Maverick Indonesia

Click Of The Week #12: Iman D Nugroho

My friend was right, when I take a look at this blog, I thought it’s a news portal. Only, it’s packaged with more “artistic” touch.The blog belongs to a young journalist named Iman D Nugroho.
This 30 years old man is currently working as a reporter at The Jakarta Post, a free lance cameraman and a contributor for Reader’s Digest.
By the color of his blog, you can actually tell this man who loves to listen to alternative music is a dynamic and vibrant young man.
Iman gives a serious attention to his blog, he consider it as a big project of being a professional freelance journalists. What he posts in his website is basically and mostly his writings which have been posted in the newspaper or magazine he is attached to.
What makes it so interesting is his passion in photography, completes his blog to be an artistic “diary”. Series of self explanatory images which somewhat tell us a glimpse of his journey and experience.
What interests me the more is actually the name of his blog, A Journey of East Java Indonesia. If you browse through, you can see most of his writings are about current stories happening within the East Java region.

What should controversial businesses do?

It is always a dilemma for being involved in a controversial businesses. When it seems like everyone is against you and everything you do is always wrong.

An article in Asia Times, entitled Smokes Get In Your Eyes in Indonesia, written by Duncan Graham, mentioned tobacco company as quoted below:

“… Indonesia’s tobacco company don’t like being portrayed as purveyors of poisons and killers of citizens. So they have tried to boost their image through socially responsible campaigns … Another ploy is to fund educational institutions and scholarships … (they) has also started to seduce journalists with media awards equal in most cases to six months’ salary for the average reporter …”

The question that crossed my mind instantly was: ‘What about the mining company who allocate significant amount of money to help preserved the environment?’ or ‘Are fast-food restaurants should be banned from supporting national children’s health program?’

I think as what other ‘responsible’ companies do, these controversial businesses also want to give back to the community, but people are always skeptical towards their efforts. This is where a clear guidance on what companies can and cannot do in terms of doing social activities is needed.

The government should also be consistent and clear on what controversial industries are allowed or not allowed to do, especially when it comes to promotion and marketing activities. Therefore, they can go on operating their business activities without having to worry about possible disruption.

What do you think? Any suggestions, everyone?

Salute to Dewa…!

Last Friday, when I got home a bit late, I spotted a pretty familiar face on TV; it’s on Om Farhan’s show, to be exact.

That day, Om Farhan did not invite celebrities or other prominent figures to his show. As opposed to that, he exposed those faces that are usually hidden behind their huge camera: ANTV reporters. I didn’t watch the show since the very beginning, but as I arrived, I saw Dewa’s face on screen.

I met Dewa ocassionally in several events. He is a big and tall guy with friendly smile who always stands out in the crowd. As a reporter in ANTV, Dewa sometimes come over to Maverick client’s public activities—mainly entertainment and urban activities. And sometimes sport. Thus, I was a bit surprised to see Dewa in Om Farhan that night, since Om Farhan was discussing about dedication in journalism, the risks and dangers awaited the journalists, and some ‘breath-taking’ moments that happened while they’re performing their job.

I gasped when I heard the story that actually Dewa was once being beaten by Brimob officials in Kotaraja, Papua, while reporting the succession of Kasat Brimobda Papua. This incident has also been reported in Seri Papua Aktual no. 5 published by Sekretariat Keadilan & Perdamaian Keuskupan Jayapura in June 2006 (p.16). I texted Dewa that night, and gave him a salute. Dewa replied humbly to that: ”Wow, I’m so ashamed. Hehehe. I don’t know that people will watch tonight’s show…”

I believe that there are lots of other ‘Dewa’ out there. Dedicated journalists who are just trying to perform their duty, and received unlikely treatment from opposing parties—a treatment that violate human rights; a treatment that could risk the journalists’ life. It reminds me of Kompas Cyber Media’s senior editor’s comment, Mas Cahyo Sasongko, on last year’s World Press Freedom Day. “Yang pasti, wartawan Indonesia itu many threats, less protection. Ada 3 unsur pelindung sekaligus ancaman: owner, state and society. Kita bermain di 3 unsur ini.”

