Maverick Indonesia

Will CSR (in Indonesia) loose its spirit?

Investor daily today, published an article on the government plan to issue the regulation on CSR practices.

The source in the article said that only 2% companies in Indonesia apply CSR. This reflected the low awareness of CSR practice among business players and the fact that CSR is not the matter they even consider about.

From my side, CSR is no longer responsibility when the government is involved in regulating it. Agree with Faisal Basri who was quoted in the article, he said, “With the government’s regulation, CSR would then loose its spirit”

Looking at the above small percentage, I believe the more important thing that government should do is a thorough examination on how to boost the number of CSR practitioners (companies) in Indonesia, without creating the sense of ordering people to do so.

The key word is ‘the awareness’, how to raise awareness is not as simply as issuing stiff regulation. Continuous and keen commitment from government to encourage companies could be translated into series of communications program or campaign.

The essence of CSR is the commitment from the companies to create better living in the society by putting your continues effort in it. CSR is no longer taken as the company’s cost but it is the investment for the future of the company itself.

Thus, I personally believe CSR is not the task that people can order you to do.

I can imagine many companies would only practicing CSR just for the sake of fulfilling their obligation to the government, that’s it! No sincere commitment from the companies to bring the betterment for the community they operate in.

If that happens, better use other terms then. How about Corporate Good ‘Responsibilities’?

(image was taken from corbis, with keyword: social responsibility)

Malaysia Tourism Board, Disappointing

Malaysia Tourism Board invited over 190 journalists from all over the world to witness the opening of Floral Festival 2007, which was part of the Visit Malaysia 2007 program.

From Indonesia, 17 journalists from 10 media – 7 printed media, 3 tv stations — followed the 5 days trip in Malaysia (Jan 25th to 30th). I got a chance to represent SCTV to go there together with Anca Leksmana (producer) and Bambang Triyono (cameraman). Being invited by the Malaysia Tourism Board, I had a high expectation that it would be a fun and easy trip, in the sense of we would get easy access to explore interesting places in the country.
However, it surprised me that in most of the places written on the itinerary, we couldn’t shoot anything! Actually, when we just arrived at the hotel, the first thing I asked to the Senior Tourism Officer of Malaysia Tourism Board was a simple letter stating that they invited SCTV to come to promote the country for Visit Malaysia 2007, in case we needed it. But, to write such letter, the officer said that they needed two weeks time! Geezz.. Why does it take so long to write a simple letter? I understand bureaucracy might be complicated, but couldn’t they make it simpler to ease the work of the journalists?

So, we were there for 6 days, had an itinerary on hands that looks fabulous from outside but useless. For example, there was a shopping tour program for 5 hours in 2 shopping malls and IKEA. But then, in these malls, it was forbidden to shoot anything. As journalists who work for a TV station, what’s the point going there if we couldn’t record anything? We came to Malaysia to work, not for holidays. We are not tourists.

Another small example, we were scheduled to have lunch at a revolving restaurant at KL Tower. We also couldn’t shoot there and the manager even had no idea that a TV station from Indonesia would come. Being in KL Tower, the 4th tallest tower in the world, it would be such a waste if we couldn’t shoot some scenes from the top of the tower. So, we contacted the PR of KL Tower by ourselves. I got her number from a French journalist who works in KL. We got a good response from her as she realized that it would be a good exposure for KL Tower. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and it was such a short notice. She could only assign a customer service to take us to see the facilities that they have and shoot there. If we contacted her earlier (on the workdays), then she could have arrange a tour to the top of the tower, which is not a public area. Wouldn’t it be amazing?

She wanted the Tourism Board to contact her to confirm that it was true SCTV came on behalf of their invitation. So, we asked the representative of the board to call her. Apparently, she already contacted the Tourism Board in KL herself. And this caused a little bit of a crisis in the board (Malaysia and Indonesia offices). The representative of the board from Indonesia who brought us there, called us up saying that her boss was angry at her and now she looked so stupid and unprofessional in doing her job. So, she warned us not to contact any parties directly in the future. Oh great! Being journalists on a TV station, our job is to get a good picture and produce a good show. If the board didn’t do their homework in arranging permit to shoot in any places, then as journalists, it was our instinct to contact the party directly. Especially, when we could get direct access to the party (journos always know how to get direct access, right?

