Jakarta – There's only a thin line separating good communication strategy with bad public relations. When the government is backed up by a well-planned communication strategy, an effective messaging campaign and a team of professionals, even a crisis can be an opportunity to score a win.

But absent these three key ingredients, every day can seem like a crisis and any opportunity to snatch a victory can turn into a defeat.

In its first six months in office, the administration of President Prabowo Subianto could have scored a lot of victories, especially for a government backed by more than 80 percent of political forces at the House of Representatives and while the President himself is riding high on a popularity rating of 81 percent.

Yet, the last three months saw President Prabowo lurching from one crisis to another.

And the majority of the crises are self-inflicted, resulting from a lack of public relations campaigns for new policies and initiatives.

The current administration has at its disposal a myriad of agencies dealing with communicating government policies ranging from the Communications and Digital Ministry, the Presidential Communication Office (PCO), as well as a coterie of spokespersons at individual technical ministries.

Yet, time and time again, new policies, initiatives and programs were not sufficiently communicated to the public.

From the much-anticipated value added tax to the imposition of a new policy to limit distribution of subsidized cooking gas, the government had to walk back the policies after meeting resistance from the public, who were in the dark over the policy details that would impact their daily lives.

In fact, on major policy initiatives, a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's economic structure like the setting up of the sovereign wealth fund Danantara, the government appears to focus on getting the vehicle set up quickly while failing to give key details of the new plan to the public, and crucially enough to the investors.

The pushback was swift, if not severe. The Jakarta stocks index slumped deeply from foreign investors pulling out their investments, prompting the regulator to suspend the trade twice in early March, a turn of events which found its precedence only during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The habit of pushing through with new policy initiatives without letting the public know about their details has also resulted in a nationwide protest that has spread even to the country's smallest towns and municipalities.

Details about a fresh proposal to allow members of the military to serve in civilian roles in the revision of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law has not only spooked students and civil society organizations, but also the business community and investors who are worried about the return of the military to business.

It doesn't help that government officials tasked to explain these new policies did not seem to take their job seriously.

A senior TNI general dubbed critics of the military law revision "country bumpkins" who knows nothing about the issue.

Just recently, a top level spokesperson for the Prabowo government was dismissive about the intimidation of a female journalist at Tempo weekly, who was sent a pig's head, allegedly for her critical pieces on the administration.

"Just cook it," the spokesperson told reporters.

Others courted controversy where there should be none.

While touting the importance of President Prabowo's free nutritious meal program, chief of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana surmised that Indonesia's inability to contest in the football World Cup was due to the poor nutritional situation afflicting the country's youth.

With so many new agencies and ministries set up by President Prabowo, there's certainly a need from individual ministers or officials to steal the President's attention.

And if making loud and controversial statements is what it takes to get noticed, then so be it, some of these officials may have thought.

The President himself, especially after the "just-cook-it" comment, sensed that there was a serious problem with his messaging and called on his ministers to improve their communication style.

But a statement alone won't solve the problem. The President needs to bring order, if not structure, to his communication team.

Or maybe he just needs a presidential spokesperson.

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2025/04/04/communication-breakdown.htm