Defense Minister Juwono has started blogging

Corporate communicators, journalists and PR hacks in Indonesia take note: your Defense Minister has just started blogging. What are you going to do about it?

If conversations with professional communicators in Indonesia are anything to go by, the answer is probably nothing. The typical attitude, especially for those over 40, is that blogs are for angst-filled teenagers writing syrupy prose and bad poetry on the Net.

They couldn’t be more wrong. Blogs are very likely to change the way businesses and organizations and businesses communicate, especially when it comes to crisis and issues management. The rise of the blogging phenomenon as a potential force in society is well documented in publications such as Fortune, Tom Freidman’s The World is Flat and Naked Conversations, a book co-authored by Robert Scoble, best known as Microsoft’s appointed blogger, and Shiel Israel.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono has apparently taken all this seriously and has started blogging from April. So far he’s made five postings, the first was personal and on the arrival of his grandson. His other postings were about the US Secretary of Defence, development planning and the debate on Pancasila.

His last posting, however, is particularly interesting from a issues management point of view and can be a precursor of how businesses, organizations and personalities may try to engage their detractors in the future.

Titled Military Businesses and the Reform Process, Juwono rebuts the points raised by a Human Rights Watch report of June 2006 called Too High a Price: The Human Rights Costs of the Indonesian Military’s Economic Activities.

So what does he achieve?

Read more

BBC Jakarta New Correspondent

Welcome to Indonesia Lucy Williamson.

Lucy just arrived from London on Monday last week, replacing Rachel Harvey who’s now back in London doing grown up reporting for BBC Domestic TV. A little tip about Indonesia, it’ll be useful after you finish your Bahasa Indonesia course in Yogya. Things might be too calm and almost boring here at some points but never lose your guard, cause when you least expecting it a mountain might suddenly decide to erupt or the sea might want to take a too closer look at the land and take people for a violent swim in the process.

Well those are the clear examples. There is also daily confusing news you’ll have to deal with, like…. police caught someone related to terrorism: is he a suspect or just a witness, is he detained or arrested is he even dead or alive…you’ll see.

Surely you will have lots of fun here. At least we have 13.776 beautiful islands for you to travel (some underwater during high tide) and about thousand gazillion people who care about everything and nothing at the same time.

Good Luck and see you around

Syarina

Bye Bye BBC Chicks

Three and a half years in Indonesia, Rachel and Becky flew back home yesterday(June 26th 2006). Yes, those foreign correspondents come and go all the time, but this time it was damn difficult for me trying not to cry.

I worked with them since they arrived here in 2002 till about 3 months ago.

Those chicks are the best people you could ever work with, smart, funny, a bit crazy, caring, respectful to others (it’s a rare quality and a very important one when you have to travel everywhere and meet all kind of people and get stories out of them) and what great talents!

I’ve never seen a reporter like Rachel who could do rants about anything on camera (try, ask her to talk about dog poo, for example) for I don’t know, a full 2 minutes?! Without a single emmm or eeerrr or repeating information. She’s always so smooth and clear. The only time I saw her choked was when she did a radio stand up on the roof top of an only building left standing in Kampung Jawa, Banda Aceh looking out to the totally tsunami wiped out village and tried to put what she saw into words.

Girl, you are an awesome gob on a stick ;D

And Becky…everybody loves Becky. She surely knows her way around all those cables and fancy broadcasting equipments. That is one girl who can do everything. BBC’s producer who’s always ready to help anyone in those too often chaotic moments for TV and Radio and make things right, but then we all know it wouldn’t be broadcasting without things getting screwed up with no apparent reason once in a while. And I was always ready to supply her with a nice kretek fag when things got a bit too much.

For me they’re a lot more than just people I worked with. You can’t possibly spent more than 3 years traveling all over Indonesia together, sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags, running out of rooms in the middle of nights because of earthquakes, listening to people’s dramatic stories from one island to another, drinking beers, playing cards, arguing, and a lot of other things without feeling close to each other.

So now Rachel soon will appear on BBC News 24, and be famous. Becky will be a producer for BBC World Service Radio..and I’ll be working here in Maverick. It’s the end of an era for BBC Jakarta office….he he

It was a great 31/2 years Bubu n Bebek, thanks to you both.

I know you guys will do fantastic back in London and you don’t need no luck for that.

I miss you guys so much…

Bu bu loo

Thoughtful gestures from our clients

We’ve received lots of ‘thank you’ phone calls and emails from our clients because of the ‘coffee packages’ we sent them yesterday.

And surprisingly, this morning we received a hamper full of ‘nasi uduk’ from Citigroup Indonesia’s Corporate Affairs Team! What a thoughtful gesture.

