The Gig-Economy of Nickel: An Ethnographic Analysis of Indonesia’s EV Transition

Source: https://universe.roboflow.com/zihan-septi/klasifikasi-plat-kendaraan

While the global discourse on the nickel value chain focuses on upstream mining and downstream processing, a critical gap remains in understanding the "final mile": the ride-hailing drivers. Since 2020, Indonesia’s energy transition has moved from a conceptual pilot to a large-scale institutional investment, accelerated by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Regulation No. 13/2020.

For platforms like Gojek (GoTo) and Grab, this transition reflects an integrated asset-management strategy. By leveraging entities like Electrum or third-party providers, these platforms maintain centralized control over critical operational assets, thereby transforming the driver’s role from an asset owner to a long-term lessee.

Economic Necessity over Ecological Choice

For many drivers, the switch to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is rarely driven by environmental awareness. Instead, it is a pragmatic response to financial precarity. Most drivers who opt for EV fleets, such as Daur (a pseudonym), do so because they do not own a private vehicle and require an immediate source of income without the high upfront cost of purchasing a motorcycle. The EV rental scheme provides a "quick entry" into the labor market for those in urgent need of liquidity, despite the long-term structural dependencies it creates.

The Opearting Lease

The core of this transition is the "operating lease" system. Drivers pay a daily rental fee of approximately IDR 75,000 for the vehicle and battery. In this model, ownership remains strictly with the lessor.

For a driver like Daur, the day begins with a "debt." Working 12 hours a day, he nets roughly IDR 170,000. While this is slightly more profitable than using internal combustion engines (ICE) due to rising fuel costs, the margins are fragile. The promised quarterly and biannual incentives act as a digital "carrot," disciplining drivers into long-term rental commitments to the platform's ecosystem.

Technical Constraints and Corporal Stress

The ethnographic reality on the ground reveals a "Battery Discipline." The quality of battery cells varies across brands despite uniform rental costs. Drivers face a constant anxiety: the Battery Swapping Station (BSS) network is unevenly distributed. A depleted battery mid-trip is not just a technical failure; it is a reputational risk. In the platform economy, a dead battery potentially leads to 1-star ratings, reduced order priority, and the threat of account suspension—a "digital death" for their livelihood.

Gendered Impact for The Driver

The burden is disproportionately felt by female drivers. The physical design of many EV units—bulky and heavy—is not ergonomic for smaller frames. Furthermore, the "flexibility" of the gig economy reveals its rigidity in times of illness or biological needs. With a strict "3 days off per month" rule and no formal leave (such as menstrual leave), female drivers must continue paying the daily IDR 75,000 rent even when they are physically unable to work.

Conclusion: The Risk of Energy Transition

The drivers are not luddites; they do not reject the energy transition. However, they are caught in a pincer move between national emission targets and the platform's asset-management strategies.

This represents a significant socio-economic and health risk.. As Indonesia pushes for "Net Zero 2060," the sustainability of the EV ecosystem depends on whether the burden of transition is shared or merely offloaded onto the most vulnerable actors in the value chain.

Coffee Agroforestry: A Path Toward an Inclusive Green Economy in Indonesia

Source: https://lifestyle.sustainability-directory.com/term/agroecological-coffee-systems/

Coffee as a Pillar of the Green Economy Coffee, particularly through Coffee Agroforestry Systems (CAS), serves as a critical component in Indonesia’s transition toward a national green economy. This system offers a sustainable development approach that integrates ecosystem services with socio-economic benefits. In a green economy, "natural capital" is viewed as being as vital to national prosperity as financial capital, encouraging market-based incentives for environmental improvements.

 

Indonesia’s Global Potential and the Challenge of Poverty 

Indonesia is currently the fourth-largest coffee producer in the world, with annual production exceeding 700,000 tonnes. The government aims to surpass competitors like Colombia and Vietnam to become the world’s second-largest producer through increased investment and public-private collaboration. 

 

However, this ambition must address the fact that the majority of coffee smallholders remain poor, with many earning only around 7.5 million IDR per year, often viewing coffee as an unreliable livelihood. Smallholders manage roughly 95% of the nation's coffee land, making their inclusion vital for any sustainable growth.

 

Structural Solutions: Land Reform and Its Support Systems

 

To ensure inclusive growth, the sources emphasize several strategic interventions:

• Land Distribution through Social Forestry: The government has accelerated Perhutanan Sosial (Social Forestry), which acts as a form of "soft agrarian reform". This provides legal access to forest land for up to 35 years, resolving land tenure conflicts and allowing farmers to manage resources sustainably.

 

• Supply Chain and Cooperative Strengthening: Many smallholders are trapped in unfair market systems dominated by middlemen. The solution lies in revitalizing cooperatives to act as hubs for contract negotiation, ensuring farmers receive a fairer share of the export price.

 

• Technology and Training: Modernization requires digital data recording for transparency and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to boost productivity from the current 0.8 tonnes per hectare toward higher global standards.

