A peacemaker behind the scene

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.