However, we hope that threats experienced by Indonesian journalists won’t reduce their spirit to speak up and tell the truth to the whole wide world. Because we need transparency. Because we need to know the truth about what’s happening out there. And oftentimes, in this country, you’ve got to pay a very expensive price just for telling the truth.

What a shame.

Budi Putra is no longer in Tempo

Budi Putra, a journalist of Tempo, has no longer worked in the publication. He decided to become an independent writer, specializes in issues on technology for printed and online media abroad.

“I learned a lot during my five years in Tempo”, he says. “Now is the time for me to move ahead and realize two of my passions, which are to be an independent writer and a full time blogger”.

A full time blogger? “Yes, why not? We need someone who is brave enough to declare him/herself as a full-time blogger”, he says. Blog is a new communication tool and sooner or later will become more powerful. “I want to encourage Indonesians to take part in the development of this new tool”.

“Apart from that, now I have more time to enjoy life. FYI, now I’m in Bandung, enjoying a lovely afternoon with my family”, he says. Oowwwhh.. that’s so nice. I envy you, mas Budi!

Although now he’s no longer with Tempo, he will still be a contributor for Tempo’s blog. He’s also actively blogging at CNET Asia, Asia Tech, 3GWeek, The Gadget, Blog Jurnalisme and Indonesia Tech.

Good luck, Mas Budi. All the best for you yaaah!! And please, since now you have more free time, come and visit us at the orange house!

Click Of The Week #11: Taufik Almubarak

A friend recommends Nia to check this blog, he insist that Nia will like the postings. Not to mention that this blog is quite different. This blog belongs to a young Aceh journalist who is currently running a tabloid called SUWA: Taufik Almubarak.
SUWA was established in November last year and focused in politics.
Taufik hopes that SUWA will be an alternative reading for the public in Aceh. Although the tabloid is rather new, writing has been Taufik passion for a long time. He used to have a column in bulletin@boleh.com, he also written articles for Sinar Harapan and Serambi Indonesia.
Nia thinks that his opinion and writing styles are very different from other articles about politic in general. “The story flows as if you’re reading a novel, even it’s all politics but very catchy and not too heavy. It’s more of a story telling which makes me want to know more and more.”
Another plus point for his writing is, as an Acehnesse he gives a different insight of what is going on in Aceh. “My favorite posting is: Subuh Berdarah (Bloody Morning). After I read it, I kept on saying, “My God… is this really happening in our country? What kind of childhood are these kids having? How will they live to tell these things? And such an emotional experience they have to go through at such tender age.”

Coffee, Tea … and Interview!

As a PR consultancy, one of the services given by Maverick to its clients is Media Handling Skills—a one-day training on the characteristic on Indonesian media, how to deal with media, how to communicate your messages and get it across, and on top of that: a simulation of one-on-one interview to sharpen several interview techniques. This is exactly what we’ve done for our NGO friends since 2006. Based on references from clients and other NGOs, we invite several NGOs every 1-2 months, to have a free training on the above subject.

Yesterday, we were honored to have Mas Hamid and Mbak Yuni from PIRAC, Mas Aziz from Telapak, and Mas Yudhis from Yayasan Tunas Cendekia in our media handling training for NGOs. As media’s point-of-contact in their organizations, during the training we also had several interview simulations to furthermore boost their confidence and skills in interacting with journalist friends. Turned out, this interview simulation becomes one of the most exciting (or excruciating?) session that day.

Pak Hamid from PIRAC was laughing out loud as he saw his tape on screen, because he found out that he kept on playing with his hands on his lap, and that his chair was swiveling frantically. “I didn’t realize that I actually did that!” he said, giggling. And Mas Yudhis from Tunas Cendekia bursted out laughing in the middle of an interview session, when the question got a bit tough. ”Wow, if this thing happened in an actual interview, probably they will scream: commercials!!!”

