Connecting: Latest Visit to Indonesia

In September 2013, I got an email from a former student of mine at UPLB, Prof. Dr. Djuara Lubis, faculty member of the Department of Communication Sciences and Community Development, Faculty of Human Ecology at IPB, who informally inquired if I would be interested to deliver a keynote address on recent developments in development communication at the international symposium on development communication in Bogor. Earlier on, my colleague, Dr. Sandy Flor, has asked me if I could give the keynote address in Bogor. I understand he was first approached and because he had commitments in Vietnam, he couldn't make it to Indonesia so he requested me to accept the invitation, instead.

It has always been important to me to be in touch with various groups of individuals working in the field of development communication, so I told Pa Djuara that I would, in fact, be very interested to participate in the symposium. After a couple of days, I got the formal invitation from the Head of Forkapi, Prof. Dr. Aida Vitalaya Hubeis, to deliver a keynote address in the First International Symposium on Development Communication to be held from 30-31 October 2013 at the Institut Pertanian Bogor, in Bogor, Indonesia. This symposium was sponsored by the Indonesian Development Communication Forum (FORKAPI) in collaboration with the Department of Communication Sciences and Community Development, Faculty of Human Ecology, IPB. So I prepared a paper titled “Devcom Mindset: Are We Ready For It?” This was a refinement of the paper I prepared for the national conference of the Confederation of Development Communication Educators in the Philippines held at Isabela State University in Echague, Isabela in 2012.

The major push that I highlighted in this address were two things. One, there seems to be an increasing blurring of the boundaries among various communication strategies, and even the boundaries among disciplines mainly due to the advancement in ICTs. Two, to be able to achieve what I have referred to as devcom mindset, there’s a need to develop further our systems thinking capabilities. We must be able to think holistically if we want to achieve a devcom mindset. This paper shall appear in the December 2013 issue of The Development Communication Journal, coming out from the Asian Institute for Development Communication (AIDCOM), which is based at the University of Selangor in Malaysia. The article shall make a case for the devcom mindset.

For those interested to read the paper but can't wait for it to appear in the JDC, watch for the next blog entry in perhaps a couple of days. That's going to be the content of the next blog issue.

During the open forum after my speech, participants of the symposium asked me for clarifications regarding the issue of the blurring of boundaries among communication strategies. Well, the simplest answer I could offer was that in implementing communication strategies, communicators are using similar gadgets, tools, and procedures, even measures of success or failure. It seems that the only difference among communication strategies today lies in the context of the communication message. Meaning? Well, when you set out to do mass communication work, you’ll refer to corporate communication or development communication less; when you set out to do corporate communication, then you’ll refer less to mass communication or development communication; and when you set out to do devcom work, you’ll refer less to masscom or corporate communication. In all instances, however, you’ll most likely use the same tools, gadgets, procedures, and even measures of success or failure. It simply means it’s a zero-sum game. And the label for what you set out to do in the first place becomes merely a label, because increasingly the differences in the process of doing masscom, devcom, or corcom work have increasingly become difficult to determine.

The day after my presentation at the symposium, we had time to visit Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), a park patterned after Nayong Pilipino. Like Nayong Pilipino, which was conceptualized and constructed under the direction of Imelda Marcos, TMII was constructed under the direction of former Indonesian First Lady, Tini, wife of former Indonesian President Suharto. While the Nayong Pilipino has been halved and transferred to another place (where is it?), TMII remains the same in terms of location and size. TMII’s advantage over Nayong Pilipino is that at TMII there are cable cars that enable visitors to view TMII from high angle, thereby having a good idea of the expanse of Indonesia as a large group of some 17,000 islands in the South Pacific, south of the Philippines.

While preparations were being made in Bogor regarding the symposium, I was informed by Pa Djuara Lubis that Prof. Dr. Hafied Cangara got wind that I was going to be present in the International Development Communication Forum so he immediately made arrangements for me to also deliver a lecture at Hasanuddin University in Makassar City. Hasanuddin University, I understand, is the largest university in Eastern Indonesia, hence it’s referred to as the Regional University in Eastern Indonesia.

At Hasanuddin University, I gave a lecture titled “Planning the Communication Support for the National Development Program,” which was closely related to one of the courses that graduate students in communication at Hasanuddin are asked to take. I was informed that 125 graduate students and communication faculty members attended the lecture. The lecture was even covered by the regional newspaper, Tribun Timur.

The focus of the lecture was that there is need to implement a well-thought out support communication plan for the national development agenda, and that the three branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial) and the public-at-large must know, understand, own, and commit to the implementation of the national development agenda. Without a semblance of a communication support plan, no national development program would succeed, it was emphasized in the lecture.

