'I'll stick to public relations'
JAKARTA (JP): For 36-year-old Nadira Alatas, the second daughter of former foreign minister Ali Alatas, public relations is her world. After studying Political Science at New York University from 1983 to 1988 and obtaining a BA, she decided to quit the school that her father chose for her. She turned to another science, hospitality management, and studied at Paul Smith College in New York from 1987 to 1988 where she obtained an associate degree.
Nadira claims she is a self-educated public relations figure. She started her career in 1988 as a public relations officer with the Hotel Hilton, Jakarta, where she worked for three years.
In 1991, she took up employment with PT Procon Indah as a field supervisor. Between 1993 and 1995, she worked with TPI (Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia) as an executive assistant before she joined the Dharmawangsa hotel as public relations manager in 1998, a position she held until 2000.
Now, she is public relations manager of Kunci, a marketing consultant and event organizer that started up in 2000. Since January of this year, she has been one of presenters of Perempuan, a program aired by Metro TV.
Nadira, who lives with her husband and their daughter in Komplek Buncit Indah, Pejaten, South Jakarta, talked to The Jakarta Post's Mohammad Yazid.
Question: Why did you decide to quit political studies and turn to hospitality management?
Answer: I couldn't do it. Political studies was very difficult for me. It was a very heavy workload. You need to be able to read between the lines in everything. It is a special training that needs a special interest.
But in public relations, I was able to find something that I always dreamt about because it makes me a whole person and I can study as I do my job.
Q: What about your new career as a presenter?
A: I don't have much to say about that as yet. As a presenter I am still very much at the learning stage. I still have a senior above me. But it's all a very, very new career for me. I still need to see where I fit in there.
Q: Would you like to have another profession?
A: No, I'll just stick with public relations.
Q: What makes you tick?
A: Expectations from people. For instance, I have friends around me and they have seen me slump. They have seen me fall. But all the time I try to rise up again. I try to work hard.
Q: Which traits do you most like about yourself?
A: The traits I most like about myself are my honesty, my straight-forwardness.
Q: And deplore?
A: The fact that I wasted a lot of my years. Had I stayed on until now as a public relations person and studied harder, I would feel myself a more rounded person now.
Q: What kind of clothes do you like to wear?
A: Simple and practical ones. Semi-casual, working clothes.
Q: Have you ever had a cringingly embarrassing moment?
A: Many times. The last time was recently on Metro TV. Time and time again, to be a presenter you need to be skilled in looking for the signs -- to spot the closing segment coming up where you have two more minutes to go and you have to concentrate on what question to ask.
The topic may be very simple, very easy. You know it and have mastered it. But, when you are in the studio you can forget everything, you go blank. You can't ask a question. You have to spot the signs and look at a camera at the same time. Frequent embarrassing moments are when I should close it (the program) but I don't, or I forget the question I should have asked.
Q: What book are you currently reading?
A: Currently, I'm reading a spiritually uplifting book. The title is The Light of Dawn. Actually, this is a good book because it is drawn from the Koran.
Q: What makes you angry?
A: Unpunctuality, hypocrisy. People who aren't straightforward make me very angry.
Q: What characteristics do you like and dislike in others?
A: The characteristics I like in others are friendliness, openness, and the ability to get along. And I dislike hypocrisy ... and all of the opposite I like.
Q: What makes you laugh?
A: Silly things. My little girl makes me laugh all the time.
Q: And cry?
A: I cry if I feel betrayed, mostly.
Q: What makes you sad?
A: Feelings that I don't understand or if I am disappointed.
Q: If there were something you could change about your appearance, what would it be?
A: My weight.
Q: Have you had, or would you ever consider plastic surgery?
A: No. Never. Because plastic surgery is not suggested in the Koran. If I lost a hand and I needed plastic surgery to have another hand then I would do it. But I have been given everything I need from Allah. Why should I change it?
Q: What is your favorite smell?
A: Jasmine.
Q: What makes life worth living?
A: Experience. Failure is very expensive. It is the only way you can grow up.
Q: Do you have a favorite song?
A: My favorite song is a song Nisa (her daughter) likes. I don't know the title. But, she sings like this gembira hatiku... (she sings).
I like character movies. The last time I watched one was in the Wijaya theater a week ago. It was Thirteen Days staring Kevin Costner.
Q: What is the cost of popularity?
A: I never look at the cost. If you are popular, it is because you earned it so there is no cost. If you are trying to be popular you will be, but you may not be original.
Q: As a daughter of a diplomat, how many countries have you visited?
A: Many, many. That is all because of my parents. We have visited so many cities in Europe, American and Asia... except South Africa and China.
Q: Among the cities you have visited, what is the most interesting?
A: New York. It is the variety, a true melting pot ... the energy and enthusiasm. It never dies down. There is crime but it goes hand in hand with friendliness, with social interrelation. I lived there for seven years.
Q: What items do you carry with you at all times?
A: A pencil, an eraser and paper. I'm liable to panic if I forget them. It's not really because of my career in public relations... I think it's necessary to take notes in every career.
Q: If the world were going to end in 24 hours, what would you do?
A: Pray. What else could we do.
Q: If you had to go to a desert island for a year, what three items would you take with you?
A: I would take a light because I'm afraid of the dark. I would take a pencil and a bath. I wouldn't take an eraser because that would be more than three items, wouldn't it (she laughed).