Rama Mamuaya http://rampok.net the retarded techno-rants of an idiot posterous.com Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:17:00 -0800 A lifetime commitment http://rampok.net/a-lifetime-commitment http://rampok.net/a-lifetime-commitment

Some of you might not know that I actually got married a few weeks ago. Puspa, my girlfriend for the past 6 years, and I decided to get engaged last July and plans to be married by the end of 2011.

After a long painful wedding planning, it's finally done and we're officially married to each other. How does it feels? Well, I've been insanely in love with the same girl from the past 6 years so for me marriage is all about making a lifetime commitment with my wife. It's about making ourselves in love with each other, and I'm very excited about it.

Most people say it's going to be fun roller coaster ride. The fun, the boring, the joy, the grief, the happy, the sad, the healthy, the sick. There's no scientific reasons behind it. When you know what you want, you know what you want.

I want to thank all friends and family who helped us through all the process, who celebrated with us and for those best wishes given to us. We wish the best for you guys too.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/483516/Screen_shot_2010-03-22_at_1.30.19_PM.png http://posterous.com/users/5erCTGA80jAt dailysocial DS dailysocial Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:56:00 -0800 Movember http://rampok.net/movember http://rampok.net/movember

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Movember (a portmanteau of the slang word "mo" for moustache and "November") is an annual, month-long event involving the growing of moustaches/facial hair during the month of November. Source : Wikipedia

You down for it? It's not too late. Check out movember.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:17:00 -0700 A little taste of America http://rampok.net/a-little-taste-of-america http://rampok.net/a-little-taste-of-america

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Last month was a life-changin month for me. By the help of my friends at US Embassy Jakarta, I've been given a chance to participate at a 2 weeks seminar program in US hosted by The East-West Center. The theme of the seminar : "The Future of Jobs: Innovation and Industrial Policy for Economic Growth".

It's definitely an topic that's dear to me and I feel that I will learn a ton from the seminar. As it turns out, it is. The seminar brought 7 young leaders from Asia countries : Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, India, Taiwan and also China; and also 3 young leaders from US : Arizona, California and Hawaii.

For two weeks, we dive into the in-depth analysis, discussions and debates on innovation, jobs and industrial policy in the US and from each of our country. But the most important thing is the things we can take from these countries to learn and hopefully bring back home in order to nurture innovation.

We've visited Honolulu and met with some government officials and researchers and talked about the relationship between US and China and how the job crisis in the US happened. A very-very mind-stretching discussion. After a week of intense discussion on government policy and US-Asia relationship, the seminar moved to the next town of Lowell, MA. Few people asked why, and apparently the answer is obvious (see what I did there?)

In the 1950s, Lowell was the center of industrial revolution in the US with its cotton mill industry. Huge business, huge support for the local economy until it vanishes into thin air. We visited local researchers and professors from Middlesex Community College and University of Massachusets to gain knowledge on how this industry started, bloom and the most important thing : how it failed. Epicly.

This gave us a good perspective on how we can contribute to today's growing industry in its relation with innovation.

The third city on our list was Boston, the home of some of the best education institution in the world. We've visited Harvard Business School and MIT, talked with the professors about economic challenges the US is currently facing, its relationship with China and of course the role of government and universities in spurring the technology industry. We had an amazingly good sessions!

Fourth city, the last city is the capital of United States, Washington, DC. Here, we were given a VIP tour of the Capitol Hill to show us the history of US and basically how regulations were made. We also met with several policy makers and discuss about their vision on innovation in its relation with job creation and US economy.

10 participants, 16 days, 4 cities. It was a life-changing experience for me, not only to gain an amazing amount of knowledge about innovation, industrial policy and creative economy, but also a chance to make friends with the brightest young minds of Asia. We had so much fun during the trip, had an amazing discussions, debates and also some fun times together as a group. For what we had during the trip, "fun" is totally an under-statement.

I went home a bit thinner (I lost 2 kg, not that I care though), with new knowledge and ideas, brushed up my English a bit better and also made friends for life. For this one in a lifetime chance, I would like to thank my friends at the US Embassy Jakarta, The East-West Center, all the people I met during the trip and of course to my fellow participants.

This has been a life-changing experience. A little taste of America ;)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:10:00 -0700 Entrepreneur vs Employee? http://rampok.net/entrepreneurship-vs-employees http://rampok.net/entrepreneurship-vs-employees

Just to be honest, I have no thoughts on that particular issue, although I must say that it seems that the entrepreneurs are more bullish than I thought they would be. They don't really say it out loud, but the extracted idea from what they said was : being an entrepreneur is better than being an employee.

I really have something to say in this matter of Entrepreneurs vs Employees. Most entrepreneurs are bullish because they report to no one, they work for themselves, they took risks, and they have the smart people under their payroll and control. They're giving out salaries instead of living from salaries. 

