Young urban executive brushes off yuppie label
JAKARTA (JP): She works very hard, but she plays hard as well. She earns a lot of money, and she also spends a lot.
Dina Ponsel may be a typical member of the new generation of white-collar workers who grew up to reap the advantages of Indonesia's booming economy. Well-educated, from a cosmopolitan background and relatively well-paid, she could be categorized as a yuppie, a young urban professional, even though she spurns the label herself.
"Well, yes, I am a professional, but don't call me a yuppie," she said. "I think a yuppie is more money-oriented."
Dina, who turned 27 on June 9, is a line producer at Katena Films, one of the largest production houses in the country. She was born in Amsterdam and lived there until her father, an executive of Chase Manhattan Bank, and mother returned to Indonesia five years later. In 1978 they moved to Hong Kong, and then to Korea.
The family, including Dina's two younger siblings, returned to Indonesia in 1982. Two years later, Dina left for the United States and went to a high school in Chicago. In 1988 she enrolled in the University of Portland in Oregon, majoring in Mass Communications.
After graduating in 1992, she returned home and worked at Matari advertising agency as a media planner. After seven months, she quit and went back to the U.S.
"I had many friends in America, I wanted to see them," she said.
She tried to settle there, but decided to return to Indonesia as she knew she could make a better life in her own country.
She began at Katena as an assistant producer/production coordinator. She was promoted to line producer after 18 months, the youngest person currently holding that position in the firm.
Her job is to make commercials. Some of her projects, including the Bentoel Biru and Daihatsu Rocky, have received the Citra Adhi Pariwara advertisement awards. She was also involved in the making of the RCTI Oke and SCTV Ngetop commercials.
How much time does it take to make a 30-second commercial?
"Between a day to a month," she said, according to the complexity of the project.
She usually starts work at 9 a.m. and leaves the office at 6 p.m. But there are times when she has to stay late. Sometimes she even works almost 24 hours a day, save for a few minutes of sleep, including on weekends.
About 50 people work in the production house. In the making of a commercial, Dina works with between 10 and 20 people.
"I wouldn't say that they are my subordinates. We work together," said Dina. But the responsibility lies with her.
"It is a stressful job. And we can get stressed about little things, like when we were shooting in Bogor but we left equipment behind in Jakarta.
"But when the job is done, I feel, oooh...." Her words trailed off into an expression of satisfaction.
Contrary to stereotypes of the workaholic nerd, Dina is outgoing and fun. When time permits, she enjoys herself.
"I like to eat out, and Italian food is my favorite. I like to see the movies and hang out at the pubs to drink, chat or play pool," she said. "Sometimes, I might spend the whole night outside the house and return home at five in the morning."
Does she have time for a boyfriend?
"No, I don't have any boyfriend. We broke up almost a year ago. I don't have any time to think about a (new) boyfriend. Most of the women in my office are not married... My parents fear (that I might not get married). Of course I will get married, but not now..."
Her future husband, she said, must be a good person who is smart, open-minded and "if possible, he should be a little bit older than me."
Her reasoning may seem odd coming from an independent, educated young woman.
"I need a man who can control me... I mean, we have to be able to control each other."
But Dina says she can exercise self-control, including with drugs.
"I have tried all kinds of drugs, but I am not addicted. I know the limit, I know when to stop."
She admitted to taking Ecstasy to help her sleep and unwind when she felt "down".
"Everybody uses it," she said, adding she got the pills from her friends.
Dina drives a new car, claims that her paycheck is less than Rp 5 million and hates shopping.
"I love traveling. On my annual leave, I always travel abroad. I recently toured Europe, Milan, Rome, London, Amsterdam and Paris for almost a month."
She says she does not have a strict motto in life. "You just live day by day."
"I want to have my own production house.... I am also saving my money for an apartment."
Dina lives with her parents in South Jakarta. Like many of her friends who spent years abroad, she admitted that when she returned to Indonesia there was a difficult period of cultural readjustment.
"In the States, we lived by ourselves, and nobody told us to do this or that," she said. "Now we have to listen to our parents.
"I want to live on my own, but I know that here people expect you to stay with your parents until you are married. It's fine, I am used to it."
While she admits that Western values have influenced her and her friends who studied abroad, she still sometimes bows to tradition.
"I am not against premarital sex," she says. "I mean, I don't care if other people do it. But well, it's not for me." (aan/sim)