Traditional values often cause inefficiency: Cacuk

Traditional values often cause inefficiency: Cacuk

JAKARTA (JP): Deeply rooted traditional values often cause
inefficiency in Indonesia's business practices, a noted
businessman said here yesterday.

Bank Mega's president Cacuk Sudarijanto told members of the
Indonesian chapter of the International Advertising Association
that some traditional philosophies, such as the Javanese,
encouraged passivity and conformity which hindered initiatives
toward efficiency.

"Many people, for example, still live by the Javanese
expression alon-alon asal kelakon' (slowly but surely)," he said
at the association's monthly power breakfast meeting.

Cacuk, a former president of the state-owned PT Telekomunikasi
Indonesia (Telkom), said these values were irrelevant now, as
they were inherited from the colonial period.

He said the process of cultural transformation had been slower
in Indonesia because of its long years under colonial rule.

During the Dutch colonial period, it was necessary to adopt
this kind of philosophy to maintain a low profile, he said.

"But we are now living in a competitive era where efficiency
is the rule of the game. We should adopt the universal values of
striving for efficiency," he said.

Certain customs and traits such as bureaucratic inertia, lack
of a sense of teamwork, poor time management, avoidance of
conflict and inadequate appreciation of quality standards, must
be transformed into more professional values, he said.

Professional values included skilled entrepreneurship, good
teamwork, constructive problem solving, standardized quality,
strong loyalty, and efficient and hard working habits, he said.

He said he was optimistic that Indonesia, by transforming its
culture -- by adopting more professional values -- could improve
its efficiency to compete internationally.

The young generation was already showing signs of adopting
professional values, he said.

"The foreign-educated offspring of the country's businessmen,
for example, have adopted Western rationality and professionalism
without abandoning their oriental mores," he said.

Yesterday's meeting discussed the challenge of globalization
and work ethics in the marketing and advertising professions.
(das)