I see entrepreneurship from a different angle. Entrepreneurship is not about founding and controlling a company or having stake from a company. It's not about not reporting to anyone and have no bosses up your ass. Entrepreneurship is not about controlling smart people and keeping them under your payroll.

Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking.

Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking about a problem in its relation with a business. It's about initiatives and innovation. Entrepreneurs are those who think without any limitations or any fear, those who think like nobody's business and just do things in order to solve a problem.

While it is true that most employees are just trying to make their bosses happy rather to take the company further. But I've known several employees (no shares/stakes) working in a company but with a no-fear and just-do-it attitude, taking the company he works for to a whole new level. This is an employee that thinks like an entrepreneur. These are the kind of people you want!

This type of mentality is what separates entrepreneurs and employees. It's not about who pays who, who reports to who rather than anything. And of course this is my personal opinion on seeing entrepreneurship, and I just wish that entrepreneurs just stop being bullish to employees.

Entrepreneurship does make a better economy, but if everybody's an entrepreneur then we might have a problem.

Now, if you think I got this message all wrong then please move on and read something else. Moving on.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Sun, 24 Jul 2011 10:05:00 -0700 Rethinking life http://rampok.net/rethinking-life http://rampok.net/rethinking-life

It's an amazing feeling when you just stop whatever it is you're doing and look back through your whole life and re-live it for a minute. All the bitter sweet memories from the good old days : your mom telling you to study hard at school, hanging out with your dad, going crazy with highschool friends, reaching for your dreams at college, made good friends and best friends for life.

Met a girl, date her, fight with her and realizing that she's an important part of your life. Living that moment all in your mind for just one minute, just to see the whole journey. Where are you coming from and where are you going, where is life taking you. Just gathering all the most important people in your life, mom, dad, sisters, friends, best friends, girlfriends, your future wife.

Your kids, your future in-laws, your grand kids, your legacy, your name, your story. Life is beaufiful, but don't just live it. Make sure you enjoy every second of it, life is too short to spend it with the wrong people.

Enjoy life, live it, breathe it, write your story.

Happy birthday, me.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:04:16 -0700 Online - Offline http://rampok.net/online-offline http://rampok.net/online-offline Almost all trending topic on Twitter is triggered by an offline event, mostly TV. This'll probably keep those 'internet kills tv' sayers calm for a while. I always believe that most people already left tv, and that's probably true but the rest of the internet market apprently still watch tv. This should be an opportunity for brands to leverage their tv campaign and engage with their customers via internet/social media. So far I've never seen any brand with marketing activities elegantly combine TVC and social media, but I'm sure things'll pick up :)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:31:38 -0800 Why ______ is so popular in Indonesia? http://rampok.net/why-is-so-popular-in-indonesia http://rampok.net/why-is-so-popular-in-indonesia
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This might be the answer for those who seek answer on how _______ is popular in Indonesia. You can replace the _______ with Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and probably next, Quora. When a few people use a certain service, most of the people in the community (the influencers) will follow, start expanding and building their own network on the service. 

So, is Quora the next big thing in Indonesia? We'll have to wait and see.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Fri, 24 Dec 2010 00:23:04 -0800 Thank You RIM & Happy Christmas! http://rampok.net/thank-you-rim-happy-christmas http://rampok.net/thank-you-rim-happy-christmas
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Dear RIM,

Thank you for this delicious cupcakes (swear to god, it's really good), i wish you a good time and increasing penetration number in Indonesia and may you succeed launch Playbook and beat the shit out of iPad (good luck with that).

And for my friends, may this year's Christmas brings you joy and happiness like it has brought me and family. Happy holidays guys and wish me luck for keeping my weight from the viciousness of holiday foods!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:15:09 -0800 The dude http://rampok.net/the-dude http://rampok.net/the-dude

1687943465

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:26:31 -0800 A startup is like a mosquito http://rampok.net/a-startup-is-like-a-mosquito http://rampok.net/a-startup-is-like-a-mosquito
"A startup is like a mosquito. A bear can absorb a hit and a crab is armored against one, but a mosquito is designed for one thing: to score. No energy is wasted on defense. The defense of mosquitos, as a species, is that there are a lot of them, but this is little consolation to the individual mosquito."
— How to Make Wealth by Paul Graham

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Sat, 27 Nov 2010 02:20:22 -0800 Unemployment first month http://rampok.net/unemployment-first-month http://rampok.net/unemployment-first-month So this is the first month after i decided to quit my day job and focus on building my own company, DailySocial. For the first time in my life, I have the power to manage my own work time and it's been a blast. I realize something, that I'm NOT GOOD AT MANAGING MY OWN TIME. For example this week, I leave early in the morning and come home at almost midnight only to do the same thing the next day. 