 

Goal: Downstreaming (Hilirisasi) Following the Vietnam Model

 

The ultimate objective is hilirisasi (downstreaming) to maximize added value within Indonesia. Vietnam serves as the benchmark; through intensive management and high-input models, it achieved productivity levels of over 2 tonnes per hectare. By shifting from raw green bean exports to processed products—such as roasted beans and instant coffee—Indonesia can significantly increase national revenue and export competitiveness

 

Chat GPT and The Possibility of A New Operating System

Source: https://easy-peasy.ai/ai-image-generator/images/ai-powered-cctv-control-room-intricate-system-operations

Microsoft has changed our world with Windows – An operating system that makes computers more understandable for humans. Now, Open AI aims  to do something similar towards ChatGPT: making language the primary interface. The question is who really knows how far it will affect us?

Amidst my daily  job hunting routine, as usual, I am still busying myself with tinkering news from Google or DuckDuckGo. Recently, I’m diving into something that has become a hot topic among urban and government circles: artificial intelligence.

Foto: Sam Altman

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/techcrunch/21470472099

Open AI, a company whose  engineer has created ChatGPT, one of the most prominent AI Platforms in the world, just released an ambitious plan. Sam Altman, Open AI CEO, dreams that one day, Chat GPT will become an operating system for internet users.

This  means, Chat GPT will no longer merely be a generative knowledge system only. They will transform itself as a knowledge ecosystem conductor. They will take a command and then operating it swiftly: Just like a bus conductor who takes passenger’s order into action.

However, unlike Windows, an operating system that operates itself  by  managing hardwares and running various applications like Word, Chrome, or Spotify using menu, icon, and click. Chat GPT, in Sam Altman’s vision  will serve as “operating system for your life”.

Hence, they will operate for every aspect in human digital activities. Instead of opening apps one by one, users will simply speak or  type an order, and Chat GPT will execute it towards connection to   another platform service like Spotify, Notion, and Google Drive.

This idea, probably will transform how we use the internet, also how the big data stored in every platform is managed.

I don't know yet how these changes will work. Yet, one thing is certain: the digital world is rearranging their new sky and we–or at least I– don’t know yet which stars will rise and fall.

Engineering the Future: Thailand’s Semiconductor Workforce in Transition

Source: yotldtd.com

Thailand maintains a significant position in the regional electronics supply chain, ranking as the 13th largest global exporter of electronic products and parts and holding the second rank among emerging economies for semiconductor manufacturing (Krungsri Research, 2024; Reuters, 2024).

Historically, the country’s involvement in this sector has been predominantly concentrated in the downstream segment and part of back-end operations like Assembly, Testing, and Packaging (ATP/OSAT) (Jongwanich & Kohpaiboon, 2025; Atthi, 2025). Yet, global players such as Sony and Toshiba, operate in this country (Digital Watch Observatory, 2025; Reuters, 2024). Within global supply-chain disruptions and China-US tensions, global investors view Thailand’s neutrality and its stability as an advantage (Digital Watch Observatory, 2025). This supports Thailand's plan to upgrade its sectors into high-end segments such as chip design and wafer fabrication (front-end activities) (Koty, 2021).

The establishment of the National Semiconductor and Advanced Electronics Policy Committee (NSB) on October 25, 2024, signaling high-level commitment as it is chaired by the Prime Minister (Thailand Board of Investment, 2024; Atthi, 2025; Jongwanich & Kohpaiboon, 2025). This commitment is a signal for a comprehensive ecosystem (Atthi, 2025; Thailand Board of Investment, 2024; Jongwanich & Kohpaiboon, 2025).

Their target is to attract a new wave of FDI for at least 500 billion baht (approximately US$15 billion) by 2029 (Atthi, 2025; Thailand Board of Investment, 2024). This followed a period of heightened investment interest, evidenced by inbound investment applications reaching a decade-high value of 1.14 trillion baht ($33.5 billion) recorded in 2023 (Thailand Board of Investment, 2024).

Critics suggest this focus should be broadened to include other electronic devices such as communications, sensor imaging, and optical devices, where Thailand has historically shown strong export performance (Jongwanich & Kohpaiboon, 2025).

As a strategy the Board of Investment (BOI) offers extensive incentives: Front-end investments (such as silicon wafers, and Wafer FAB) requiring advanced technology are eligible for a 10-year exemption of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) (Thailand Board of Investment, 2024). Back-end investments (Wafer SORT, Die Bank, Assembly, IC Testing) receive CIT exemptions of eight years (for machinery investments of at least 1.5 billion baht) or five years (for smaller investments) (Thailand Board of Investment, 2024). Hence, investments in Research &  Development are eligible for an additional CIT exemption of up to five years (Thailand Board of Investment, 2024).

Human Capital Development (HCD) is fundamental to realize the national strategy (Atthi, 2025). Thus, Thailand aims to train and  reskill 80,000 -86,000 workers over the next five years (2025–2030), including developing 1,400 researchers at the master’s degree and PhD level (Jongwanich & Kohpaiboon, 2025; Thailand Board of Investment, 2024).

