Birdbrain leadership to blame for spread of bird flu

Ong Hock Chuan, Partner, PT Maverick Solusi Komunikasi, Jakarta

There are three simple steps to effective crisis management that government institutes ignore at the risk of losing their credibility: Respond quickly, tell the truth and make it right.

The Indonesian government ignored all three with the bird flu outbreak. If it was not for the fact that its credibility is already as low as it can get, its mismanagement of the bird flu would have plunged the country into a greater, immediate, crisis.

First, the government failed to respond quickly. It was only on Jan. 25 -- months after the first bird flu outbreaks were reported in Indonesia -- that the government finally confirmed there was an outbreak of bird flu. Then it dillied and dallied for four days and after much pressure from the World Health Organization (WHO), it finally ordered a selective cull.

Second, it failed to tell the truth. While not lying outright, Megawati and her ministers managed to bamboozle the Indonesian people, the international community and themselves with outrageous statements that have little to do with facts. Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Yusuf Kalla, for instance, was quoted as saying that the government would replace existing chickens with a new breed. What breed of chicken is immune to bird flu, which affects all avian species?

Third, it failed to make things right. Instead of being decisive and ordering a cull of infected chickens in all affected areas and their surroundings to contain the outbreak, the government has ordered only a partial cull. The reasons are lame.

The agriculture minister struck a defiant note in saying that the government "will not imitate neighboring countries" because -- get this -- "culling would certainly reduce the poultry population drastically". Is the purpose of culling ultimately to save human lives and contain the disease from wiping the rest of the poultry stock or to maintain a huge poultry population?

By failing in all three steps, Megawati and her ministers are sacrificing the well being of Indonesians and the credibility of the government to their own miscalculation of increasing their electoral chances.

This is shortsighted. What the people want in moments of crisis is leadership. They want their leaders to be able to make the difficult decisions that may harm a community, but benefits society at large. They want to be informed constantly with solid facts and they want the government to articulate a lucid plan for getting them out of this situation.

If the public's needs are not fulfilled, then they will not vote for such people who cannot get their act together -- either for themselves or for the country.

A sad fact about Indonesia, however, is that there is little alternative to the Megawati government, at least until the elections are over in September. By then, precious human lives may have been lost, not to mention the poultry industry, depleted.

But it is easy to criticize without having to handle the crisis; below are three simple steps the government could take to stamp out bird flu and regain the people's trust and confidence.

First, it must regain control of the situation. It needs to set up a powerful coordinating body to call the shots and make active recommendations to the president. A minister should be put in charge who would be responsible for containing and eliminating the disease.

There is no shortage of good advice from WHO and other experts who have had experience in dealing with bird flu and similar outbreaks. Singapore, for instance, would be only too pleased to lend a helping hand.

The coordinating body needs to get the best advice and then act on it, even if the actions may not be popular ones.

Second, the government needs to inform the people of the situation and the steps being taken to end the crisis. To do this effectively, it must gather the facts and communicate them constantly and effectively. Some of these facts may not be comforting, but the public would be more placated than they would be in an atmosphere of suspicion, gossip and rumor.

Third, the government needs to respond to the changing situations decisively and openly.

One of the main failings in handling a crisis situation is denial. Another major failing is to act on assumptions or erroneous "facts".

These steps are not difficult to implement and there are already established systems for doing so, such as the Incident Command System developed and used by authorities in the United States.

What is lacking here is leadership and the political will to put someone in charge and give him or her the mandate to bring the situation under control.

If Megawati has any conscience and love for the country, she should overcome her reservations and do the right thing by Indonesia -- by setting up an Incident Command System and appointing the right person for the job.

Indonesia is not bereft of capable men and women, but leaders. Unfortunately, we have to rely on those in power to let these capable individuals come to the fore.

Maverick is a public relations consultancy specializing in crisis and issues management as well as brand strategy.