
Jakarta Underground : A tribute to Toni Wibisono
This is a tribute to my friend Toni, manager of Top Gun, Blok M, Jakarta. I was shocked when Lita told me in the Top Gun office that Toni had passed away a few weeks ago. I got to know him as an extremely friendly, smart and down-to-earth person. He was very well informed and knew what was going on in the Jakarta underground. It is a shame. He died too young, officially from a heart attack.
Now Lita and A. Haris are managing the place. They are not complaining but you can see that they must have suffered quiet a lot the past weeks. There is simply so much work to do and they don’t have that much staff. I really hope they are able to keep things rolling there. Lita and A. Haris are both under 30 years old I suppose. It won’t be easy. I like them very much and hope they can keep the spirit of Toni alive there.
Special thanks to Lita for always sharing time when I visit the place.
Here is the video :
http://www.vimeo.com/6727265
I also by chance met the regional manager (area vice president) of the Hyatt Group in Jakarta. Mr. P. Stettler. He is from Switzerland. I saw him walking around in the executive lounge, so I asked if he got 15 minutes for a chat which he had.
He is a serious and very capable manager. We mainly talked about the bombings. Of course in his position he is not able to really talk free and I fully understand that he has to remain political correct in some ways. But his facial expression told me that he sees important issues similar like me. He strongly agreed on that it is absolutely impossible to bring such bombs into the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton without the knowledge of several people and helpers in the hotel.
The management of the Grand Hyatt Jakarta in general is really cool. There is E. Hirawan, the No.2 guy of the hotel, half German half Indonesian. I observe him pretty often whenever staying in their hotel. We even one time flew in the same plane to Germany from Thailand.
Then there is F. Marigliano, an Italian guy, director of food and beverage and to round things up they have an Australian fitness trainer. When you see the management hanging out at Burgundy bar, it is a cool picture. A truely diverse team who are doing a fine job. They really make a good impression on me.
I actually didn’t plan for this, but I did quite a bit of business development in the hospitality sector in Indonesia and Thailand.
By chance I shortly exchanged contact info in Bangkok with R. Stampfer, the regional vice president of the Four Seasons. He is German and actually not that old yet. I hope to get to know him better. He appears to be friendly on my first impression.
Their spa in Bangkok is small but very good, managed by Jitrawan P.
I also got allowance from Mr. N. Dana, Jimbaran Bay Four Seasons, to shoot video there, which was pretty cool. Thanks also to Karma Kandara Bali staff and Grand Hyatt Bali.