Gary Dean

This page is a brief introduction to myself, comprising those things that I consider to be informative, interesting, amusing, or revealing, about the world and myself. YMMV.

I was born in Perth, Australia, in the pre-Sputnik era. I have lived most of my life in Asia, and I migrated to Indonesia in 1996, which is where I now live. I am an Indonesian citizen.

I have many attachments to children|grand-children|wives|companies|felines. One of the cats is named Cimon (Chee-mon), who is all white, except for one yellow eye and one blue eye. I have had Cimon for about 5.711555 years now.

My current role models are Robert Sapolsky, Siddhattha Gotama, and Pa Kettle.

Apart from my everyday business activities, I think about a few things. This is a list of my current interests/study, with wiki links provided for unfamiliar words/terms:

group theory
prosociality
human biological|cultural|technological evolution
nutritional biology
human discourse
secularized dharma (#mydharma)
horizontal internetworking (P2P|Mesh|FidoNet|usenet)
quasi-autonomous internetworked human communities
sitting on my boat

If you have offers of input, collaboration, or business in these or related areas, please get in contact with me.

Below I list areas in which I have some knowledge, interest, or experience.

Business

I am founder and chairman of the Okusi group of companies, providing corporate services to foreign companies investing in Indonesia, including company establishments, accounting and taxation, audit, merger and liquidation, immigration formalities, and research.
I am director of a number of Indonesian companies operating in IT support, island resort development, sea-based tourism and healthspan enhancement.

Sociology & Politics

Interest in human cultures, political systems and international relations.
Specialist knowledge of cultures, history and politics of Maritime Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia.
Fluent in spoken and written Indonesian.
Substantial knowledge and understanding of political processes and governmental structures.
Proponent of open political systems and open technologies.
Proponent of secularized dharmic assumptions and practices.

Management

Knowledge and understanding of socio-cultural issues in management and communication.
Development of culturally appropriate organisational and administrative systems.
Decades of experience as a business and management consultant in Asia, Indonesia most prominently.
Experienced in interacting with Indonesian government and bureaucracy, directly and effectively at all levels.

Computing

Computer applications programmer (php, SQL, bash, C).
Linux system administration and scripting.
Open Source activist providing material and moral support to individuals, groups and government for the use of open technologies, in particular open source software.

Biology

Knowledge of animal husbandry, in particular ruminants.
Interest in controlled-environment food production systems, in particular hydroponics, aquaponics and invertebrate protein production.
Interest in human evolutionary biology.

1996-2000 | Bachelor of Asian Studies

Murdoch University | Perth, Australia
Four-year specialist degree programme in Indonesian studies minoring in politics and international relations. Including one year fulltime coursework at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, in Indonesian, with one semester in the Faculty of Economics, and one in the Faculty of Social and Political Science.

1995-1996 | Diploma of Social Science

Central Institute of Technology | Perth, Australia
Two-year programme in Indonesian applied language studies.

1983-1984 | Associate Diploma of Agricultural Technology

TAFE Agricultural Extension Service | Perth, Australia
Livestock husbandary and management of various food animal species, focussing on ruminants.

1981-1982 | Certificates in Animal Technology and Animal Nursing

Bentley Technical College | Perth, Australia
Husbandary of many various species used in medical research, and management of animal laboratories.