C'mon, make my day, if only once a year
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Starting this year, Sept. 4 will be observed nationwide as National Customers Day.
The idea, which is aimed at increasing the awareness of the country's business community of the importance of customers, was initiated by the Office of the State Minister for State Enterprises and local marketing and research consultants, Frontier.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to inaugurate the first National Customers Day today in Jakarta, according to Handi Irawan, the chairman of Frontier, which has organized the first ceremony to mark the day.
Handi told a press conference on Wednesday that the observance of National Customers Day was aimed at improving the service provided to customers in Indonesia.
However, the country's customers, whom Handi described as "second class citizens" who rarely got friendly and helpful assistance from customer service officers, should not expect too much as a result of the observance of the day.
"Of course, no one expects a one-day event to immediately improve current attitudes to service.
"But I expect that at least for this day, companies will give better service to their customers," Handi said, adding that there was no particular reason why Sept. 4 had been selected.
The motto selected for this year's observance is "Indonesian Customer Smiles".
He added that while National Customers Day would not be a holiday, starting next year the day would be marked on calendars.
For this year, 15 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are participating in the celebration.
The participating SOEs are: airline companies PT Garuda Indonesia and PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines; banking firms PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Negara Indonesia, and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia; telecommunications companies PT Pos Indonesia and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom); electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN); insurance companies PT Askes and PT Jamsostek; sea transportation company PT Pelni; airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II; cement maker PT Semen Gresik; steel producer PT Krakatau Steel; and pawnshop operator Perum Pegadaian.
Most SOEs, which number in the hundreds, are notorious for their poor service, particularly those that hold monopolies over particular sectors. However, in celebrating the day, all 15 participating SOEs have renewed their pledges to enhance service.
For example, PLN has designated 2003 as the "Year of Enhancing Services". The company has also promised that by the end of 2004, there will be no more complaints from customers regarding difficulties in paying bills.
By 2005, it has promised there will be no mistakes in the amount of money customers are billed for monthly.
Many PLN customers complain about the massive bills they receive due to mistakes in meter reading by PLN officials.
Meanwhile, in a press statement made available on Wednesday, Telkom promised to improve its public telephone service. Many of the company's 116,455 public phones nationwide are out-of-order at any one time.