Senior PR man explains economic recovery

Senior PR man explains economic recovery

Robert S. Finnegan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With 44 years of experience in the profession, Wisaksono Noeradi
is internationally recognized as a leading pioneer-practitioner
of the public relations industry in Indonesia.

Question: The Bali bombings are an unqualified disaster for
Indonesia, even if we did have competent investigators working on
it -- which we don't. What does this mean for the future in
terms of at least getting back to where we were -- in an economic
sense -- before Bali?
Answer: When the bombs rocked Bali on Oct. 12, Indonesians
immediately realized that all the hard work done to revitalize
the economy went up in smoke in Kuta.

We now live in discomfort and uncertainty as shopping malls
and office buildings are implementing increasingly intrusive
security measures. Tourism, once the backbone of our already
limping economy, is no longer able to attract visitors from other
countries due to travel advisories, warnings and bans issued by
various foreign governments. We now live in a time of loneliness,
as the world community views Indonesia with continuous suspicion
caused by our failure to timely adapt to global values.
Sounds ominous. Where should we begin to address these problems?

After the Bali attack our lives completely changed, and yet we
remain determined to continue building a new Indonesia. There is
no lack of will on the part of Indonesians, however we now need
to be introspective and realistic. As a nation we have neglected
world opinion for far too long and now we are paying for it. We
were either too confident in ourselves or just took it for
granted that the world community had no option other than to
support us, as Indonesians tend to regard and treat the
international community as an extension of the Indonesian public.

For decades outsiders never dared to express their opinions
and preferred to just say "amen" to our actions.

Five years ago when the economic crisis hit the country, some
of us woke up and became convinced that it is vitally important
to win the understanding and sympathy of the world. It was only a
year later when we entered a year of political reforms that we
began to recognize the importance of public opinion, that winning
world public opinion is a must.

Indonesia has been and continues to be in an extended period
of transition. In our haste to move forward and our concern that
we address issues that must be addressed it is easy to overlook
the advantages of being a member of the world family. We can no
longer afford independence in its traditional form as we now live
in a world of dependency.
It all started with the Asian economic crisis?

The Asian economic crisis as you well know began in Thailand
and spread to South Korea and Indonesia. Thailand and South Korea
then entered a recovery phase after a year or so, while Indonesia
was entering into a political crisis and the era of reform, the
fall of Soeharto and the accompanying euphoria of freedom.

Unfortunately, the public perception of these freedoms --
including political freedom and individual rights -- did not
include individual responsibility. Consequently, everybody wants
his or her rights. But how is this possible, when in a democracy
rights and individual responsibility go hand in hand? On top of
this flawed public perception, now instead of three political
parties there are hundreds!
What about the media?

It was incredible, overnight publications sprang up and then
went under, owing to a process of natural selection with the
public being the final judge as to who survives and who perishes.
Our purchasing power at the same time was getting weaker, so yes,
the general public made the final decisions, as it should be in a
democracy.
So the transition to democracy...

You can call it a transition or not. All the problems we are
facing now, I would say, is the "tuition" we have to pay for our
lessons on becoming a democracy. Thailand and South Korea have
fared well coming out of the economic crisis because they are not
dealing simultaneously with a political crisis as we are here.
All of a sudden we have a democracy, everybody is celebrating and
as a result the economic recovery was shoved on to the back
burner. It's the classic chicken and egg question. Which comes
first -- democracy or the economy?
Do you think that Indonesians have a firm grasp of what democracy
really is?

Not yet. Many Indonesians when speaking of democracy tend to
underline individual rights and in this respect they are only
partially correct. Are individual rights greater than collective
rights and responsibilities? Take for example honoring the right
of other people and groups to express their opinions, and even
allowing for the possibility that they may be right. Presently,
people simply refuse to acknowledge when the other guy is right.
This also applies to the leaders of all political parties.
Are there too many political parties? Do you think a two-party
system would be beneficial here?

I don't think we are ready for a two-party system. Perhaps a
multiparty system to start with. We are back again to rights and
responsibilities in a democracy. The public needs to be educated
and it is the responsibility of the government to see to it.
Through public service messages?

It's not enough. The way I see it, we need to start in the
schools as well. The media is not being responsible in this area
either. Even they seem to forget that our government was freely
elected and as such we have to either support it or change it.
Look at the political parties themselves, at the example they
set. Always quarreling. It's across the board. We need more and
better education, not only in good governance and democracy, but
the basics. Only then will we be able to progress. Why is this so
difficult to understand and implement?
Do you expect public relations to evolve also?

Certainly, but it must be coordinated, rather than done by
individuals. In order to address the problems we are facing
today, it should be a combined government and private industry
strategy. There are two audiences that should be addressed; the
"internal" and "external" audiences. We need to convince the
"internal" audience that Indonesia really needs global support.
If they don't believe this and continue to go about business in
the same manner then expatriate companies will move on to greener
pastures -- Vietnam, China, Malaysia -- our neighboring countries
that have already faced reality and are attempting to deal with
it.

Naturally, the public has their own reasons for expressing
dissatisfaction toward certain investments, however in the long
run this does not help Indonesia. This is a new phenomenon and is
part of our new democracy. Look at the Soeharto era -- there were
no labor strikes, no dissent. Of course no one wants to go back
to that, but by the same token foreign investors are now hard
pressed to deal with the changing labor environment.

And it is now the job of both the government and the private
sector to reassure the "external" audience, the foreign
investment sector, that the red tape and corruption prevalent in
the Soeharto days are no longer acceptable. This falls under the
umbrella of public relations, and it's a big one.
What about the responsibilities of the foreign corporations?

Good corporate governance is essential to both the success of
foreign business interests here in Indonesia as well as our
economy. In the old days, the corporations simply handed over
their funds budgeted for social responsibilities to certain
"public executives", and left it at that. Things have changed now
and I think corporate executives need to be reminded of this.
Many are still practicing a double standard here in Indonesia.

Look at environmental standards. Are they the same here as
they would be in California? In the U.S. they don't pollute -- or
at least they are not supposed to -- but here? Why not? What
about local hires? Funding for schools and hospitals? In all
fairness, I see some of this happening. But slowly, the loosening
of the purse strings is very slow.
Back to public relations, what kind of integrated approach would
you recommend for Indonesia?

We need to begin with educating and preparing everyone to
accept democracy as a global value. Also, we need to ask for help
from the "friends" of Indonesia. The NGOs, the universities and
the many academics that have a special interest in Indonesia. I
am sure that they would be more than willing to help.

We need to concentrate on the countries that have traditional
tourist ties to Indonesia: the Netherlands, Germany, Japan,
China, Singapore and the United States. We need all six countries
for both tourism and investment. These friends of Indonesia can
also help us by providing assistance from their own public
relations consultants. Indonesian consultants know that we cannot
work in the U.S. without the help of local consultants. We must
motivate them to help us in our campaign.

I am certain that in any country, we can find a group that
consider themselves friends of Indonesia.