Being a PR myself, I couldn’t believe how the Malaysia Tourism Board didn’t understand what the media needed. A TV station doesn’t need to go to IKEA and eat at a fancy restaurant if they couldn’t get any story (and picture) out of it. Plus, there are so many nice places in Malaysia that actually we could explore for 5 days, apart from staying in Kuala Lumpur only! Too bad the board didn’t allow us to go outside KL (only to Genting Highlands and Putrajaya). They should’ve created a program highlighting the best spots in the country and most importantly, arranged a permit in each of the places so that we could shoot there freely.

Plus, we got a tour guide that had no experience in guiding the media. She made our days even harder as she always forbids us to shoot here and there, even in Petaling Street (China Town)! Ckckck.. (but we tried to convince her that it was ok to shoot there and if anything bad happens , we wouldn’t blame her. Oyeah, we also managed to drag her to take us to Batu Caves Temple after the Genting Highlands trip. Batu Caves wasn’t included in the itinerary, but we had to go there, otherwise we wouldn’t have enough images/stories for the show due to all the limitations)

So, 5 days in KL, we felt frustrated. Frustated by the board and… by the tour guide! Hopefully, next year the board does their homework well and knows the needs of each type of the media. If not, it would be such a waste to invite many journos from all over the world if they couldn’t maximize their work during their stay there.

Now you know how frustated we were when filming the show. This is a behind the screen story . The “Melancong Yuk” Malaysia episodes will be aired on Saturday, 3 February and Sunday, 4 February at 6.30am in SCTV.
It will be 2 different episodes, full of hard work and lots of candid shots. So, make sure you watch both of them!

An update on the “Media calls for a boycott to a PR firm”

After two and a half weeks from the date of the boycott calls email spread by Rachmat Baihaki, a journalist from Seputar Indonesia newspaper, today we received a forwarded response email from Indo Pacific. Here they are:

Rekan-rekan yang terhormat,

Terima kasih atas berbagai masukan berharga yang diberikan pada perusahaan kami melalui mailing list ini. Dengan rendah hati, semua masukan tersebut kami terima dengan baik untuk lebih meningkatkan layanan kami di masa yang akan datang.

Sehubungan dengan hal tersebut, berikut kami lampirkan penjelasan dari Management Indo Pacific dengan harapan dapat memberikan klarifikasi atas permasalahan yang ada.

Semoga hubungan kerja antara Indo Pacific dan rekan media akan terus berlanjut dengan baik di masa datang.

Salam,
Fannie Waldhani, Indo Pacific

Dear all:

I wanted to take this opportunity to give a few words of explanation to the recent issues regarding an invitation-only media event that Indo Pacific Reputation Management Consultants held for our client.

Firstly I wanted to apologize to the media who were declined admission at the limited media briefing. Perhaps Indo Pacific did not handle or explain the situation as best it could have to those who were not invited, so I sincerely apologize if you were upset at being denied admission.

We are fully aware that the media are very critical to our success here in Indonesia.
We would never intentionally insult or upset any of our media colleagues with whom we work so closely.

However it is important to be aware that as public relations consultants we walk a middle road. On one hand supporting and advising our clients on the best communications strategies, knowing particular corporate situations and challenges. On the other hand we attempt to ensure that the news we present is professional and newsworthy so that we can gain your support and maximize our clients’ media coverage.

All public relations consultants use various strategies to advise their clients, from large scale media events to one on one interviews and a mixture in between.

In this case, Indo Pacific jointly with the client agreed (and differing from an incorrect comment that was passed through the mailing list), on a limited scale invitation-only media briefing. All public relations consultants face a dilemma when confronted with this strategy. So many important media! Which ones to invite? Which ones to leave out?

However we have to make a valued judgment at the time. On the day of the event, sometimes we have allowed one of two more media in to events who were not invited, but on this occasion we agreed that we would abide by our decision.

I see it was having a group of 50 friends, but on one day you only invite 8 to dinner. The others may hear about dinner, but certainly do not turn up, nor do they get offended. This is the way that we, as public relations professionals view this type of strategy.

I also read in one of the emails about the ‘bules’ not understanding the media culture here in Indonesia. I can assure you that we are very aware to cultural sensitivities, whether it is the ‘bules’ or the majority of our Indonesian professionals. But I can assure you that the same strategies are used in every country. Indo Pacific certainly did not create the concept of an invitation-only media event.

