TRAVEL WARNING : INDONESIA, DANGEROUSLY BEAUTYFUL

Dimuat di KABAR Indonesia Vol II Issue 13, 2007

“the books about Indonesia are books about the bad things: JI, GAM, etc. If I erased everything I know about Indonesia and just read these books, I’d think it’s like Uganda… I don’t want to go there!”

ACTION FOR INDONESIA

Indonesia Bertindak: spreading a positive virus.

Moved by longing for the return of national pride for the whole nation, for the improvement, solidarity and togetherness, Jakarta based Iwan and Indah Esjepe are the founders of Indonesia Bertindak (Action for the Nation). Their aim is to raise awareness and provoke people into action on issues directly connected to the needs and to the pride of the nation, without promoting the interests of any particular religion, ethnicity, political party or race.

Prior to starting his own communications company, ideasphere, Iwan career took him from journalism, to copywriting, to the role of Creative Director at several international advertising agencies. He met his wife Indah at Grey, where she was an art director.

Their initiative, Indonesia Bertindak, is an umbrella movement for issues related to economic, political and social problems. Iwan’s message to his fellow citizens is simple: “Stop crying, stop complaining, let’s do something!”

In December 2004, the couple was in holidays in Bali when the tsunami hit Aceh. “A lot of friends got in touch wondering “What can we do?” says Iwan. It seemed that there was no coordination, and to compound this, a lot of people didn’t trust the government to give adequate assistance. Iwan start collecting donations and looking for ways to raise funds. The first action taken by Indonesia Bertindak was to make a t’shirt, across which was emblazoned “I heart NAD” (Nangroe Aceh Darussalam). Iwan and Indah sold the t’shirt and sent 100% of the fund raised to Aceh.

“Then when the Jogya earthquake happened, people asked, ‘where are your t’shirts? I want to do something but I don’t know what to do.”

Iwan discovered that, after food and medicine were provided, one of the most sought- after commodities in Jogya was clean underwear. He fondly recalls going to the market to purchase almost 10 dozen pink bras for the cause. “With friends, we also helped to build a school there – now there is an engraved stone at that school, dedicated to us,” he says enthusiasthcally.

Having been involved in these emergency situations, Iwan and Indah started to wonder why it always seemed that it was necessary for disaster to strike before people would be inspired to positive action. They decided to find an issue that is important for this country and were struck by how the tourism industry has suffered in recent years. “Even if bombs are happening elsewhere, it still bad impact on Bali,” sighs Iwan.

The negative images of the country that proliferate through the internet are overwhelming at times; whether of natural disasters, bombmakers or bloodshed. “Even in Kinokuniya,” says Iwan, “the books about Indonesia are books about the bad things: JI, GAM, etc. If I erased everything I know about Indonesia and just read these books, I’d think it’s like Uganda… I don’t want to go there!”

He and his wife took their professional experience in playing with words and put it to good use to come up with their own style of Travel Warning, with the tagline “Dangerously Beautiful”. It’s a striking, catchy statement; so much so that a Bali friend warned Iwan to register the design before people started to copy it. Iwan’s response to this indicative of the couple’s altruistic commitment to the movement. “If they copy it, more people will see. That’s a good thing.” On the other hand, if people buy the bags and t’shirt with the original design, it helps to support the movement. “We just want to be cheerleaders for the Indonesian people: we are a big nation, so why not work together?”

“We don’t say that we are safe, because nowhere is safe. But in other countries, you don’t see a travel warning because the government can’t protect even one university for example,” he says, referring to the recent shootings at Virginia Tech.

Iwan sees a major problem in the fact that there doesn’t seem to be enough between the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Tourism. “I don’t want to blame them, so I said to my wife, let’s do something.”

Indonesia Bertindak seeks to have a positive impact on 2 levels; firstly, to make Indonesians more proud of their own country, and secondly, to give foreigners new prespective on Indonesia. Speculating on the current frailty of Indonesian national pride, Iwan looks first to the economic situation. “People think about their stomachs first.” A second issue is coordination; while various people have their own strategies on how to boost the nation, there is no grand strategies such as exist in Malaysia.

The Indonesian people do love this country,” concludes Iwan. “They just don’t know how to express it sometimes”.

Note:

KABAR Indonesia is the official publication of the Jakarta International Community Center.

(A zillion thanks to Jan and Avi, KABAR Indonesia Magazine)