Mar'ie's country road show

Mar'ie's country road show

There are, we think, several factors which contributed to the
success of what Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad called his
"two-week country road show" to the international financial and
business centers in the United States, Britain and Hong Kong last
month. First, of course, were the preparations for the target
audience Mar'ie and his small team would address. The assignment
of such well-known investment banks and financial service groups
as Merill Lynch and Lehman Brothers to prepare the series of
discussion meetings obviously contributed to the effectiveness of
the mission. These financial service groups are naturally best
apprised of which of the local businessmen are greatly interested
in getting briefings on Indonesia's economic policies and
economic prospects. Moreover, major financial service groups,
including banks, usually act as influential opinion leaders for
investors partly because their interests are inter-linked.

The second and most important factor is Mar'ie himself. He is
not only a key figure in the fiscal and monetary policy making
process in Indonesia, but is also well known and respected as the
minister who speaks out on what is on his mind most of the time.
Mar'ie minces no words, preferring to talk in nuts and bolts. All
of this has helped build up his image of integrity in
communicating Indonesia's economic policies, opportunities,
prospects and problems to international investors within a
reasonable, logical perspective.

Many Indonesian business and government leaders often take the
wrong approach by talking only about the rosy, promising side of
the business scheme of things in the country. They apparently do
not realize that foreign businessmen or investors prefer honest,
frank briefings on the opportunities and the challenges as well.
After all, all kinds of business contains risks. Good, balanced
briefings enable potential investors to better calculate their
risks. That, we think, was, by and large, what Mar'ie and the
small team of experts from his ministry provided for his
audience. As a key figure in the policy-making machinery he is
also able to chart out the future direction of Indonesia's fiscal
and monetary policies.

The timing of the road show also was quite opportune as the
mission was conducted immediately after the government launched
another massive package of deregulation measures in the trade and
investment sectors, including what is seen as the most liberal
policies ever regarding direct foreign investment, in June. Given
the normally scant attention paid by the foreign press to
Indonesia, businessmen in the U.S., Britain and Hong Kong
presumably knew very little about the reform package. Mar'ie and
his team were naturally well-positioned to provide the technical
details on the opportunities created by the new policies and to
answer pertinent questions regarding their implementation.

In view of the accelerated process of economic globalization
and the increasingly keener competition to attract foreign
investment, Indonesia should launch more promotion missions like
Mar'ie's country road show.

What is crucial, though, for making such missions effective
are the right preparations in the countries of destination, and
leaders and members of delegations, who are competent and
articulate enough to communicate with foreign investors in
reasonable and, most important, believable manners.