Best wishes for Dr Ketut Widana on Asian Beach Games 2008

Growing up in a environment where constraints were many yet hopes reigned high, I could not help but to seek inspirations from those who have in the past, and present seek “higher” grounds. Sukarno, the first President of Indonesia, epitomized the rare combination of engineering training, excellent oratory skills, and the ultimate statesmanship. Kennedy’s famous words of “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country”, or similarly along those lines, would always encourage me to return home one day and make positive differences.

While those figures radiate inspirations sometimes in pictures, and often in speeches, loved ones inspire in flesh and blood. Aside from my parents, whose work ethics and unsurmountable faith have helped me to overcome adversities all of these year, I have to thank Dr. Ketut Widana, the elder brother of my mother. A talented man in so many ways, he is an Medical Doctor by training, and currently teaches at University of Udayana, the prominent state higher education institution in Bali.

He is conversant in foreign languages particularly English and Japanese which is a bit unusual for most Indonesians. His language skills came in handy as he pursued his post graduate trainings in Australia and japan specializing in Ergonomics. I remembered vividly those days when I received postcards from Australia , one had the image of the famous Sydney Opera house. He kept encouraging me to study English the best I could of course interspersed with his stories of his hectic schedule, meeting interesting people of different cultures and nationalities, and of his travel in the land of “Down Under”.

While for most Indonesians studying overseas maybe once in a lifetime experience, for Om Tut, his enthusiasm did not wane when the another post-graduate training in Ergonomics was available in the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan. And as always he made the most of his trainings over there. I recalled his story from one of his study trips, visiting a car manufacturing facility, maybe Toyota perhaps. He remarked that they had to upgrade the assembly line since the existing way of having the workers to work under the car frame/body looking up could easily lead to neck/head strain not to mention greater safety risks. He followed by mentioning a study in Sweden where the car body was tilted on the side addressing the neck/injury pain issue, increasing productivity because the workers could work in a more natural position and perhaps even better safety in place. It was not and is not a stretch to guess that his remark impressed his professors and even made waves in Toyota, at least in that assembly line facility. Here the aspiring No-1 car manufacturer proud of its manufacturing prowess and practices being lectured by an aspiring ergonomics consultant from Bali mostly known for its arts, painters, dancers.

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