Being well known for their big appetites, the Mavericks couldn’t resist themselves from finishing the scrumptious meals sitting on the table. Here’s a snapshot.... (before we pig out, that is! ☺)

Maverick 4th Anniversary

On June 2002, Maverick was born with just 6 personnel on board. Four years had passed and Maverick has succeeded to grow bigger, stronger and crawling its path to be a foremost PR firm in Indonesia.

Each year, we celebrate our anniversary with a conventional client gathering, which doesn’t sound too Mavericky, but since we’re in the people business, then getting our partners together in these occasions seem appropriate enough.

This year, on our 4th anniversary, we decided to do something else: Send COFFEE to our clients; 4 bags of fine coffee from Java, Toraja, Aceh, and Flores.

Why coffee? The philosophy is that choosing the right Public Relations firm for you is very much like picking out great coffee beans.

You start by trusting your instinct; using smell and sight. Pick the freshest beans that suit your taste, perhaps a local variety that is sought international due to its quality.

This month we celebrate Maverick’s fourth anniversary and we want to thank our clients, business partners and the media for your continuous support. We hope that this rewarding relationship will continue to grow as Maverick moves beyond its fourth year.

Something to be proud of

The thing I'm proudest of is to be able to leave the office for two or three weeks with almost no contact and enjoy peace of mind while I'm on holiday since I know that when I get back the office will still be shipshape.

I think its one of the highest achievements a business proprietor could hope for: a kick ass office that runs itself. It wasn't always like this and Maverick took three years before we managed to begin shaping a team that works like a dream machine. I think this is because my partner Lita and I learned from our mistakes and refused to compromise on quality.


The people we recruit are usually signed on to a 6-month contract. During this time they prove themselves. We use a Caree Journal that the staff fill in themselves. There are all sorts of parameters we've put in. One of them is a record of how much the staff network. Another is a record of the books they've read for the months they've been with us. Then they are asked to evaluate themselves in terms of professional skills, interpersonal skills, creativity and drive. We then have a discussion with them to see if our perception agrees or differs from theirs in these crucial areas for a successful PR carreer.

Those who score satisfactory overall may have their terms extended so they can prove themselves. Only those tho score good or extraordinary get recruited. We repeatr this process every six months. Each timethe staff builds on their journal entries and we check our perceptions against one another.

This method of performance evaluation has proven extremely effective. One other thing that Lita and I have done is to be stoic about insisting on both attitude and perofrmance. Our experience is that staffers will work out only if they have both the right attitude and performance. If they have one without the other the organization is looking for trouble if it settles for them.

The result is that we have a team that I'm extremely proud of. I'ts a team whose productivity, gung ho and kick-ass attitude places them way above many other Indonesian organizations. I'm also willing to wager their efficacy against foreign PR firms.

So what this really means is that I can enjoy my holiday and that's what life should be about. I hope that Lita and I can swing it so that when the time is right they can alsy have as good a holiday as us while the others in teh office cover for us.

So, some photos as a tribute to the hardworking Mavericks in Jakarta.

Do You Believe in Blog?

“I don’t read blogs. People I know don’t read blogs. I don’t think blogs mean that much. Or probably I’m just too old for that.” (President Director of one of the biggest pharmaceutical manufacturer; an informal conversation during networking events)

Mavericks read blogs. Furthermore, we believe in blogs.

That’s the reason why we decided to go blogging at the first place. Though some corporation people are still skeptical about blogs, the trend keeps emerging.

Hermawan Kartajaya, the marketing guru, has his own blog. So does Al Ries and Laura Ries, the author of The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR. Even Business Week has published a long article (the article looks like blog postings) explaining why you must start blogging now. Moreover, this reputable business magazine has also launched their own blog called blogspotting.net.

NIKE, a well-known brand in the world, have tried a new medium for their advertising and marketing communications. Yes, a blog! Cooperating with Gawker Media, a small company that operates blogs about culture and politics, Nike-Gawker launched their ad-blog: Art of Speed. Through this blog, Nike showcased the work of 15 talented young filmmakers commissioned to interpret the idea of speed—and The New York Times carry the news.

Of course, not all blog are worth reading. But if you could find blogs written by opinion leaders, who use them to talk directly to your public, you will find it amazingly interesting and beneficial for you. And there's a plethora of blogs on the blogosphere that are unique and even surprising!

If your company produce syrup spoon or baking pan, you should monitor this blog: Natural Cooking Club. It is a blog for those who loves cooking and shopping for cooking utensils. The blog members have their own 'baking-pan hunt' during weekends, and they even went to Japan in search of spatula, kettle, and other kitchenware. In this blog, they discuss enamelware as if they were gossiping about the famous Hope diamond.

