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.