Road to Success: Stories from the East

In this modern day, we often gravitate towards instant gratification. Be it weight loss, internet speed, or a response to email or text, we always want them fast. This also extends to the career sphere, where people tend to desire immediate success. As a matter of fact, there’s no shortcut or a hack that will make anyone successful overnight.

The panelists of Indonesia Muda untuk Dunia (IMUD) understand this very well. IMUD is a webinar series held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia. It provides a platform for inspirational young figures to share their experiences and insights as well as to spread motivational messages. These are the people who have managed to go against all odds and are well on their way to achieve (or have achieved) what they define and believe to be success. With most of them hailing from the eastern part of Indonesia, where development, technological advancement, and other facilities are often scarce, they have to struggle harder than, say, people living near the capital. However, that did not hold them back from moving forward and keep striving for excellence.

Below we have compiled a list of the best pieces of advice from some of the speakers. We believe that they are very helpful—and even essential—to achieve success, no matter how you define it.

Hailing from the land of Papua, Steve Mara graduated with honor from Defense University in 2017 and has now written several winning publications. Even prior to his enrollment, Steve had participated in many writing competitions and led many youth delegations in national and international UN simulations. However, for him things did not always go as smoothly as people think. For instance, he had to take the university entrance test twice because he failed the first one.

These challenges, though, did not discourage him as he has friends who support him. He realized that when he is surrounded by supportive people, their mindsets, vibes, and beliefs become his own. This is what greatly helps him to overcome failures and dare to always try again.

With over 75k followers on Instagram and 20k followers on Spotify, Jeni Karay is one of Papua’s most prominent social media influencers. She has worked together with numerous companies and NGOs on their social campaigns, all of which are educational and positively impactful.

However, when she started her journey, she only had limited tools and resources. On occasions, the quality of her works did not meet the expectations of her audience and as a result, she was met with criticism and discouraging comments.

One day, she realized and decided that society’s expectations are almost always impossibly high. Therefore, figuring out how to constantly meet them will actually hinder her from being productive. Following this realization, she tried to focus on her own objectives. This led to increased productivity and with it, increased number of clients. She is then able to acquire more tools and resources, achieving the high level of quality she now constantly delivers.

Proudly bearing the Indonesian flag on her chest, Serafi Analies finished first and won a gold medal for Indonesia at the women's 100 meter run in 2011 SEA Games. Two years later, when Serafi entered SEA Games 2013 to claim her victory once more, she suffered a significant injury. This prevented her from performing at her best and ultimately made her lose the competition. Serafi fell into an acute depression since then.

It was her coach’s words that reignited her willpower. She learned from her coach that a champion does not always have to win; they need to be able to enjoy defeat, so that they could better appreciate the meaning of victory.

Serafi again suffered another injury in 2018, where the doctor pronounced it was impossible for her to run, let alone win a competition. But by having a positive mindset and casting aside her fear of failure, Serafi was able to run and ultimately passed the Pekan Olahraga Nasional 2021 qualifier.

At the moment, her biggest dream is to run in front of the Papuan children in Pekan Olahraga Nasional 2021, to prove that Papuans’ dreams can come true, so long they never give up and stay determined.

David Pattiruhu majored in management, but after he graduated, he was admitted to Ruangguru, an online education tech startup. Having little to no background in information technology and education, he had much to learn. Fortunately, he is always holding on to one valuable principle: never stay in a stasis; never stop learning.

David emphasized that you can go practically anywhere to learn, from the internet to your senior at work or class. When he was in college, he participated in various competitions and events in hopes of amassing more experience, perspectives, and knowledge. Later in his career, he would either take up online learning classes, read articles from Google, or have a chat with his senior.

Thanks to his unrelenting will to learn, David has been promoted as Tutoring Business Development Lead at Ruangguru. He now aspires to further enhance the company’s impact in the education sector.

Ell Project is another content creator from Papua. Unlike Jeni Karay who is a sole internet personality, they work in a team consisting of several people. They have over 80k followers on Instagram and thousands of views on YouTube.

When asked about the secret behind their success, they answered that one must not only be creative, but also sensitive. This means two things. First, they have to observe and pay attention to the issues that are currently taking place. Second, they must be able to talk about the issue in a way that is not offensive to other people.

They apply this principle when creating videos, especially the ones that touch on social issues, such as equality and women empowerment. This approach proves to be effective, not only in entertaining people but also in delivering messages. Using this approach, they have created hundreds of well-received short videos on Instagram and YouTube.

When young football player Yanto Basna first came to Thailand to play for the local club, he did not understand English well. As a result, he often had troubles listening to his coach’s instructions and struggled for quite some time. But now, he is a well-recognized national player and was crowned as one of the top 11 players of the 2019 Thailand League.

Through his encounters with fellow Indonesian footballers, he learns that many of them also want to show their ability abroad. However, they are too scared to try because they cannot speak English well.

“English is the second thing,” he said. “What’s more important is your mental resilience and courage to get out of your comfort zone.” He explained that at first, he also struggled due to this particular problem. However as time passes, he gradually picks up both English and Thai, and is now able to speak them. He noted that any language barrier can be overcome, but one first needs unwavering determination in order to get there.