PostSecret is a gallery-blog that touches those who read it, creates hysteria, and captures media attention instantly. This blog has been featured in several media all around the world, including Indonesia (Media Indonesia). The blog encourages people to submit a postcard anonymously to a specific PO BOX number, with their deepest secret written on it. Regularly, the moderator scans and publishes several selected postcards—sharing these secrets to the whole world while creating an irresistible buzz.

Hey, what about you? Do you have your own peculiar blog? Or have you heard of some?

Deciphering the Journo Codes of Ethics

The Indonesian Press Council (Dewan Pers) organized a seminar to further spread the 2006 Journalism Codes of Ethics last Wednesday, 14 June 2006. The event was also used to discuss the importance of a standardized organization for journos, as well as to increase the authority of Dewan Pers.

This seminar was certainly not exclusively intended for members of the press, as I was just one of many PR practitioners in the audience that also saw corporate representatives actively participating.

Atmakusumah Astraadmadja from the Dr. Soetomo Press Club delivered a presentation on the design and implementation of the 2006 journalism code of ethics (KEJ 2006), replacing the previous Indonesian Journalists Code of Ethics (KEWI) that had been used since June 2000. This latest declaration was ratified by the Press Council, and agreed upon by 29 press clubs on March 14, 2006.

The KEJ 2006 is more comprehensive than the KEWI, as it now underlines the importance for Indonesian journalists to maintain balanced coverage, and the issue of media sensitivity, such as respecting news sources' traumatic experience especially when presenting explicit pictures, voices, and footages.

Since this post is not and must not be a complete transcription of the seminar, these are some key points that might be useful for PR practitioners like us, just to refresh our minds:

1) News articles must be balanced; each side or party related to the topic has equal opportunities to explain their positions on the issue.

2) Journalists must not have any hidden agenda, by which he or she intentionally writes the article to discredit any particular party.

3) Three deadly sins of journalists that can cost them their profession:

a. Plagiarism
b. Receiving bribe
c. Writing/producing news based on lie or false/fake information.

Next speaker at the stand was Bambang Harimurti, the Corporate Editor of Tempo magazine. Bambang provided practical information on what to do when we caught a journalist doing the three aforementioned points: Report directly to the Chief Editor of the publication, and then to the Press Council.

During the discussions, Bambang shared his experiences being a journalist. I think this is the most interesting part of the event. He delivered it very well, full of passions. Relaxed, yet informative and not boring :). He succeeded in making the participants awake. Well done!

The third speaker was Uni Zulfiani Lubis, a member of the Press Council. She delivered her presentation on "Etika Jurnalistik Televisi & Regulasi Penyiaran". Her working experience in the TV industry has brought an extensive knowledge and enabled her to share some of them to the audience. She also encouraged PR practitioners to be critical and responsive especially when handling clients in crisis situations.

In general, there was no new information that I got from this half-day seminar. All information was common sense and well known for those who worked in the industry. It would be better if the Press Council could wrap the seminar in a more creative way, so that it wouldn't look like one of those parliamentary meetings. Just a Nila thought..

Global Communications on Our Sharing Session

As part of Maverick's weekly activities, last Friday the Mavericks welcomed a very nice and humble man from Bisnis Indonesia, M. Sarwani. He has been with the publication since 1994, in charge of different desks until his current task editor of the financial desk.



He went to an international conference/course for journalists in Seoul, South Korea, some time ago, meeting and sharing experience with other journalists from other parts of the world. In his presentation, M. Sarwani spoke about Global Communications with sample of cases from China, India, the Americas and Korea.



Maverick always has an intimate relationship with the media, as Ong himself was a journalist. In the past half year, Maverick has welcomed two more journalists as its associates. And we're expecting one of Mas Sarwani's colleagues from Bisnis Indonesia to join us soon.

Maverick in Sindo

Maverick was featured again in a local newspaper. This time it's in Seputar Indonesia on Saturday, June 10, 2006. Evi Agustin, the Sindo journalist, wrote a clear potrayal of what Maverick is really about as a PR consultancy. I don't think most people understand what we as PR consultants really do for our clients. This article will help to enlighten you.

Evi wrote in her intro, "Unlike most of the other PR consultancies, which only specialize on media relation, Maverick is there as a part of the overall business strategy of a company [their clients]." This statement is true because media relation is only a small part of PR. Most people still under the assumption that PR is merely media relations. Many PR consultancies encourage this misconception by only having capabilities in media relations.

However, in Maverick, we dip our feet deeper beyond the surface and specialize in strategic counsel. We are usually involved from the point of translating a company's business strategy into a communication strategy to obtaining its communication objectives through well planned activities. By this, we provide our client with "Clear thinking, Clean Execution."

