Jakarta and KL need better communication

Jakarta and KL need better communication

Ong Hock Chuan, Technical Advisor, Maverick, Strategic PR Counsel,
Jakarta

Vice-President Hamzah Haz had a point when he said that more
effective communication between Indonesia and Malaysia would help
mend the rift that has opened up between the two neighbors
because of the illegal Indonesian workers issue.

Hamzah would also have been correct if he had pointed out that
ineffective communication had caused Indonesia and Malaysia to be
on opposing sides of the issue when they should be working
together to solve the problem.

This is because both governments, and more importantly the
people of both countries, have much to gain from a constructive
solution to the recurring problem of illegal Indonesian workers.

If fingers are to be pointed, one would surely point to the
Indonesian media for blowing up the issue. This would not be fair
to the media which is, after all, a medium for the governments to
communicate to the wider audience of the citizens in Indonesia
and Malaysia. Though the media has many faults the communicator
must also shoulder some of the responsibility. In this instance
the communicators have shown a lack of skill in communicating
effectively.

Malaysia, for instance, could have been more skillful and
focused in conveying and stressing the message that Malaysia
actually welcomes Indonesian workers if they are legal. It could
also have stressed the importance and benefits of working legally
to Indonesians. Legal workers are protected under Malaysian law
against abuse and exploitation by employers; they are paid at
least the minimal wage and they have the freedom to access
medical and other social amenities.

Illegal workers, on the other hand have no means of legal
redress because they can never go to the police without exposing
their illegal status. This makes them vulnerable to exploitation,
blackmail and abuse.

Another downside of allowing illegal immigrants to go and stay
in Malaysia is also that it works against the interests of
Indonesians in general and legal Indonesian workers in Malaysia
in particular.

The presence of illegal Indonesian workers deprives honest
Indonesians who want to enter Malaysia legally of potential jobs.
That Malaysia needs Indonesian workers to help drive its economy
is obvious. If there were not that many illegal Indonesian
workers, the country would have to relax the rules to let in more
Indonesian workers legally because it needs them to drive its
economy.

The issue of caning is an emotive one and difficult to
explain, but even here Malaysia had very good reasons for this
plan. They had announced six months ago the deadline for illegal
Indonesian workers to give themselves up and be sent home. Yet
not only did these workers not give themselves up, many of those
caught and sent home quickly found their way back to Malaysia
again as illegal workers. Malaysia could have stressed that
although caning is a harsh treatment it had been fair in
providing a reasonable warning period.

On the Indonesian side, communications were also ineffective
because there was no coordinated response. Each minister spoke
reactively rather than from an agreed position among Cabinet
members. The result was a series of mixed messages that caused
confusion.

Effective communication, however, is not only confined to what
is said but extends to what is being done or not done as well.
Here, the Indonesian government could have helped boost its own
image and cooled tempers somewhat if it had, for instance,
extended more help to returning illegal Indonesian workers. This
would not have been interpreted as condoning them, but that the
government actually acknowledges the difficult circumstances the
wong cilik (the common people) face in Indonesia.

In the past few months both governments had major
opportunities to put the issue in perspective through effectively
communicating with each other and the public. Yet this was not
done and one of the main reasons for this must surely be the fact
that both governments lack savvy when dealing with an audience
that is not compliant, in particular the Indonesian media which
has played no small part in blowing up the illegal Indonesian
workers issue to its present proportions.

Malaysian officials are so used to a compliant media in
Indonesia that they are actually at a loss when confronted with
the Indonesian media which is spirited and independent but which
can also be sensational and cavalier with facts.

Indonesian officials, though they face the Indonesian media
every day, have similarly been so wrapped up in their own agendas
and political intrigues that they do not realize that the nature
of the media has actually changed before their very noses.

In both cases the result is a lack of awareness among
government officials of the importance of managing perceptions.
The illegal Indonesian workers issue is a classic case of
unmanaged perceptions leading to emotional outbursts and
diplomatic one-upmanship. Part of the problem is that most
officials or politicians in Asia assume that they are effective
communicators when in truth they are not. Many of them lack the
training, techniques and skills to communicate clearly and
credibly to the media.

Basic concepts of effective political communications such as
messaging, keeping message discipline and arguing for the wider
public interest are alien to them. As a result their
communications tend to do more damage to themselves and the
public rather than be a tool for rallying the right responses.

Until officials on both sides acquire the skills to
communicate their messages we can, unfortunately expect more
instances of brinkmanship when some effective communications
would have done the trick. The problem is that the next time it
may have gone too far for either side to pull back.