A peacemaker behind the scene

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Relations between Indonesia and Australia have always had high and low points over the decades.

At the end of 1980s, relations reached their lowest level after Sydney Morning Herald's David Jenkins wrote articles critical of then president Soeharto and his family. Relations touched rock bottom in 1999 following a UN-sanctioned referendum that gave East Timor independence.

The two incidents are just two examples of how shaky the bilateral relations can be.

But even during the turbulent times, there have been institutions and individuals who strive to improve the situation.

Among the peacemakers is the Victorian Government Business office here in Jakarta, and its executive director Philip James Morey.

Victoria is one of Australia's federal states and its capital is Melbourne.

Putting aside the frequent disputes, Morey and his office strive to promote business partnerships between the Australian and Indonesian business communities.

Morey and his office play an important part in boosting trade between Victoria and Indonesia. Bilateral trade between them has more than doubled over the last five years, from about A$600 million in 1994/1995 to A$1,400 million in 2000/2001.

The trade is significant as it reaches one-third of the bilateral trade volume between Indonesia and Australia as a whole, which reached A$6,300 million in 2001.

Morey said his office boosted bilateral trade by, among other things, providing agricultural training for Indonesian dairy and vegetable farmers.

The office has also promoted potential products of both sides, given 70 public presentations to promote Victoria and facilitated 90 Indonesian business visits to Australia.

"We try to introduce Australian businesspeople to the right people in Indonesia, and vice versa," Morey told The Jakarta Post.

Despite the good news, Morey soon bids Indonesia goodbye as the government of Victoria has decided to close down its business office in Indonesia by June 30.

The office was opened in January 1995 to promote and facilitate trade and investment between Indonesia and Victoria.

Victoria decided to close the office following its review of its overseas network and it is now refocusing on wooing businesspeople to invest in Victoria.

Victoria has eight offices worldwide, including those in Europe, the U.S., Indonesia and South Korea. The latter is to be closed as well.

We do not need an office here since we can nurture business partnerships and manage the ongoing projects in a smarter way, for example through the virtual way, said Morey.

Morey was born in Australia on Oct. 30, 1956. Married with three children, he obtained a bachelor of business degree from Monash University (1976-1978), and also a diploma of exporting from the Australian Institute of Export (1981-1982).

He has been 20 years with the government of Victoria in market development activities, with the last five years being focused on Indonesia.

He worked as a market development manager at the department of agriculture in the Victoria administration from 1980 to 1994.

His involvement with Indonesia started in 1994 when he became manager for the Indonesian Market Development Program. He eventually landed the top job in 1998 when he was appointed the executive director at the Victorian Business Office in Jakarta.

The three key programs that he and his office were tasked to promote were investment attraction, export facilitation and promoting Victoria as a place to do business and investment.

He said a precious lesson he has learned from his Jakarta stint is the importance of building trust in business.

"To do successful business, people must get to know their counterparts and have trust in them," he said.

Australians often ask his advice on which Indonesian businessman they should form a partnership with and vice versa.

"It is difficult to find the right partners, especially if the two people are from different cultures. While, it also takes time to build a warm and mutual relationship," he said.

He added that people must build a relationship with the partners before obtaining trust, such as attending wedding parties held by the partners for family members and lunching together.

"The art of (nurturing a) relationship is important, especially if you do business in Asia, which emphasizes personal relationships more than in the West, which counts much on economic numbers," he said.

"So we may use the term NKK, that is Nolong Kawan-kawan (helping friends). It is good, because you're networking. People might make mistakes if they do not know the business practices here," he said.

He said corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) were still a problem, but businessmen should not look upon this as a stumbling block.

"Despite KKN, business activities must still go on, and the government and the private sector should cooperate to address this," he said.

Morey's family left for Australia in December, and he will leave later this year.

"I will start my own business after I retire from the government later this year," he said.

Once back home, Morey plans to establish agribusiness companies named GAP Agrifood Export and GAP Consulting Exports.