Yayuk keeps everything under control

Yayuk keeps everything under control

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When first approached for an interview, Yayuk questioned her
qualifications, "am I really worth it (for an article)?" she
queried. But when looking at her contributions so far, one can
have nothing but respect for this soft-spoken woman.

"A person should have ambitions but should never be
ambitious," said Yayuk Joesmintarti Rahardjo, 43, wisely. But her
own multifarious ambitions are already on the borderline of being
overly ambitious.

She is a woman with the Midas touch. She is also restless by
nature, proven by the numerous projects she has been willing to
undertake at any one time.

Yayuk Rahardjo is a public relations professional -- a
managing partner of PR consultant Yayuk Rahardjo & Rekan -- but
she is also a patron of several music foundations.

PR-ing was an occupation that she had not chosen for herself
but one that -- in her own words -- she had been mapped out to
become.

After graduating from the French Department of the University
of Indonesia's School of Letters at 19 years old, Yayuk worked as
ticketing officer for a travel agent in Jakarta and was made
responsible for handling the account for American oil company
Mobil Oil. This was Yayuk's first brush with public relations.

After only six months, she was asked to set up a
representative office in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

"But my mother didn't approve of my working so far away and I
was forced to come back," Yayuk said.

Back in Jakarta, Yayuk worked as the sales manager for
Borobudur Hotel, a job that would polish her PR skills.

"I don't know why but my work at that time always had
something to do with PR, although I didn't work in that
department," she said.

Her human skills may have come from the experiences she
received as a dancer representing Indonesia at various
international venues.

"As the youngest member in the group, people always approached
and interviewed me, so I got used to dealing with people," Yayuk
said, explaining she had started classical Javanese and Balinese
dancing when she was just nine years old because she was such a
tomboy.

She was also a former member of Retno Maruti's Pandecwara
Javanese classical dance group.

In 1988 Yayuk set up her first PR company, Gayatri Putra &
Rahardja (GPR), the names of two of her three children.

GPR quickly expanded to become a production house, and
produced Japanese language teaching programs on private
television station RCTI and Asia's singing competition Asia Bagus
-- a program that launched Indonesian singing sensations such as
Krisdayanti and AB-Three.

During her work with GPR, Yayuk met the late conductor Yazeed
Djamin. The two later established the Indonesian Youth Orchestra.

"It was actually quite complicated. I was introduced to him
from a friend who knew him from my son's elementary school
graduation," Yayuk said.

Yayuk had organized a small music performance by students of
the school and Yazeed was acting as advisor.

"After the graduation performance, he asked me to join him in
establishing the Indonesian Youth Orchestra," she said, adding
she agreed on condition that she be allowed to watch and learn
for a year.

"I knew nothing at all about classical music, other than
passively listening to it," Yayuk said, explaining her
appreciation toward classical music had grown since her mother
had insisted her children listen to it all the time.

The 1998 economic crisis might seem to have come at an
opportune time for Yayuk, for the first time in many years she
had time to pursue other interests, and during the hiatus she
followed all Yazeed's concerts in order to learn, absorb, and
"get a feeling about what classical music is all about".

Yazeed and Yayuk established the Indonesian Youth Orchestra in
1997, whose members were students from the secondary school of
music in Yogyakarta.

"I feel that another aspect to music is that it can improve
the quality of human life. Teach people about discipline,
consistency, social awareness, and teamwork, all the things that
build a person's character," Yayuk explained the reasons for the
establishment of the youth orchestra.

Feeling that Yogyakarta was too far away to recruit for
concerts, she set up her own music school, the Indonesian Youth
Orchestra Music School. At the school, people between 6 and 25
years old were taught to play different orchestral instruments.

The school would perform concerts every six months.

"But I also found that in order to develop their fullest,
children must have the support of the whole family, that's when I
began a new institution, the Gita Niti Para Samya Foundation, in
2000," Yayuk said, explaining that the foundation introduced
music appreciation to the whole family.

"We invited noted musicians to come and play at the foundation
and at the same time to give a short lecture about the music or
the instrument they play," she said.

Going even further, Yayuk also established the Gita Niti Para
Samya music playgroup and kindergarten for children between two
and six years old.

Her contributions to the development of classical music in
Indonesia has not gone unnoticed and this year the Belgium-based
Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) awarded Yayuk's National
Youth Orchestra Indonesia (NYOI) full membership, allowing
Indonesian youths to develop their potential at international
level.

Besides her activities in the musical world, Yayuk has
continued her PR work with the establishment of Yayuk Rahardjo &
Rekan last year, concentrating on public mental health, maritime
and fisheries, and intellectual rights.

How does she juggle all those activities?

"The key is good time management," Yayuk said lightly, she
added the support of her whole family had also helped.

"My whole family is involved in the activities that I do, it's
like a family activity now," she said laughing.