CARE: Discriminating

CARE: Discriminating

Prior to the preparation of the technical proposal for an
integrated area development and conservation project in Central
Sulawesi, as the Terms of Reference suggested, short-listed
consulting firms sought to acquire the necessary and relevant
statistics and other information from two non-governmental
organizations already involved in the project since its early
phases of planning and initial program implementation. This
included obtaining data from the CARE International Office.

In response to an earlier telephone conversation, I sent my
Secretary to fetch brochures and whatever project-related
information CARE had at hand. She returned empty-handed and told
me that I'd better go there myself.

Hence, I went to the CARE International Jakarta Office on
April 11, 1996 to meet with local staff. After a lengthy
explanation of our intention, I was informed that I should send a
representative from our international associate, as CARE will
only disseminate information to foreigners and prefers not to
share it with Indonesians. As a result, I also returned to the
office empty-handed. But pleasant news was awaiting me: Mr. David
Adriance, one of the (foreign) directors at the CARE Office
planned to grant me an appointment on April 12, at 10 a.m..

The following morning, I arrived at 9:55. The office secretary
asked me to wait for Mr. Adriance, who was in a meeting. At 10:00
sharp, I asked the secretary to inform Mr. Adriance of my
presence. After receiving no response from Mr. Adriance because
he was engaged in a phone conversation, I again asked the
secretary at 10:10 to contact him, but met with the same result.
I finally gave up and was on the point of leaving CARE's office
at 10:15 for other scheduled meetings when Mr. Adriance's
personal secretary met me to confirm the appointment and asked me
to wait in Mr. Adriance's office.

Without rising from his chair, Mr. Adriance told me bluntly
that if I couldn't wait until he had finished his telephone
conversation, I'd better leave his office. And in case I was
willing to wait, I had to do so outside his cubicle.

I preferred to leave his office. In the car, I started to
struggle with questions of whether I had unconsciously offended
him during the time I was waiting for him (and failed to identify
the unethical act from my side), or whether Mr. Adriance would do
the same to me if I were a Westerner. I wondered what would
happen in a reversed situation, where I as an Indonesian host
granted him an appointment at 10:00, but could (or would) not
keep my word.

I doubt very much if CARE maintains such a racial policy.

FERRY L. DHARMA

Managing Director

PT. Bahana Mitra Buana, Jakarta