This is NOT what i want. I mean, i love hanging out with entrepreneurs and investors and all that. It's just that I have to manage my time better so i can still have my social life with my family, my friends, my girlfriend, my bike and my guitar. So far, my guitar hadn't been touched for a long time, the true casualty and victim of the mis-management.

Beside that sad story of how i mis-managed my own time, running your own company is not as easy as i thought it would be. I started a few companies since college, but none of them survived except for DailySocial. And so far it's been a roller coaster ride, combination of fear, optimism, hesitation and exhaustion. Enjoying every second of it!

Lunch next week anyone? ;-)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Thu, 11 Nov 2010 06:20:00 -0800 Epic. Just epic! http://rampok.net/epic-just-epic http://rampok.net/epic-just-epic

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I have nothing to say. Really.

Who's Tifatul Sembiring? here.

Who's Vicky Vette? here (just fyi, nsfw).

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:24:00 -0700 Why marketing is becoming irrelevant http://rampok.net/why-marketing-is-becoming-irrelevant http://rampok.net/why-marketing-is-becoming-irrelevant

An interesting discussion happened tonight between me and some friends on Twitter. There's nothing i love better than having a decent conversation about these kind of things with incredible people i found on Twitter. It puts me to bed with a good mood.

So, it's based on my believe that startups (or companies) should rather focus on building their product rather than wasting their time doing too much marketing work. I saw startups spending 40% of their time (and money) for marketing and promoting their product, which i see as a sign of the product's weakness to market itself. I also tweeted that the so-called "experts" on marketing are really exaggerating and blurring the purpose of building a product. 

I've been looking a great products from Nike shoes to Apple computers, and i kind of come up with a basic understanding about the interaction and balance between marketing and product management. Based on my observation, a good product is always a GREAT MARKETING factor and in some case you don't even have to do anything to market it because people will use it anyway. And people don't just use it, people will recommend it to their friends hence a viral Word of Mouth marketing campaign without spending a dime for it. 

My point is, the industry should really turn their focus on building a great product for their users. When they're building a great product (ie. Apple, Google, Nike) the marketing effort would enrich the whole product to make sure that the messages from the product delivered correctly to the users. A good marketing effort won't make your product better and satisfy your users, a good social media effort could help you understand what your users want from your product, but that's a different issue. 

Steve Jobs, is a visionaire, the man who sees the future. Is he a marketer? A really good one. But behind that, Steve Jobs is not selling a piece of junk that blinks. He's selling a great product with great features and put a standard on consumer product industry design. He's selling an insanely great range of products and he knows what the users want and need. By this assumption, i believe a good marketer with a bad product is Microsoft. Lots of people use their product and IT'S A REALLY GOOD BUSINESS! The dude even get to be the richest fella in the neighborhood (i have a wide wide circle), now that's a good business with some real deal. The guy, Bill Gates, successfully sell his product to companies as a corporate solution and was later used as a default OS for IBM PCs etc. But the thing is, their users are not as loyal as Apple's. Apple is like a cult, and i assure you I'm NOT a fanboy, but those who are - worship Steve Jobs. 

This is what i like to call : good product + good marketing.

The same thing goes for Nike, they have great shoes (great designs and functionalities) and they have a good way of telling stories about Nike and athletes which was a part of their marketing campaign. And the result is incredible!

Of course, Nike doesn't specify about the features of their shoes on their ads but rather telling stories about the people who use their products. It's the same concept of when Apple release its "Think different" campaign, to tell stories about the people who change the world, and not putting info about the speed of the processor, how big is the hard drive, the monitor's resolution, nope. None of that.

Does this make the quality of the product irrelevant? Of course not. With all the big stories, the product have to match user's non-literal expectation based on the stories. A good product will always sell, add a good marketing puts a cherry on top. A great marketing effort will probably sell, but if the product sucked, then no one's falling for that marketing bullcrap anymore. Unfortunately nowadays, most companies do the latter. Making users and consumers skeptical about marketing as a mask to cover a shitty product.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Nothing turns me on better than a good discussion!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Wed, 20 Oct 2010 04:53:03 -0700 Young Steve Jobs + Young Bill Gates http://rampok.net/young-steve-jobs-young-bill-gates http://rampok.net/young-steve-jobs-young-bill-gates