After those simulations, we had a lively chat over coffee, tea, and snacks, where the three NGOs started to share their experience in dealing with the media; and asked some questions about the characteristic of the media and its journalists. Since I was conducting this training with Rommy, an ex-journalist himself, the chat became even more interesting!

We do hope that yesterday’s training could be of use for our NGO friends in their future contacts with media and journalists. And if you happened to know some NGOs that needed help in their communication and PR skills, please do not hesitate to contact us. We’ll be happy to invite you to our Orange House and have another media handling session over coffee and delicious snacks.

Selling the country

On Friday, 23 February 2007, we got Muhammad Al Aula for sharing session. He is a young diplomat from Indonesian Department of Foreign Affair. The two-hour discussion was so hot and lively, that we forgot there was another event to attend to.We discussed many things, especially his experience as a diplomat. He shared with us what are the responsibilities of a diplomat. But in this session he gave more emphasis on public diplomacy — communicating Indonesian foreign policy toward the Indonesian citizens first.

When we hear about that, we just thought how complicated the role of diplomats. They must make complicated decisions, and still they have to balance the national interest with public opinions established by the press.

It is quiet interesting to know how the department of foreign affair is doing their job. One of which interest me is how they approach prominent and influential leaders through a “breakfast meeting” to create awareness, change perception, and drive action. Well, to this part, it sounds pretty much like a PR practitioner — in a sense that we also like to treat certain people for lunch or diner of course.

I think it is a good step to communicate to the public about Indonesian foreign policy. As the Indonesian society is patriarchic, people would believe respected individual leader, rather than the mass media for instance.

Aula also share that Department of Foreign Affair has been reforming itself for many years. Unfortunately they don’t socialize very well which make people’s perception the department stand still.

From the discussion, we can also learn that they haven’t really pushed the envelop, as they have so much potential, partly because the short numbers of diplomats. I hope in the future Department of Foreign Affair is more proactive to communicate what they have done, and why they make such measures.

But most important is what Aula calls the second track diplomacy. Any Indonesian can be the ambassador of the country, through interactions with people from other countries. Thus, every Indonesian must understand the nation’s foreign policy, so we can achieve the goal together.

Sounds like a great idea, isn’t it?

*written by Tuhu

FEMALOGRAPHY: a photo exhibition by Jerry Aurum

Jerry Aurum, a young and talented Indonesian photographer, finally holds his photo exhibition in Indonesia. Themed “Femalography”, this photo exhibition will be held in Senayan City from February 23rd – March 11th, 2007.

Jerry held his first international photo exhibition in September 2006 in Singapore. On the same day, he also launched the “Femalography” book. The book was chosen as “The 2nd Best Recommended Book” by Borders Bookstore, Singapore. What an achievement!

In yesterday’s press conference, Jerry said that in his artworks he positioned women as the subjects, not as objects. When asked, “How do you choose your models? It seems that all of your models are beautiful young celebrities in Indonesia”.

Jerry said, “That’s not true. Actually, in the Femalography book and photo exhibition there are more ordinary women than the famous ones. For me, the most important thing in choosing a model is that the model has to be able to express herself. So, it doesn’t matter whether she’s famous or not. She also doesn’t have to be skinny or has a perfect body image”.

For the past 5 years, Jerry has been preparing the Femalography project. More than 100 people from different background contributed in the project. Rachel Maryam, Aline, Dian Sastro, Dinna Olivia, Endhita, Adella Aletta, VJ Cathy, Indah Kalalo were voluntarily posing for Jerry. If it’s not because of his talents, for sure these celebrities won’t participate in Femalography.

“There are not many Indonesian photographers publish a book. So, in Indonesia, we don’t have that much literature or reference in photography. So, it’s very good that Jerry decided to publish a book of his artworks. His artworks are impressive”, said Andi Dewanto, a journalist of Tempo magazine.

For those who love photography, you can drop by at the Exhibition Space, Senayan City to enjoy 40 photographs by Jerry Aurum. The Femalography book is now available at Kinokuniya and Aksara bookstores.

Visit: www.jerryaurum.com