Bali to open specialist center

Bali to open specialist center

Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will open an international
center in Bali next month, which will provide mid-career and
senior executives in the public and private sectors the skills
and knowledge necessary to be effective leaders in an
increasingly complex and challenging global environment.

Called The Executive Center for Global Leadership (ECGL), the
institute will bring internationally renowned academics, business
and government leaders from around the world to conduct world-
class professional development programs.

"It will be a unique training center where executives from the
public and private sectors can interact with each other, learn
from each other's experiences under the guidance of outstanding
business and government leaders," noted Tanri Abeng, one of
ECGL's founders.

Tanri said ECGL would not simply duplicate what local business
schools have been doing and would go further than simply grooming
competent managers with high technical skills.

"We aim at training quality leaders, who are both
entrepreneurial and managerially competent with a global mindset
and high sensitivity to differences in cultures, ethics and human
behavior," added Tanri.

The opening ceremony will also feature Thailand's Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as the keynote speaker, and
Coordinating Minister for Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, as a
luncheon speaker.

He said his two decades of managerial experiences at
multinational companies, another six years of directing a
national conglomerate and 20 months of working in the public
sector as the minister for state enterprises led him to believe
that there is an imperative need for a leadership training center
like ECGL.

Tanri, who was dubbed the million-dollar manager in the early
1990s due to his impressive managerial track record, seemed
unperturbed by the miserable end of his political career that
implicated him in the Bank Bali loan scandal.

Even though his investigations by the Attorney General's
Office led to nothing, and he was never declared a suspect, his
personal integrity is still perceived by many as tainted by his
deep involvement in the game of power politics in 1998 and 1999.

He said he did not harbor any political ambitions by launching
ECGL other than helping the nation to groom more capable leaders
in all sectors.

"Our prolonged economic crisis has made more imperative than
ever the need for executives, in both the private and public
sectors, to be imbued with the essential elements of leadership
and overriding values that enable them, not only to create
cohesion and cooperation within an organization, but also to
communicate and inspire confidence," he asserted.

Tanri's vision is shared by many other business and government
leaders, as can be seen in the list of ECGL founders, including
State Secretary Bambang Kesowo, Coordinating Minister for Social
Welfare Jusuf Kalla, who is himself a former businessman,
Aburizal Bakrie, president of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce,
businessman Pontjo Sutowo, Robby Djohan, Henry Leo and Andi Indra
Kesuma.

The ECGL Board of Trustees also boasts an impressive list of
national and international figures such as Ian Buchanan, vice
president and partner of Booz Allen & Hamilton, Tan Sri Dato Seri
Jeffrey Cheah Fook Ling, chairman of Malaysian Sunway Holdings
Inc., Arthur E. Johnson, vice president of Lockheed Martin Corp.,
James R. Moffett, chief executive officer of Freeport-McMoRan,
Sabam Siagian, former Indonesian ambassador to Australia and
currently director of The Jakarta Post and Ben J.M. Verwaayen,
vice chairman of Lucent Technologies.

Leading change, efficiency and integrity in government,
privatization, corporate governance and managing in a value-
adding environment are some of the short-term course programs
offered by ECGL for the next three months.

"One of our annual flagship programs is called the Chief
Executive Officer forum, which will bring in one outstanding
chief of state to an annual brainstorming session with corporate
leaders in Bali," Tanri added.

As the programs are being designed and led by lecturers and
presenters from famous institutes such as William F. Miller of
the Stanford Institute, Henri-Claude de Bettignies of INSEAD,
Robert Klitgaard of the Rand Graduate School, Gregory Maassen of
the Rotterdam School of Management, James O'Toole of the Aspen
Institute, Roger S. Leeds of the John Hopkins University, the
course fees do not come cheap.

A three-day program will cost almost US$2,500, including
lodging and meals at the ECGL campus in the Bali Handara Mountain
Resort, which also offers a golf course.

"Bali's renowned center of culture and natural beauty will be
another attraction of the ECGL as it provides inspirational
surroundings for course participants to learn, confer, discuss,
reflect and think," Tanri added.