This semester, the Indonesian Students Association (ISA) of Monash will conduct one of their largest annual events, namingly; the “Australia Indonesia Business Forum 2017” (AIBF 2017). The main event of AIBF 2017 will be held on the 6th of May 2017 at 271 Collins St, Melbourne (Monash City Campus), with this year’s theme being:
‘Opportunity’: “Foregoing creative and inspiring future leaders that seize to explore, expand and embrace opportunities”
AIBF 2017 is held to encourage students to expand their knowledge and understanding beyond the course materials provided in the university. Additionally, AIBF 2017 also offers opportunities for students to discuss and interact with the guest speakers, which can provide an environment to build vast networking prospects.
In general, the scope of activities in AIBF 2017 can be grouped into 2 main segments, which are the Pre-events and Main Event:
- Pre-events: OPINDO (28 March 2017) and Debate Competition (6 April 2017)
- Main Event: 6 May 2017
OPINDO (Open Discussion for Indonesia) was held on Tuesday, 28 March 2017 at Monash University’s Clayton Campus, with the theme “OPPORTUNITY: IF YOU CAN’T FIND IT, CREATE IT”. The speakers invited for this event are Fiyona Alidjurnawan (Founder of PocketChange) and Darwin Wirawan (Founder of Williv Architecture). The 2 speakers shared their life experiences, as well as some insights on starting up their own firms from scratch. Fiyona remarked that her startup originated from a university assignment, whilst Darwin provided insight into the challenges he had faced upon his first arrival into Australia. After the guest speakers delivered their experiences, the event transitioned into an open Q&A session where participants discuss specific topics of their interest. This year’s OPINDO was a success, with participants filling the lecture theatre to full capacity.
While previous AIBF pre-events held a Business Plan Competition, this year the committee pursued a different format. This is in the form of the Debate Competition, which was held on 6th April 2017 at Monash University’s Caulfield Campus. Four teams participated in this competition, with each team consisting of three members. These four teams represented Monash Uni + RMIT, RMIT University, Melbourne University and ISA of Victoria. This debate was held in the Asian Parliamentary System format, which is typically used for electoral debate in Asia. The competition also utilized a knockout system, where the winners of the qualification round faced each other on the final. The 3 guest judges were Ms. Made Utari Rimayanti, Ms. Dewi Ratih Naim, and Ms. Tina Lahur. There were three motions for this competition, with the first being ‘One’s level of education is effective in determining work opportunities’. The second motion was ‘Technological developments negatively affect the job market’. The final motion was an open motion, ‘This house would kill men’. The winners for this competition were the Monash Uni + RMIT team, which received a reward of $400 in cash.
Main Event
AIBF 2017 is held with the aim of providing a forum and platform to shape future leaders so that they can maximize their potential. Thus, AIBF 2017 will be held on the 6th of May 2017 at 271 Collins St (Monash City Campus), and will bring in speakers with expertise in their fields from Indonesia and Australia. The Indonesian Students Association of Monash University hopes that by the end of AIBF 2017, participating students would be able to find ample opportunity in career and business, as well as the ability to develop aspirations that can have a positive impact on Indonesia.
The main event of AIBF 2017 will be divided into two segments: class seminar and networking night.
The class seminar sessions will include several smaller classroom sessions that are focused on specific topics where participants can choose based on their interests. This will culminate into the final session, where the smaller workshops will be combined into one large seminar class. The main objective of these class seminars is to facilitate the participants’ opportunity to learn as much as possible from the guest speakers who will be sharing their experiences.
ISA of Monash University believes that the class seminar format will be effective in meeting the individual needs and interests of the participants. We believe that through this seminar, the participants will be inspired to create new ideas & innovations to be leaders in the future.
The Networking night segment will be held directly after the class seminar sessions. Participants are encouraged to interact and engage in direct discussion with the speakers. Furthermore, Dinner and refreshments will also be provided for all participants during this segment.
This year, AIBF 2017 will bring esteemed guest speakers such as Sofyan Djalil (Ministry of Land Affairs and Spatial Planning & Former Ministry of Finance), Tom Quinn (CEO of Future Business Council), Adam Stone (Founder & CEO of Speedlancer), Shishir Pandit (Chair & Director of Global Consulting Group), Christy Tania (Executive Head Pastry Chef at The Langham Melbourne), and many more. AIBF 2017 is aimed to give participants ample opportunity in other fields beyond business. Generally, AIBF 2017 will provide positive outcomes in terms of creating opportunity and courage in accordance to the theme of this year’s event. Furthermore, we also hope that every opinion and argument that will be brought forth can be applied into real world situations for each participant.
Trump Brings Prestige to the Mail Order Bride Industry.
For years, International Marriage Services had to live with the stigma of being referred to as Mail Order Bride services. However, many consider the term “mail-order bride” derogatory and feel it demeans foreign women by comparing them to commodities for sale and falsely implying that (unlike local women), they exercise no judgment over the men they meet and would marry anyone from a relatively wealthy country. Even with the foreign women being labeled as mail order brides these companies have grown in popularity for the past two decades, largely due to the internet. The industry grew at such a fast pace it caught the attention of the US senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State, who in 2006 she pushed a bill through congress known as IMBRA or International Marriage Brokers Regulation Act. Although the intent of Senator Cantwell was clearly meant to put Foreign Bride Companies out of business by severely restricting how men communicate with foreign women. In the end, the companies flourished under the new regulations as these business quickly modified their business models.
Kenneth Agee, marketing Director for A Foreign Affair one of the largest so called Mail Order Bride Companies says, “We have always had to overcome this label. Since Trump announced his candidacy for president of the United States, the industry saw a significant increase in upscale business men looking for foreign brides. Once he became president, Trump made it the new status symbol of success to be married to an eastern European women. With First Lady Melanie Trump in the White House, opinions about foreign women have dramatically changed. Once men were scorned upon to be married to a women from Russian or the Ukraine, now is seen as prestigious. And we are seeing huge increase of men seeking foreign brides, our client base is up by more than 200% since Trump has taken office. This month alone we will be taking over 100 American men to the Ukraine, mostly very successful executives.” Beside online matchmaking, the company arranges group tours for men that will travel to countries throughout the world. During these tours the men will meet hundreds of pre-screened women during what A Foreign Affair calls “Social Events” or what Kenneth calls speed dating on steroids.
Critics say these women are just used as arm trophies for business men in America. That men take advantage of the women’s circumstances, both economical and geographical. Kenneth argues, “I would hardly say Melanie Trump has been taken advantage of or refer her to as a Mail Order Bride. Women choose just like the men choose, we are all adults and are responsible for our own choices. It is just that men in America have a good reputation for the way we treat women and how we take care of our families. This opens the door to the men to meet some of the most beautiful women in the world.”
Trump is not the only high profile person to marry a foreign women, Jeb Bush met his wife in Mexico. Rupert Murdoch former CEO of Fox News married Wendi Deng from China, and the list goes on.
If Trump accomplishes nothing else during his presidency he has clearly helped one Industry.