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.