Words Yuliasri Perdani Illustration Mufty Fairuz

Creativity was in Triawan Munaf’s blood long before he was sworn in as the head of the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) last year. In the 1970s, Triawan was the vocalist and keyboardist of Bandung-based progressive rock band, Giant Step. A decade later, he founded advertising agency, Euro RSCG Adwork, whose creations included the red-black bull logo for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Now, the father of three, including singer Sherina Munaf, is focusing his creative energy on educating startups under the program named Bekraf for Pre-Startup, or BEKup. “Basically, we’re like a feeder bus for Transjakarta, we accommodate as many startups as we can. We strive to prevent them from failing in the early stages.” Although it has been years since Triawan performed with his band, he has never lost his passion for rock music, including holding on to a musical dream.

My best quality ...

Health.

And my worst ...

Heavy procrastinator.

Creativity is ...

Rushing through my bloodstream.

The most creative person I ever met ...

Advertising executive Neil French was the most creative person I ever met back then and I am still impressed by him. He inspired me and had a huge impact on me.

And the most creative thing I’ve ever done ...

Created a controversial public service advertisement about earthquakes, which was protested by kyai (Islamic teachers) and NGOs.

Being part of a band taught me ...

Teamwork to achieve harmony.

And being in the advertising industry taught me ...

To work with a plan.

The best thing about being the Bekraf head ...

Providing the chance for all people to think that they are creative.

And the least enjoyable part ...

Rigid bureaucracy.

If I created a startup, it would be ...

An e-commerce startup because it has tremendous potential and enables us to deliver innovative products to the public.

Music that I listened to lately ...

The Beatles.

I dream of collaborating with ...

Deep Purple.

My biggest achievement so far...

It is yet to come.

My biggest failure ...

I feel like I should’ve pursued higher education.

When the going gets tough, I ...

Overcome it by accepting the problems.

I would never ...

Give up.

What makes me laugh lately ...

The comeback of narrow-minded New Order ideas.

What makes me sad lately ...

A religion being politicized or religious thuggery.

Three things that I can’t live without...

Fruits, my children and wife.

If I could go anywhere in the world in a second, it would be ...

London. I want to watch soccer matches. Manchester United is my favorite club.

One thing I would change in myself ...

Time management.

And one thing I would change about Indonesia ...

Make the financial administration system in this country more flexible and effective.

The best advice someone gave me ...

Follow your instincts.

My life motto ...

Let it flow.

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