The Thai Microelectronics Center (TMEC) operates as Thailand’s first and only R&D for small volume production wafer fab. It was founded in 1997 and has operated since April 2004 in Chachoengsao province (Atthi, 2025). TMEC utilizes 6-inch wafers, 500 nm technology, and focuses on "More-than-Moore" (MtM) devices, including MEMS, sensors, and silicon photonics (Atthi, 2025). The presence of such a facility is crucial to enabling local firms to turn chip designs into prototypes (Atthi, 2025).

However, successful implementation requires overcoming significant challenges such as competition from neighboring countries like Malaysia, which targets over $100 billion in investment (TG Thailand, n.d.). Besides, around 70 investment projects, worth approximately 300 billion baht, are cancelled because of procedural delays and the complexity of required permits, then BOI is attempting to resolve (Atthi, 2025; Thailand Board of Investment, 2024; Jongwanich & Kohpaiboon, 2025). Policy success ultimately depends on political will, sustained resources, and effective governance (Atthi, 2025; Thailand Board of Investment, 2024; Jongwanich & Kohpaiboon, 2025).

References

Atthi, N. (2025, March 27). Global semiconductor ecosystem and wafer fab investment opportunity in Thailand[Conference presentation]. 20th NSTDA Annual Conference (NAC 2025), Chachoengsao, Thailand. National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA). https://www.nstda.or.th/nac/2025/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/nac14-1315-นิธิ-อัตถิ.pdf

Digital Watch Observatory. (2025, February 7). Thailand pushes for semiconductor growth amid trade tensions. Digital Watch Observatory. https://dig.watch

Jongwanich, J., & Kohpaiboon, A. (2025, April 11). Thailand’s new semiconductor strategy: Ambitious but challenging.FULCRUM. https://fulcrum.sg

Koty, A. C. (2021, September 14). High-tech in Thailand: Incentives for R&D, semiconductors, and smart packaging.ASEAN Briefing. https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/high-tech-in-thailand-incentives-for-rd-semiconductors-and-smart-packaging/

Krungsri Research. (2024, January). Thailand industry outlook 2024–2026: Electrical & electronics industry. Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Limited (Krungsri). https://www.krungsri.com/en/research/industry/industry-outlook/electrical-electronics/io-elec-2024

Reuters. (2024, April 18). Thailand aims to become semiconductor hub, eyes billions in investment. Reuters.https://www.reuters.com/technology/thailand-aims-become-semiconductor-hub-eyes-billions-investment-2024-04-18/

TG Thailand. (n.d.). Recruitment and trends in the semiconductor industry. TG Human Resource Services (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

Thailand Board of Investment (BOI). (2024, December 4). Thailand’s new semiconductor board approves framework of national strategy and skilled workforce development to prepare for 500 billion baht expected foreign investment wave.One Start One Stop Investment Center (OSOS). https://osos.boi.go.th

A Tale of Two Market: How Customer Behaviour Differs in Developed Countries and Indonesia?

A few months ago, a  friend of mine, who worked as a vintage clothing seller contacted me. First, I think it's just a usual catch up, but he wants more. He asked my service to conduct a small research about potential customer behaviour in Indonesia. He needs it because, for years, his customers mostly come from developed countries like the USA, Japan, and UK. Now, as his eye turned closer to home, he wanted to dig deeper into the rhyme of his potential customer. 

He wanted to understand a communication strategy that can resonate with the Indonesian vintage clothing market. The result is already in our hands. I have presented it and we’ve discussed it at length. Through that discussion, we came to a shared agreement: that part of the insights drawn from this research deserves to be opened up and shared with a wider audience.

“These are good and relevant findings. If there’s anything that can be shared with the (seller) community, that would be valuable,” he said.

In other words only a small portion of the research will be made public. What will be shared are the collective barriers faced by nearly all online sellers. 

Research Method and Result

In this research, I interviewed 6 potential customers whose profiles are defined and agreed between me and my friend as a client. I engaged in an in-depth interview with them to know their  behavior-pattern, aspiration, trigger, pain point, and pricing preferences.

Based on my findings, there is a collective barrier that should be faced by Indonesian online sellers. The core issue that emerged from this research is trust. 

Indonesian customers do not easily trust the online sellers. Before deciding to purchase anything, they tend to require intermediaries and greater visibility

There are four key channels through which a seller can earn trust. The first is recommendations from friends who are perceived to have good taste. The second is validation from relevant communities. The third is endorsement by niche key opinion leaders (KOLs). The fourth is a live session by the seller.

In practical terms, building trust with Indonesian potential customers often requires mediation by others whose carry height opinion. Beyond third-party validation, trust can also be established through live sessions, where sellers present their products in real time. These live interactions help potential customers feel more confident about the quality of the items.  This means that online ads aimed solely at boosting engagement are not sufficient in Indonesia.

The Differences  with Foreign Customers

These findings resonated strongly with my friend. Throughout his experience as an online seller, one of the most difficult things to secure from Indonesian customers has been trust. This is precisely why selling through platforms such as Shopee feels easier for sellers: the platform functions as a third party that customers perceive as a guardian of product quality and transaction security.

This, however, is not something he commonly encounters with overseas customers. Buyers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan are, in his experience, more willing to extend trust from the outset. As a result, the approaches required for each market must differ: because the barriers themselves are fundamentally different.