High hopes abound on Customers Day
High hopes abound on Customers Day
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Mastur, a customer of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) in
Papua, was impressed when the state-owned telecommunications
company gave him snacks and drinking water on Thursday, which has
been declared National Customers Day.
Other Telkom customers who were waiting at the company's
office on Thursday to pay their telephone bills voiced similar
comments when the company offered them snacks.
"I hope Telkom gives such treats not only on customers days,
but also on the other days," said one of them as quoted by Antara
newswire.
Without much fanfare, the nation celebrated on Thursday the
first National Customers Day which was meant to raise awareness
of the country's business community on the importance of
customers and as such to urge them to keep improving their
service.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri presided over a ceremony to
mark the day.
On Wednesday, in a press conference prior to the inauguration
of the day, officers from 15 state-owned enterprises (SOEs),
including Telkom, which were the participating companies for this
year, gathered and made speeches about their companies efforts
and plans to improve their services.
For example, state-owned electricity company PLN pledged there
would be no mistakes in the bills to be paid by its costumers
monthly by the end of 2005.
Indeed, all SOEs as well as all private companies in the
country have a much work still to do to satisfy their customers,
and a day is of course not enough to reverse the situation.
Sandy, 30, a customer of PLN and Telkom, doubted the day would
offer real solutions to improving services.
"The aim of the Customer Day is actually fine with me, but we
also have the National Children's Day, for example, but look what
has been done to improve the lives of our children," she said.
Non-governmental organization Consumer Protection voiced the
same concerns.
A press release made available on Thursday stated that the day
should not be merely an empty ceremony, or lip service for
customers, whom later are only treated as objects of profit-
taking.
"The National Customers Day should not be a day when companies
treat customers with snacks or discounted products," it stated.
"The important cause is how to best serve customers and fulfill
their rights."
The public has often complained about the poor service
provided by Indonesia companies in general and SOEs in
particular. There is no clear indication when customers in
Indonesia will be able to enjoy a helpful and fast public
assistant without having to search deeper in their pockets.
One thing is for sure, tomorrow travelers arriving at the
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport will still most likely have
to deal with a taxi driver "refusing to use their meter and
demand astronomical prices" and "endure the inevitable haggling
and harassment by aggressive taxi drivers", as stated by a
foreigner in a letter sent to The Jakarta Post some months ago.