Yes we have to build close relationships with our media colleagues but we also have our clients to protect. Sometimes it is a very difficult middle road to walk.

So I hope you understand Indo Pacific’s position, being no different from any other professional public relations firm in Indonesia or elsewhere.

Again I apologize to those media who were upset. We certainly did not have any intention to do so.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to long and close relationships with you all over the coming years.

Chadd McLisky
Founder and Shareholder Indo Pacific

Lapindo Could Have Been More Responsible

Mudflow spreading from a gas drilling in Sidoarjo has now become a disaster. Thousands of displaced persons are seeking refuge in shelters. Many afraid that diseases emerge from lack of sanitation will start to take life. During his visit to the affected area in Sidoarjo last Tuesday (20/6), Vice President Jusuf Kalla called Lapindo Brantas to be responsible for the damage the company inflicted thus far.

Why now? Why we ask for a company’s responsibility only after disasters occur?

This is actually reflected in the way we tend to define corporate social responsibility. For many Indonesian, CSR often equals to community development. That is why, when people think of CSR, what comes across to their mind is activities like donations, community involvement, or even capacity building to community.

On the contrary, CSR should not only be limited merely to company’s external social activities. But it should also be reflected in the ways in which a company posits itself within the community and how it conduct a business within a society. CSR should be incorporated in a company’s business strategy.

If we have this mindset, CSR would also include various issues like company internal regulations, accountability and transparency, as well as corporate governance. Also included are procedures to prevent accident, and standard measures should be taken suppose accidents occur. All of these will be developed to prevent surrounding community suffer negative consequences from such work-related accidents. CSR will also become a tool for a company to prevent major disaster like what we have currently in Surabaya.

Regardless the result of police investigation, Lapindo Brantas has failed to have a good CSR policy. The damage has been done. The company has to bear the consequences of the devastating mudflow that now has covered hectares of land and crippled the environment and economy in the area.

All of these could have been prevented.

Media calls for a boycott to a PR Firm

On Thursday, June 15, 2006, Rakhmat Baihaqi, a journalist from Seputar Indonesia daily, launched a widespread e-mail barrage that has quickly inundated numerous communications and media-related mailing lists with comments. His e-mail calls on his fellow Stock Exchange journalists to boycott one of the oldest Public Relations (PR) firm operating in Jakarta, Indopacific. This whole fiasco started when Rakhmat Baihaqi and his fellow journo Ardian from Detikcom were denied entrance to a media briefing organized by Indopacific. In the e-mail, he claims that a Public Relations Officer from Indopacific didn’t allow him and his colleague to enter the Sari Husada media briefing because the event was limited to 8 media only.

Rakhmat further expressed his anger and disappointment in his e-mail. According to him, the PRO knows him very well and for him it is an absolute insult to be turned-down and treated like what he refers to as ‘media ecek-ecek’ or “small insignificant media” that only gets called whenever Indopacific conduct a light event such as product launch for their clients. Even worse, for Ardian, this is the third time he has been rejected by the same PR firm.

Radityo Djadjoeri, moderator of the mediacare mailing list, believes that if the boycott call is accepted by other journalist, it would create such a panic for Indopacific, as mounts of press releases sent from them would go straight into the garbage bin. “Imagine if no journalist showed-up in the press event conducted by Indopacific; if this really happens, it would become such a tragedy for the Indonesian public relations history,” added Radityo in his email. But interestingly, he also wrote that this is only a minor case and questioned whether it is needed to call for a boycott since it was only “miscommunications matter” from the PRO. He suggested that Rakhmat talk to the PRO or vice versa. “I am sure it’s just a small mistake. PRO is also human being after all,” he said.

In his e-mail Radityo also included quotes from an anonymous PR practitioner, who said that people should not make a big deal of the case. The source, he said, stressed that the ‘bules’ or expats working in Indonesia must really understand the ‘Indonesian approach’ in doing things because what works in Europe or US, could be the opposite in this country. (I hardly see the relevance of his opinion on the case, though! Perhaps the context was excluded from the email…) Furthermore, the PR practitioner added that the reason could also be that the PRO is under lots of stress, which resulted in certain rudeness to the journalists. “If she used more appropriate wordings, the journalists might not be insulted,” he said.

