy and paste blindly without mentioning the source. Once the result is not there, they just quit blogging and back to offline money making jobs.
6. Trend follower. They are blogging simply because it’s trending. No more no less. Once the trend is over, the blog is gone.
7. Hybrid blogger. They could start blogging because of a trend. They found it enjoyable. They get more serious and are amazed to the fact that it earn them money. They finally become full time blogger. Or they keep retaining the offline job, while try hard to make money online enterprise grow.
8. Lazy Blogger. A blogger who rarely update his/her blog. There’s no obvious reason but one: lazy.
9. Poor Blogger. We need to sympatize to this blogger. He/she hardly or rarely update his/her blog because of one reason: no internet connection.
10. Hiatus blogger. Aka ex blogger.  A person who used to blog frequently. For one or another reason,  he calls it a day. They quit blogging for daily job which waste a lot of his time. Boredom could be another reason as well. Priyadi (priyadi.net) was a prominent Indonesian blogger who has been on hiatus, for the time being or forever.

What kind of bloggers are you?

Any non-Indonesian who wants to know Indonesia’s culture, custom and current event commentary with a blogosphere style can find this list useful. For the latest news on Indonesia, you can visit   Indonesia’s Media in English.

I’ll update the list once I have the time to blogwalk and find other useful blogs which fit the two criteria above. You may recommend one including your own blog in the comment box. Any blog which is not updated for one month will be removed from the list.

1. Good News From Indonesia (GNFI) seeing Indonesia from the brighter side written collectively by some Indonesians
2. Jakartass (formerly, jakartass.blogspot.com) written by Terry Collins a British expat
3. Hning Asia written by Alia Makki
4. G for Green Chronicle by Yansen a teaching staff at Universitas Bengkulu
5. Cafe Salemba by some Indonesian economists at Uneversitas Indonesia (UI)
6. The Unspun, by Ong Hock Chuan a Malaysian expat
7. RAB Experience by Rob Baiton an Australian
8. Indonesia Now by Duncan Graham from NZ
9. Indonesia Matters
10. Perspektif by Wimar Witoelar a senior political commentator
11. Love Ely by Tikno
12. Capitalist Lawyer by Pramudya A. Oktavinanda

Breadcrumb is necessary to optimize a website or blog visibility to search engine result page (SERP). It’s also important for a website/blog usability.

For Meaning, definition and picture of breadcrumbs scroll down below.

I. Breadcrumb for self-hosted WordPress Blog

1. Install Breadcrumb NavXT (Use search and install method from within your WordPress Admin as explained here) and activate it. Or you may download it to your pc before uploading the Zip format  into the Plugins -> Add New -> Upload.
2. Go to Settings -> Breadcrumb NavXT -> Posts & Pages
3. In Post Taxonomy choose “Category” or “Tags” as your breadcrumb navigation.
4. Click Save Changes. Done.
5. Live Demo See here. I choose Tags for this blog.

Notice:

• By default, the main page is Home, you may change it into Blog like mine or whatever you like. Just go to Settings -> Breadcrumb NavXT -> General -> Home Tile box -> enter whatever word you like
• The wordpress breadcrumb will look like this: Main Page -> Category / Tags -> Post Title

II. Breadcrumb for Blogger Blogspot or Top domain (example.com) hosted at blogger.com

Tip: (a) Use CTRL+F or F3 to Search for a Code inside the Template; (b) Enter the code you’re searching inside the “Find” box

1. Login to your blogger.com -> Layouts -> Edit HTML -> check the Expand Widget Template.
2. Search for code ]]></b:skin>
3. Delete and Replace with this code at #4:
4. .breadcrumbs {
padding:5px 5px 5px 0px;
margin: 0px 0px 15px 0px;
font-size:95%;
line-height: 1.4em;
border-bottom:3px double #e6e4e3;
}
]]></b:skin>
5. Search for this code: <b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>
6. Delete and replace with the code at #7
7. <b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>
<b:include data='posts' name='breadcrumb'/>
8. Search for this code: <b:includable id='main' var='top'>
9. Delete and replace with the code at #10
10. <b:includable id='breadcrumb' var='posts'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.homepageUrl == data:blog.url'>
<!-- No breadcrumb on home page -->
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<!-- breadcrumb for the post page -->
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl' rel='tag'>Home</a>
<b:loop values='data:posts' var='post'>
<b:if cond='data:post.labels'>
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<b:if cond='data:label.isLast == "true"'> »
<a expr:href='data:label.url' rel='tag'><data:label.name/></a>
</b:if>
</b:loop>
<b:else/>
»Unlabelled
</b:if>
» <span><data:post.title/></span>
</b:loop>
</span>
</p>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "archive"'>
<!-- breadcrumb for the label archive page and search pages.. -->
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » Archives for <data:blog.pageName/>
</span>
</p>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageName == ""'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » All posts
<b:else/>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » Posts filed under <data:blog.pageName/>
</b:if>
</span>
</p>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:includable>
<b:includable id='main' var='top'>
11. Click Save Template. Done.
12. Live Demo see here