Now, what did Jegs and I experience in Indonesia during this brief visit? In Bogor, we had been scheduled to visit the Bogor Botanical Garden, but I have been there before and Jegs wasn’t really interested so we just decided to visit TMII the following morning before leaving for Makassar City..

Makassar is the largest City in Eastern Indonesia, located on the western tip of South Sulawesi. We were billeted at the Hotel Aryaduta Makassar, and our room (on the 8^th floor) was facing the west, with a fantastic view of the Sulawesi sunset. Across from the hotel is Makassar’s park, a reclaimed stretch of what used to be a rocky beach that couldn’t even be used by locals as swimming area. The City of Makassar must have spent billions of dollars in developing the area, which now is home to large shopping malls, parks, and large commercial and government complexes. I couldn’t get factual information, but I estimate that the entire reclamation area must be in the thousands of hectares with an average of about three meters (above sea level) of landfill. They also connected small islets in Makassar harbor thereby creating a series of lagoons which could be used for boating and jet skiing. The islets, connected with bridges, were walled-off and planted with trees. Nearby our hotel was what they call the “Floating Mosque” because it’s built on stilts.

It’s a pity we didn’t have enough time to visit various places in the city. Clearly, Makassar City of less than two million population is a cultural destination for visitors. It has a large, clean international airport terminal, whose architectural beauty renders the International Airport in Jakarta a bit sophomoric. Interestingly, it has problems with traffic, much like the Los Baños traffic mess.

Our visit to Hasanuddin University was very educational. Hasanuddin University is now located in its new 200-hectare campus, some 10 kilometers from the center of the city. This campus is full of trees and is definitely comparable to UPLB’s College of Forestry and Natural Resources campus in terms of its greenery and cool ambiance. It has a student population of 30,000. The Rector’s Office is located on the top floor (the entire level) of the Administration building, which is 8 floors. In all directions, what one sees is an entire span of tree crowns. No buildings are visible from the Rector’s Office, just trees. Hasanuddin University’s Rector, Prof. Dr. Idrus Paturusi, a medical doctor, told Jegs and me that Indonesia is third in the world in the production of cacao, and 70% of Indonesia’s cacao production comes from South Sulawesi. The University has its own chocolate factory, where Hasanuddin researchers translate their research results into chocolate technologies before they offer these technologies for commercialization by private chocolate production companies. They produce very good chocolate bars. I am sure about this because Jegs told me so and she’s some one I consider to be a “chocolate connoisseur.” Rector’s term shall be completed next year, so Hasanuddin is now beginning to scout for a successor. The strongest of the current four candidates is Vice Rector for Planning, Development and Cooperation Affairs, Prof. Dr. Dwia Aries Tina P., who happens to have earned her MA in sociology from Ateneo de Manila University.

Prof. Hafied also arranged earlier for our visit to Fajar, a media organization, the publisher of 14 regional and community newspapers in Eastern Indonesia. Many of the journalism graduates from Hasanuddin University work in this publishing house. One of its newspapers is Tribun Timur, a regional newspaper which has many sections such as Business, Financial, Campus, and other sections. In its Tribun Campus section on November 2, the entire front page was devoted to the coverage of my lecture at Hasanuddin University. Fajar also operates an FM radio station and a television station, both of which are streamed in the Internet. After our visit to Fajar, and on our way to the airport for out flight to Jakarta en route to Manila, one reporter who was meeting with us at Fajar was still calling Prof. Hafied’s assistant, Yuyu Ichsani, who served as interpreter, asking me other questions for an article about me to appear in the next day’s issue of the newspaper. Anyway, Jegs gained a new friend in 25-year old Yuyu, who is finishing her MA in communication from Hasanuddin University, and who happens to be articulate in English. She is planning to take her PhD at the University of Nottingham in England.

There’s one more experience in Makassar that Jegs and I won’t probably forget for quite sometime. We ran into the tricycles in Makassar. These have very interesting design. The passenger seat is located up front and appears like the cargo hold of a power shovel. The driver is conveniently located behind the passenger seat (with roof). A few things about this design, which is rather intriguing. If the vehicle is involved in a frontal vehicular accident, it would be the passenger that’s at danger, while the driver is conveniently protected behind the passenger seat. If the crash is sudden and with force, the passenger could be thrown out front and could even bump into the oncoming vehicle. Then, one wonders if the driver, being located behind, could even see the oncoming traffic. When I pointed this out, Prof. Hafied really got into stitches and realized only then that in fact their tricycles in Makassar are very poorly designed to protect passengers.

Over-all, I have this simple observation, which is obviously self-serving. Delivering lectures in universities abroad is interesting and challenging, but I would like to do this routine within the Philippines. Problem is, our universities seem to prefer foreign experts (even if those experts are not knowledgeable about our issues and concerns here) rather than our own. Bakit nga kaya?

Here are some pictures.