Bali a moment of truth for Indonesia's leaders

Bali a moment of truth for Indonesia's leaders

Ong Hock Chuan, Consultant, Maverick, Jakarta

Moments of crisis, like the Bali bombing, are also moments of
truth for Indonesia's leaders. These are moments when their
actions come under intense scrutiny by the public and they are
judged by how they handle the situation.

In this context, President Megawati Soekarnoputri is to be
commended for flying to Bali and visiting the site of the
explosion and the victims of the blast. It was a good start and
many Indonesians must have hoped that if there would be a silver
lining to this despairing incident, it was that Megawati would at
last be spurred into action and play the leadership role that
comes with her office.

Unfortunately this was not to be. Like former president
Habibie's leadership which evaporated after he made an important
symbolic visit to downtown Glodok after the 1998 riots in
Jakarta, Megawati fell back to her old pattern of being
inaccessible, remote and obscure.

And in this leadership vacuum, many of the ministers are
jumping on the opportunity to show what great leaders they are in
their own ways. Many of them have even begun talking about how
Indonesia should mount a public relations campaign to restore its
standing as a destination for investment and tourism. To do this
when the families of victims are still grieving and some have not
even identified the bodies of their loved ones is totally
insensitive. It also betrays a total ignorance of what real
public relations is all about.

Real public relations is about doing, not just talking and
promotions. Real public relations is about asking yourself what
needs to be done and what is the most correct way of doing so.
And then communicating what is being done credibly.

So what do Indonesian leaders need to do in the aftermath of
the Bali bombing, when the attention of the entire international
community is on them? How can they restore Bali as a destination
for tourists? How can they convince the international community
that Indonesia remains a viable place to invest in?

To begin with they have to realize the expectations of the
public during crisis-like situations. Leaders are looked upon to
help succor the victims and their families, bring order to chaos,
inspire the hundreds of workers and volunteers working round the
clock to retrieve bodies, help us all make sense out of senseless
situation and provide hope where there is despair.

Moreover they are expected to provide us with a sense that we
are still in control of the situation, that although Indonesia
has been hit hard as a community and as a nation, it still has
the means to bring the culprits of the dastardly act to justice
and lead the nation out of this dark hour.

The first thing Indonesia needs to do is to ensure that the
victims and their families are properly and compassionately taken
care of. Countries have already sent experts for help on the
site. What the government can do, however, is to provide constant
updates of what is being done.

One of the worst things families on the scene and relatives
overseas can face is not knowing what's going on. It should
dispatch a team of professionals to coordinate information from
the various agencies working the scene and provide the local and
international media with constant daily updates. It is also
important to acknowledge the contributions of the hundreds of
workers and helpers toiling round the clock in Bali.

Indonesia will also be judged by how decisively and swiftly
the Megawati government meets the threat of terrorists and to
bringing the culprits of the bombing to justice. There is
widespread perception that the Megawati government is stymied
when it comes to policy on terrorism. The thinking out there is
that at best her government has no consensus on policy; at worst
it has no policy at all.

Even if Megawati revokes her presidential veto powers and
adopts a hard line on terrorists, the credibility of the
government is at stake because it has failed to follow up on
implementation. What also undermines the government's credibility
is that the Cabinet Ministers themselves cannot maintain message
discipline, often speaking out and even criticizing a freshly
adopted policy of the government.

If Megawati is serious about impressing on the world that
Indonesia is not a political basket case then she has to manage
the messages emanating from her Cabinet. Ministers must be taught
message discipline, the importance of not departing from a common
stand, if they hope to convince anyone of their seriousness.

If that can be done then the next step is to constantly
communicate to the public and the world via the media of the
steps Indonesia is doing to combat terrorism, to restore Bali's
position as a tourism center and to assure would be investors
that Indonesia remains an attractive destination for investment.
The expertise and the means are already there: Just look at how
the White House conducts daily media briefings to get their
messages out.

The eyes of the international community are now on Indonesia
because of Bali's global iconic status as a travel destination,
and also because of the large numbers of Westerners killed. If
Indonesia cannot rise to the occasion then the deaths in Bali
would have been in vain. The terrorists would have won.

Maverick is a communications consultancy specializing
in brand strategy and crisis and issues management.