Next comments comes in the mailing list was from Anggun_unggun@yahoo.com, who obviously put herself (or himself?) on the Indopacific side. Anggun changed the original subject of the email from ‘Ajakan Boikot Indopacific’ (Boycott calls for Indopacific) to a much more friendly subject ‘Wartawan Love Indopacific’ (Journalists Loves Indopacific). Anggun expressed her concern and also said it was not a big deal. “No need to react with such ‘iron move’ by the journalist,” she wrote in her e-mail. She urged the people concerned to learn from what happened and not to solve such miscommunications with arrogance.

Mas Irom, mas_jayus@yahoo.com wrote that indeed miscommunications sometimes happen between PR and media, but he didn’t understand why they limit the number of media to attend a press event? Shouldn’t every journalist have equal access? If everything is done in the right way, it would not affect the PR budget whatsoever.

We believe that there always two sides of every story, and what’s been heavily discussed has been the disgruntled journos side that was poured into an email that has spread so quickly in lightning speed. Surprisingly though that until this is posted in our blog Indopacific has not released any statement through cyberspace nor other channel to respond to the allegations.

Yes indeed… this case is a good learning for all of us…
Will keep you posted if there’s any interesting development on the story.

Good Things Always Start From Good Discussions

I participated in a CSR training organized jointly by Ikatan Akuntasi Indonesia (IAI) and CSR Asia last week. The training went for two whole days. It was very interesting and very fruitful.

It was started with the presentation and Q&A of what is CSR. Not surprisingly, CSR means different thing to different person. But Erin, our facilitator from CSR Asia, correctly emphasized that it is the ‘sustainability’ factor that separates CSR from other social activities conducted by private companies.

Noke Kiroyan of Newmont Pacific Nusantara delivered his speech after lunch. He noticed the tendency to closely associate CSR with Community Development (CD) in Indonesia. This is interesting since CD often involves huge amount of money, and in many cases only big companies have the luxury of having such program.

Does it mean that CSR is only for big, and mostly extractive, companies?

A lot of people in Indonesia have this question in their head. We, at Maverick, actually have been working to find a way on how to make CSR works for small and medium enterprises. We believe that corporate should move into a new terrain that is called Corporate Social Leadership (CSL). In CSL, we believe that CD activities should always be aligned to a company’s core business and expertise.

In fact, we have been implementing our own CSL program through communication capacity building training with several non-profit organizations.

Richard Welford, the other facilitator from CSR Asia, attempted to broaden our mind on the second day by emphasising that CSR should not only be limited to external activities, but also internal issues. CSR should also be incorporated in corporate policies. It means that CSR should also be reflected in their daily operation. This can be as simple as thinking about recycling your printer toner to providing a decent working condition for your employees.

Reporting is another issue that companies tend to forget. CSR is not a charity that when one hand does, the other hand should not know. CSR requires transparency and accountability. Therefore, reporting CSR becomes the next logical step that a company should consider. Reporting is actually process that leads into different kinds of report – media coverage, annual report, or even blog. Therefore, in reporting you also have to engage your stakeholders.

All in all, it was a training packed with good and eager participants. What has been lacking from this kind of event is actually the government. Companies have increasingly been interested in helping the government to conduct their obligation to the people through community development program; what should the government do to facilitate this?

Are PR people taking over the blogosphere?

Jeremy Wagstaff has raised an inportant issue in his Loose Wire Blog on worldwide PR firm Edelman’s deal with Technorati. Essentially the deal is to offer localized versions of Technorati’s offering in German, Korean, Italian, French and Chinese.

This deal allows Edelman to get into the analytics of tracking conversations in the blogosphere, but being a typical journalist Jeremy worries whether this means that PR people have taken over the conversation.

It is an understandable suspicion but one founded more on the misperception that PR people are into spin, that they are still stuck in the mode of command-and-control one-to-many communications and that they haven’t realised that they are there to present only a good image of companies, no warts and all.

Just like there are bad journalists, there are bad PR practitioners who do all those awful stuff. They give PR a bad name. To be fair there are lots of awful PR practitioners around, just like the tons of mediocre and horrible journalists.

But where the best PR practitioners are concerned, it has always been and will always be about getting our clients to communicate with credibility — with or without the blogosphere. read more