The Mega metamorphosis is great but rather late

The Mega metamorphosis is great but rather late

Ong Hock Chuan, Jakarta

There has been a fundamental shift in how President Megawati
Soekarnoputri communicates. The Megawati we saw during Tuesday
night's presidential "dialog" was definitely a different one from
the Megawati in the first round of presidential dialogs weeks
ago.

Mega watchers will note that up to the last presidential
dialog she was her old self -- tentative, insecure, inarticulate
and unprepared to speak before the public. She looked and sounded
more like a dowdy housewife, happier to tend to affairs of the
household than affairs of the state.

Then something happened. By Tuesday night Megawati was still a
bit stiff, but she was doing all the right things to communicate
effectively. Gone was the horrendous handbag that she plonked in
front of the rostrum during the first dialog. Gone were the
ridiculously folded notes that she clung to. And gone was the
sense of confusion and helplessness that she greeted each
question with.

In its place was a well-prepared Megawati who looked like she
was confident, in control and in possession of the facts. This
was a Megawati who could parry the more uncomfortable questions
and deliver a message of how successful her administration has
been in effecting change.

What happened?

To a public relations practitioner, the answer is obvious:
Megawati has, at last, been media trained. In media training
executives and politicians are taught how to communicate
effectively in an interview situation, whether it is in the
format of Tuesday night's dialog or before a pack of aggressive
reporters.

There are two components to effective communication: the
content and the delivery.

The content consists of boiling down all that the interviewee
has to say into two or three main ideas that are expressed in
short, concise and memorable statements. These are called key
messages and the interviewee's job is to repeat them as often as
possible during the interview.

In Megawati's case one of the key messages was how successful
her leadership has been in introducing change. There were at
least four or five occasions during the dialog where she
expressed this idea, saying that she had successfully introduced
this law or that initiative and all that remains was merely the
implementation.

Then there is the delivery. This is as important as, if not
more than, the content. The late Ronald Reagan, who was known as
the Great Communicator, was a master at this. No matter what he
said, it seemed credible and likable. Successful delivery depends
on body language and the use of voice.

In these areas, Megawati also seems to have had a makeover.
Though she still does not come across as an animated or inspiring
orator like her father, she was noticeably better. She looked
responsive to the questions from the panelists. When confronted
with difficult questions, she answered with confidence and seemed
even to enjoy the session. Unlike the last time, where she leaned
on the rostrum, she affected good posture and was attentive. She
spoke clearly and enunciated well.

And she made eye contact with the panelists and the audience.
Although she still needs to work on sweeping the audience with
her eyes to make contact with more people, she at least did not
make the same mistake as her rival, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Like Megawati, his answers were well prepared and rehearsed but
his trainers overlooked correcting his habit of rapid eye
movements. This created the perception of shiftiness and
mitigated the effectiveness of his otherwise competent though
uninspiring delivery.

The result was a perception that Megawati came out better in
the dialog. She even appeared mildly presidential.

Will this be enough to tilt the balance at the presidential
polls on Monday? It is doubtful, as her change may be a case of
too little too late.

Whatever the outcome of the election, however, Megawati's
metamorphosis raises intriguing questions about the future of
Indonesian politics.

Like most of Indonesia's politicians, Megawati has obstinately
refused professional help in managing her public image. Yet her
performance on Tuesday night as well as in the immediate
aftermath of the bombing outside the Australian Embassy -- where
she cut short her visit to Brunei and returned to pay a symbolic
visit to ground zero and the victims in the hospital. She also
delivered a speech that expressed empathy as well as an action
plan -- a clear indication that the age of the image maker has
arrived in Indonesian politics.

From now on we will increasingly see the products of political
marketing. Politicians will increasingly be slicker and more
sophisticated in the use of public relations strategies and
tactics to win the image war, so they can win the political war.

Will this result in a more open Indonesia where its political
leaders have to communicate with the people to win their support?
Or will it mean the rise to power of the slick, ruthless
politician who's mastered the sound bite and other tricks of
persuasion but has little else to offer?

Time will tell, but in the meantime we can rejoice that there
is change in the air. Change is the result of self-realization.
Where self-realization exists, there is capacity for improvement.
This may be Megawati's lasting gift to Indonesia, no matter how
she does in Monday's presidential elections.

The writer is a Partner at PT Maverick Solusi Komunikasi, a PR
consultancy specializing in crisis/issue management as well as
brand communications. He can be reached at ong@maverick.co.id