Politicians may need to call up the spin doctors

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amien Rais is no jazz-loving Bill Clinton. Nor is he current Democratic Party contender Wesley Clark, who appeared on MTV and seemed pretty in tune with the contemporary music scene, including mentioning hot pop group Outkast as his favorite.

So it came as quite a surprise when the usually buttoned-down speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly and presidential candidate made a trip to the base of rock group Slank in Jl. Potlot, South Jakarta, last November.

He stood up and made the victory sign, professed to be a fan of the wildly popular group and even went so far as to sing one of their songs.

A few weeks later, Amien popped up on an entertainment TV show, saying that the proliferation of gossip-filled programs was a good thing.

What's going on?

It may not be quite desperate times calling for desperate measures, but, just as with Clinton and Clark making their carefully scripted appearances on MTV, it seemed that Amien was part of a deliberate effort to get young voters on his side -- something he denied.

The political landscape, once dominated by the almighty grouping of Golkar, has changed in recent years. Now, with the direct presidential election looming, it's individual personalities that will need to take center stage.

There will be the legislative election on April 5 and the presidential election on July 5. Twenty-four parties, compared to five in the 1999 general election, have been declared eligible.

Many say the parties have yet to become professional. Some 7,000 legislative candidates, for instance, flunked the first screening from the General Elections Commission (KPU) recently as they did not meet administrative requirements.

The opportunity presents itself for the image crafters and spin doctors to work their magic.

"It is better (for political parties) to consult with PR consultants, because elections are practical public relations, where the parties are selling something, they're distributing their platforms and that needs marketing principles," said Miranti Abidin, president director of Fortune PR.

She is also the chairwoman of The Indonesian Women's Political Caucus (KPPI) and a chairwoman of Amien's National Mandate Party (PAN).

A PR consultant helps to make a total communication strategy, which ultimately provides clear positioning of the parties, Miranti said.

"PR consultancy firms conduct research and (compile) statistics, so the result is accurate and the strategy is efficient and effective. This is very important in the elections because the political audience is very complex," she said.

"Our society is very unique. Therefore, we cannot just copy another country because the situation is very different."

A deep understanding of mass psychology is needed, she added, which has to be built up long before election day -- the culmination of all the effort.

But most politicians are not biting the PR line yet.

PAN itself only consults with its own member pool instead of using PR consultants, and Miranti said that she was not involved because she was focused instead on promoting the 30 percent quota for women in political parties.

As with PAN, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P) also counts on its own members for public relations help.

"We don't yet see the need for that. We handle that ourselves because we're the ones who best know what we need," said deputy secretary-general of PDI-P, Pramono Anung Wibowo.

PDI-P uses ad agency Eckbert for its media campaign. Owned by Triawan Munaf, the father of child singer Sherina, the agency has produced at least two TV commercials, showing PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri making Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year's greetings.

Miranti said an ad agency does not have the expertise of a PR consultant in image building and it was not enough to rely on it alone for a cohesive, well-rounded campaign.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, strongly tipped as a presidential candidate, reportedly recruited comedian Sys NS and actor Roy Marten to handle public relations.

Experience with media and being in the spotlight perhaps leads to the assumption that entertainers are image-building experts.

Sys NS, who is also an Assembly member, confirmed his involvement, saying that while Susilo was yet to nominate himself, Sys was among those people in the team that supported his candidacy.

"We don't use a PR consultant, only people who are considered Susilo's close allies," he said.

The National Awakening Party (PKB) said it recognized the importance of PR but could not afford the service.

Khofifah Indar Parawansa, a party chairwoman, said PR proposals came from about 10 different groups.

"I really want our party to have a campaign manager because we cannot handle it ourselves. We have been burdened with internal problems that led to us becoming less open minded. So, I think we'd better leave it to the experts. Unfortunately, we lack the financial backup," said the former state minister of women's empowerment.

Miranti admitted that a professional PR consultant comes at a price, "because they are paid hourly, and they handle the total communication strategy".

In that case, it's no wonder that only wealthy Golkar can afford the service.

According to one of Golkar's chairmen, Theo Sambuaga, Golkar has been using the service since the 1999 elections, in which the party won the second-highest vote total, despite the lingering connection with the disgraced New Order government.

"We're now in the middle of choosing and will soon decide which one or whom we will consult with," he said, mentioning seasoned PR figures like Ida Sudoyo and Yanti Sugarda as contenders.

PR consultants help, he said, but were not the most important factor in winning the election.

"We're very aware of the importance of image building. In this era, we need a professional institution to help us do that."

With party leader Akbar Tandjung still trying to put a multimillion dollar graft case behind him, Golkar certainly needs some help.

It may be a tall order for even the best PR firm to perform such a mountainous snow job. But at least they would be able to come up with a clear and effective strategy, instead of resorting to the current wave of cringe-inducing glad-handing and baby kissing photo ops.