On choosing a caleg

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One of the great things about democracy is that citizens get the opportunity to vote for the legislators who will represent them in parliament.  But with so many political parties in Indonesia, there are a huge number of candidates (caleg) to choose from.  So how can a political party select a caleg who stands out from the crowd and who resonates with voters?  By selecting a celebrity as a caleg of course!  To some this may be seen as a rather desperate move but some voters (particularly men) may be more likely to vote for an attractive actress rather than some boring old man they have never heard of. Celebrity caleg in the coming election include Krisdayanti , Diana Sastra, Tamara Geraldine, Kalina Oktarani, Desy Ratnasari, Rachel Maryam, Annisa Bahar, Nafa Urbach, Mulan Jameela and Lula Kamal.  Quite simply, take your pick!  

Google revisited

In January 2006, Google was valued at about US$130 billion. But by January 2007 it had added another US$10 billion and was worth US$140 billion.

Indonesia has also done well. A year ago, Indonesia’s listed companies were valued at US$80 billion. Now they are valued at around US$125 billion. Pretty impressive really - and if the trends continue it shouldn’t be long before Indonesia is worth more than Google: actually, according to my regression calculations, probably sometime in June/July this year. Not long to go now.

But it could be even sooner. Because in what is one of the biggest lawsuits ever, Viacom (the owner of the MTV music channel), has filed an incredible US$1 billion lawsuit against the internet company over copyright infringement. And if the lawsuit is successful, Google could really be in trouble. Just think about it: Google owns Blogger, and every day there must be tons of copyright text, pics and videos illegally posted by bloggers from around the world. So if Viacom does win, the way could be paved for an avalanche of lawsuits like the world has never seen. The once invincible Google to be sunk like the ill-fated Titanic.

But for now Google is still God.

And some people want it to remain that way. Like some
 dude who received a cheque for US$901,733 from Google for just two months work!

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