Found this video back from 1983 where Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were friends, it's a historical video and i think you should see how Apple as a brand could get along very well with its partners. I know, it's a lame reason for me to post this video but still you have to see it simply because it's historical.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:52:18 -0700 Spoiler Alert : Learn from "The Social Network" http://rampok.net/spoiler-alert-learn-from-the-social-network http://rampok.net/spoiler-alert-learn-from-the-social-network
Found a nice article, basically a summary for entrepreneurs to learn from "The Social Network" movie. So, it's a probable spoiler alert.
  1. Sometimes there are more important things in life than school.
  2. It's not about who has an idea but who can execute it.
  3. Change can happen fast.
  4. Figure out how to be of service.
  5. Content and community first, revenue second.
  6. Visualize success as your final result.
  7. When you have a great product, money finds you.
  8. Sex is fun but can hold you back.
  9. Not getting what you want can be a blessing.
  10. Focus, young Jedi.
  11. Not everyone is going to be happy with you.
  12. Don't screw over your friends.
Read the full article here.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Thu, 07 Oct 2010 03:54:00 -0700 You can forget all the things I said about entrepreneurs! http://rampok.net/you-can-forget-all-the-things-i-said-about-en http://rampok.net/you-can-forget-all-the-things-i-said-about-en

Why? Simple. It's a load of crap, because I never lived as an entrepreneur. I don't walk the talk.

But this will change. Apparently I've been keeping this as a secret for a while until I realize that's not how social network works. So yes, the rumours are true.

No, no one is acquiring dailysocial.net! But yes, I'm going full-time to handle dailysocial's day to day operations, business and strategy. Pretty much everything, really.

The current team will still do their job as usual, but probably I'm going to push the team a bit now that I have more time to spank them. But overall, the team is doing really good and it's my job to make them AWESOME!

True story.

Speaking of awesome, Bubu - my current company - is doing very-very well, I shit you not. We had some downtime, but things are looking great for bubu for the past few months. If it weren't because of dailysocial, I would've definitely stayed longer. The reason I say this is because a lot of people asked if there's something wrong between me and bubu. It's been great and I will definitely keep hanging out with those guys at bubu.

Clear.

Now, I'm very excited and really looking forward for bloody part, the pain of building a company from scratch and the chance to fail fast. I've been dreaming about this for long, and soon I will live the pain. So friends, wish me luck for my next adventure, may I be given enough strength and endurance.

--
Sent from rampokdroid®
blackberries can suck it.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:50:30 -0700 Good Choice for Dinner http://rampok.net/good-choice-for-dinner http://rampok.net/good-choice-for-dinner
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I had dinner with friends from Malaysia and Jakarta startups and the menu was interesting. Too bad I don't have the balls to take a picture of the waitress. At least I had a healthy dinner, cesar salad!

sent from rampokdroid®
blackberries can suck it.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:53:30 -0700 Why I Ditched Foursquare http://rampok.net/why-i-ditched-foursquare http://rampok.net/why-i-ditched-foursquare
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I have nothing against foursquare. 

Okay, that's a big lie. Actually i do have something against foursquare. 

As you might know, i started using foursquare since March 2010 and now, 7 months later i decided to ditch it. No, I'm not going to delete my account for the sake of rescuing my username (typical reason) but i decided not to use it on a daily basis like i used to. Well actually i stopped using it for quite a while now, my last checkin was at a client's party in July 2010.

Several things i particularly don't like about foursquare is the significant number of noises. By noise i mean the duplicate venues and it's not by mistake, because i've seen people create venues even though the venue already exist for the sake of mayorship. When i went to foursquare and search for a venue, i will get (minimum) 5 venues referring to the same location but with a different level of details of the venue. 

That's one problem, and there's more. Shocking.

Foursquare's reward system with the badges and stuff is pure genius, i give you that. It's a way to get people excited using your app and basically do whatever you want them to do, which is still cool. But a portion of users are more creative than expected, where people can cheat in order to achieve badges (which indicates just how cool the badges are). That's noise.

In fact, the badges play a big role in this noise-generating service. Somehow i, once as a user, use the service to pursue the badges, the rewards and i honestly don't care about where my friends are which is the main concept of the service itself. This is how i see foursquare now, fully distorted and distracted from its original concept. I know service like foursquare or twitter or facebook always evolve and is never the exact same service it was once planned to be. But seriously, i don't like it.

But I'm still using Koprol actively and will tell you why in a different post. Like you don't already know.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:14:40 -0700 Finally, a good way to differentiate men and women. Just a joke, ladies. http://rampok.net/finally-a-good-way-to-differentiate-men-and-w http://rampok.net/finally-a-good-way-to-differentiate-men-and-w
Thoughtfortheday

I will feel really guilty if i keep this for myself.

credit : fika @ koprol

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya Sat, 18 Sep 2010 23:16:55 -0700 The Milestone http://rampok.net/the-milestone http://rampok.net/the-milestone
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My best friend from college got married today, after years of dating and almost a year of preparation.

Congratz buddy, wish you a long lasting marriage and hopefully you can learn how to kiss your wife properly (geez dude!)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/572838/rama.jpg http://posterous.com/users/Q2MPhitFJL Rama Mamuaya rampok Rama Mamuaya