Thank you Evi for the very well written article.

Life after journalism: Murray Hiebert

Canadian journalist Murray Hiebert found in 1999 that he was making rather than reporting the news after filing a story about the Malaysian Judiciary for the Far eastern Economic Review. He was convicted and sent to jail for what many observers felt was oversensitivity by the Malaysian Government toward press criticism.

After serving a reduced sentence in Malaysia he was posted to Beijing to write for the Wall Street Journal. With the Wall Street Journal's presence in Asia crumbling, Murray has now left journalism to become Senior Director, Southeast Asia of the US Chamber of Commerce's East Asia Department.

Murray was in Jakarta last week to accompany his boss, Daniel W. Christman, the Senior Vice President, International Affairs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Its a new appointment but we wish Murray well in his life after journalism. We're sure he'll help guide the US Chamber to even greater involvement with their counterparts in Southeast Asia, even as the Bush administration stumbles about with its foreign policy.

PERS: Kebablasan dalam Kebebasan?

I was visiting a business radio station last week to arrange a live talk show. The talk show was to be broadcast live in 9 cities all over Indonesia. The topic of the discussion was PERS: Kebablasan dalam Kebebasan? It was raised to address emerging issues that some Indonesian media are hiding behind "press freedom" to casually publish inaccurate, unbalanced and irresponsible news to the public.

Ignatius Haryanto and Ulin Ni'am Yusron were invited as guest speakers for the talk show.

Ignatius Haryanto (Mas Hary or KumKum--that's how his friends call him) is a Director of Lembaga Studi Pers dan Pembangunan. He used to be a journalist in Tempo before finally pursuing his interest in the development of the Indonesian press, media and democracy, media ownership, and other press issues in general. Mas Hary is well-known for his critical writings in several publications. He is also a friendly person, and he has a thorough knowledge about media and democracy.

Ulin Ni'am Yusron is a journalist in business tabloid KONTAN, and he is also Ketua Divisi Serikat Pekerja AJI (Aliansi Jurnalis Independen). Ulin used to be a very funky journalist with his braided hair, but that day I was surprised to see that his braided hair was gone, replaced with a crew-cut hairstyle. Great to know that he hasn't lost his funkiness, though :)

Some interesting information emerged as the discussion went on.

It is true that after the Indonesian Press secured its freedom in 1998, the quantity of publications in Indonesia has tripled, resulting in a shortage of professional journalists. That's the reason why several media hire almost anyone as journalists, even those who know very little about journalism. This has resulted in many journalists, having no clear idea about how journalism works, mixing fact and fiction in their writing. Their lack of knowledge in journalism also translated into a lack of respect in the code of ethics of the Press. This is where Press starts to get confused between kebablasan dalam kebebasan.

According to Mas Hary, a journalist is allowed to find personal information about public officials. They are allowed to investigate whether a public official had an affair, and find out whether he used national budget to 'fund' his pleasure. Journalists, however, have no right to violate the privacy of private individuals. Celebrities are not public officials. And it is Desy Ratnasari's right to say "no comment" to infotainment journalists.

The most interesting opinion expressed, and one that might be useful for you, was that someone who feels mistreated by a journalist or a publication could complain to Dewan Pers. According to Mas Hary and Ulin, it is more effective to bring your case to Dewan Pers instead of suing the media in court. Dewan Pers has the right to sanction media that violated the journalistic code of ethic; and your case could be solved even faster and more effectively (plus, without having to worry on how much should you pay the lawyers if you brought this matter to court!).

As the discussion went on, the 'President Advisor of Republik BBM', Effendi Ghazali, joined the talk show via phone. He quoted a saying that stated: it is time for the press to use the term "freedom for" instead of "freedom from". It means, nowadays, press should no longer trapped in the hysteria of freedom from the government or freedom from being banned. It's time for press to think about how to use their freedom responsibly for greater public good.

Hmm, what do you think about Indonesian media? Is it a "freedom-for" or "freedom-from" kind of media?

Welcome to Yasha

Maverick welcomes Yasha, who starts his first day as a Maverick today.

For those who watch Metro TV in the morning, Yasha Chatab is a familiar face. Since 2004, he was the anchor and reporter for Metro This Morning, Metro TV’s English News and Metro Pagi.

When asked about his motivation in leaving the glamorous TV world to join a PR Consultancy, he explained that it was time for him to move on. After spending more than four years in radio and TV, moving to PR seems to be the next natural thing to do, he said.

Yasha holds a Bachelor degree from University of Houston, majoring in Business Administration, and will soon get his Master degree on Communications Management from the University of Indonesia.

In his spare time, Yasha loves to eat out, write for his blog and go to the gym.