Notes: The blogger.com breadcrumb will look like this: Home -> Label -> Post Title

—-
About breadcrumbs:
Breadcrumbs use a single line of text to show a page’s location in the site hierarchy.

Breadcrumbs or breadcrumb trail is a navigation aid used in user interfaces. It gives users a way to keep track of their locations within programs or documents.

Breadcrumbs typically appear horizontally across the top of a web page, usually below title bars or headers. They provide links back to each previous page the user navigated through to get to the current page or—in hierarchical site structures—the parent pages of the current one. Breadcrumbs provide a trail for the user to follow back to the starting or entry point. A greater-than sign (>) often serves as hierarchy separator, although designers may use other glyphs (such as »), as well as various graphical treatments.

Typical breadcrumbs look like this:

Home page > Section page > Subsection page

breadcrumb navigation

Mumtaz Anas has compiled 27 most SEO friendly themes available for WordPress.com (notice, it’s wordpress.com, not wordpress.org or self-hosted wordpress blog). He makes his compilation based on wpthemereview.com’s review on each theme.

I change Mumtaz’s compilation based on the rank, from the highest first to the lowest to make you easier looking at the top five, and the top ten themes. I myself have changed the theme in my afatih.wordpress.com into Grid Focus after seeing this review. And I see a rise in traffic a little bit. SEO themes does have impact on SEO, it seems.

All SEO WordPress themes below are available at Free WordPress themes Directory. You may search all themes from within your WordPress Admin -> Appearance -> Themes -> Install Themes (WP 3.0)  -> enter the Themes name in the Search box. You can do so in WordPress.com as well. So, there’s no need to download from external links.

1. Grid Focus Public 1.0 89
2. Cutline 1.1 83
3. Banana Smoothie 1.5 78
4. Fauna 1.0 74
5. Almost Spring 70
6. Blix 0.9.1 70
7. Greenery 2.0 70
8. PressRow 0.1 70
9. Sweet Blossoms 1.0.01 67
10. Flower Power 1.1 66
11. Andreas04 2.01 65
12. Girl in Green 1.0 65
13. Hemingway 0.19 64
14. Iceburgg 1 64
15. Jentri 1.01 64
16. Thirteen 1.31 64
17. Freshy 1.0 63
18. Ocean Mist 1.0 62
19. Ambiru 61
20. Solipsus 1.5 61
21. Black-LetterHead 1.0 58
22. Benevolence 1.0 55
23. Digg 3 Columns 1.0.2 54
24. Ocadia 1.41 51
25. fadtastic_theme 1.0 48
26. Neo-Sapien v06 0.6 47
27. Light 1.0 46

Time stamp (date, time/day/month/year) will automatically be shown in every post and page in a wordpress. If you don’t like them or just want to remove them, do the following:

Removing Date Time Stamp from Posts / Article only (still shown in the mainpage)

1. After login to your self-hosted wordpress blog -> Appearance -> Editor
2. Click Single Post (single.php) -> find this code < ?php the_time('F j, Y'); ? > or <?php the date();?>
3. Remove the code and click Update File. Done.

Removing Date Time Stamp from Posts in Single Post and  the Main Page

1. After login to your self-hosted wordpress blog -> Appearance -> Editor
2. Click Single Post (single.php) -> find this code < ?php the_time('F j, Y'); ? > or <?php the date();?>
3. Remove the code and click Update File
4. Now go to main page (index.php) -> find the same code: < ?php the_time('F j, Y'); ? > or <?php the date();?>
5. Remove it and click Update File. Done.

