Indonesia oh Indonesia

On September, 08 – 10, 2007 there will be a great event for Indonesian students who study overseas. The International Conference of the Indonesian Students will be held in Sydney. Hopefully the president would be able to attend this conference after the APEC meeting. As a graduated student in Australia, and also as an Indonesian, I think this is important for me to promote this event through this sharing.

The topic that will be discussed in the conference is “Pulang atau mengabdi dari jauh” in English “Come home to Indonesia or devote from overseas”. As one of the Indonesian students who studied overseas, I also have the dilemma whether should or should I not come back to Indonesia as soon as I finished my university. I am sure that all Indonesian students that study overseas would have this dilemma of the century.

The majority of the students that I have met and talked to said that they will stay overseas for a couple of years in order to gain the valuable experience and the financial stability, before they come back to Indonesia. What happens to Indonesia? Even their own students do not believe that their home country could offer them the valuable experience and financial stability.

From the population point of view, there are 200 million people; therefore this is ten times the market size in Australia. With the great land, we could grow most of the plants in Indonesia. With the great panoramic view, we can be one of the best tourist destinations in the world. With the great natural resources, we should be one of the richest countries in the world. More importantly, with a lot of ingenious Indonesia students, we should be one of the leading countries.

From the marketing point of view, there should be a lot of great stories to be told to the world about Indonesia, especially with those qualities lined up. However, there is always and only bad publicity that I heard about Indonesia. Seth Godin stated that a great idea sometimes stays in dormant unless it could be marketed properly. In the marketing war, the winner is the person who can spread their ideas, regardless what the idea is.

Godin also stated that in 1912, Otto Rohwedder invented a slicing bread machine. However, he concentrated only to the idea (patent, production issues, etc) instead of the marketing and ended up a failure. There is no one cared about the sliced bread until seventeen years later, a company called Wonder White, marketed slice bread in order to spread the ideas.

Is Indonesia similar with the sliced bread? Why is it happening? As an Indonesian of course I love my country. However, how can we be expected to come home if there is no guarantee from the country for our own life security and stability? How can Indonesia position itself in the marketing war against the other countries?

Ideas, opinions, and questions will be greatly appreciated.

David Herlambang
MarketingFirst