Removing Date Time Stamp from Static Pages

1. After login to your self-hosted wordpress blog -> Appearance -> Editor
2. Click Page template (page.php) -> find this code < ?php the_time('F j, Y'); ? > or <?php the date();?>
3. Remove the code and click Update File. Done

Removing Date Time Stamp using  Date Exclusion SEO Plugins

1. Download the plugins here (in a zip file) or just can search through your WP Admin -> Plugins -> Add New -> Search
2. Install it the easy way. Activate it.

Functionality of the plugins:

Gives your blog a feeling of freshness by turning off the display of date information after a specified number of days or immediately after posting. You also have the option of removing dates from Category and Tag Pages as well as the Front Page of your blog. You also have the option of providing alternative text for each type. You now have the option of turning off specific posts using comma delimited list of post ids. Additionally it allows you to turn on and off the date functions depending on your theme used. More

***

Is removing Date Time Stamp a good idea at all?

Daniel Scocco of DailyBlogTips has an interesting discussion on this in which he quote Darren Rowse as saying:

If the content is timeless and not ‘newsy’ in nature I think that
removing the timestamp from a blog is a very worthwhile thing to do. I’ve been doing it since the start of Digital Photography School (digital-photography-school.com/blog) a year ago and have noticed a few interesting things:

1. I get a lot more links on ‘old’ posts over time. On my blogs with dates on them I find that despite them getting traffic from Google that they are rarely linked to after a week or two. On DPS I’m constantly getting links from sites on posts even after a year.

2. I get more comments on old posts. Even though I leave the dates on comments (so people can really tell how old a post is from that) I find that not promoting the date gives a perception of ‘freshness’ in people’s minds and makes them more willing to interact with the post.

Name: Ahmad Syafi’i Maarif
Date of birth: 31 May 1935
Place of birth: Sumpurkudus, Sijunjung, Sumatera Barat (West Sumatra)
Religion: Islam (Sunni Muslim)
Education:
- Bachelor of Law from Universitas Cokroaminoto, Solo
- M.A. from Department of History, University of Ohio, USA
- PhD from Language and Civilization of Near East Studies, University of Chicago, USA.

Careers:
- Senior lecturer in Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta / UNY (formerly, IKIP Yogyakarta.
- 2000 – 2005 Chairman of Muhammadiyah
- Founder of Maarif Institute for Culture and Humanity

Books written:

1. Mengapa Vietnam Jatuh Seluruhnya ke Tangan Komunis, Yayasan FKIS-IKIP, Yogyakarta, 1975
2. Dinamika Islam, Shalahuddin Press, 1984
3. Islam, Mengapa Tidak?, Shalahuddin Press, 1984
4. Percik-percik Pemikiran Iqbal, Shalahuddin Press, 1984
5. Islam dan Masalah Kenegaraan, LP3ES, 1985

Beware of giving candy to your kids. Many candies are hazardous. I don’t know if this tobacco-candy is already available in Indonesia.  The thing is don’t let your children learn how to be addictive to nicotine. It’s very hard to quit I can tell you.  Once you’ve entered to smokers area, you’ll be there forever. It’s a miracle that I am able to quit smoking and now enter the second year. Just to let you know, I started smoking when I was a 10-year old kid. I regretted those unhealthy years, but I’m happy that I can deal with it finally.

And now the monster has come in the form of candy, to tease your children. Apart from being hazardous to kids’ health in itself, it’s just one step away from being a true smoker and nicotine addict. Be careful.

CNN reports,

.. Greg N. Connolly, D.M.D., the director of the Tobacco Control Research Group at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, Massachusetts. led a research team that found that smokeless tobacco products are the second most common cause of nicotine poisoning in children, after cigarettes. The researchers reviewed data from 61 poison control centers and identified 13,705 cases of tobacco ingestion between 2006 and 2008, the vast majority of which were in infants. Smokeless tobacco was involved in 1,768 of the cases.

The new products — currently being test-marketed in three cities — include Camel Orbs, which resemble breath mints; Camel Sticks, which are about the size of a toothpick and dissolve in the mouth; and Camel Strips, which are similar to breath-freshening strips. Small, teabag-like “snus” — pouches filled with tobacco that are placed between the upper lip and gum — are also a potential hazard, according to the study, which appears in the journal Pediatrics.