Indonesian youth : Yes you can (compete) Curtis S Chin  ;   The writer, a former US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, is managing director of advisory firm RiverPeak Group, LLC

JAKARTA POST,  09 Desember 2014

                                                                                                                       

Amid ever-growing expectations that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo can reshape this nation of more than a quarter billion people spread over more than 17,000 islands, the naysayers are gathering. Will a divided legislature and endemic corruption help ensure that these great expectations are never met? Certainly, the challenges are not insignificant. Key priorities include accelerating infrastructure development and maintaining already existing electricity generation and transmission facilities as well as ports, airports and roads. Jokowi must also improve education and vocational training, taking steps to strengthen the nation’s human capital as well as its capital markets. Here though Indonesia is not alone in its challenges. As all 10 members of the ASEAN move toward an economic community, there seems to be a lot of fear in the air in Southeast Asia and it is not just about China’s increased territorial assertiveness. Indeed, the questions “Are we ready to compete?” and “Are we ready for the ASEAN Economic Community [AEC]?” come to me regularly as I have met with business leaders, students and people from all walks of life in Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and elsewhere in the region ever since stepping down from my post as US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) more than three years ago. The establishment of an AEC will also very much be a topic of discussion at this week’s Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN) Southeast Asia conference in Jakarta — a gathering of business, civil society, government and other leaders, which brings me back to Indonesia this week. The AEC will certainly bring change, with its focus on creating a single market and production base. ASEAN matters more than ever, at least economically. Under the AEC, Indonesia and its fellow Southeast Asian nations will bring down barriers to greater regional economic cooperation. Understandably, people are worried about competition, rising wage rates and disappearing jobs, and there will be new challenges, particularly to those who think the world will always be the same. But there will also be opportunities. Indonesia should have greater confidence in itself, including in the ability of its own people to find their way forward. I do. Certainly, individuals can take steps to improve one’s English — the language of ASEAN — and one’s business communications and cultural understanding of other countries. Much more needs to be done to improve Indonesia’s education system, but as in Thailand and other nations, that is an ongoing, and long-term challenge and one that will not be simply solved by higher budget allocations. More than money, change must entail the involvement of parents, new approaches to teaching, greater flexibility and the commitment of the larger community. How things were done is not always how they should be done as we prepare to compete in a changing Asia. The world is changing. So must each of us. Jokowi must move away from nationalistic policies that discriminate against “foreign” businesses. So what can each of us do? In the short-term, here are some tips for Indonesia’s young people to keep in mind. First, understand, build and invest in your own brand. For individuals, communities or even a country seeking to compete, “brand” matters as much as it might for a company like Coca-Cola or Apple. But to understand your personal “brand identity”, you will need to find out what others think of you, and be open to hearing the good and the bad. That can mean sophisticated market research or doing something as simple as “Google yourself.” Regardless of whether or not you like what you see, that baseline information is an opportunity to build on. This can mean improving skill sets (such as language ability) or better emphasizing what are already terrific characteristics (such as science or math knowledge). Second, remember the “little bric”, This is not the major capital letter “BRIC economies” of Brazil, Russia, India and China that once dazzled the world with ever growing amounts of inward investment but the small-letter, bigger challenge of bureaucracy, regulation, interventionism and corruption. In countries, large and small, businesses and individuals are too often held back by these little bric constraints to innovation and economic growth. The solution is straightforward: governments should improve the bureaucracy, regulate fairly, intervene rarely and end corruption. Easier said, of course, than done as Jokowi seeks to work with opposition leaders, but significant progress in places such as Hong Kong over the past decades show that it can be done. My hope is that all individuals in Indonesia will take steps to help “get the bric out” of not just government, but also all organizations in which we might be involved, whether student groups, retail outlets or family businesses. Think about how the bureaucracy, the rules and regulations, the interventions by government, and corruption and cronyism touch our daily lives. And then think about what we might change, and how to spark change. For example, can technology and the power of social media play a role in drawing attention to the reality of this little bric and helping increase accountability? What if we shared not just examples of the “little bric” online but also solutions to them, one small suggestion and instance at a time. Third, as each of us seeks to build a better life for ourselves, let’s not forget our larger community. Doing so will require finding that difficult balance, between self and others, between individual and community. Don’t think of just Indonesia when building a larger ASEAN. Likewise, Jokowi must set an example for the nation and move away from nationalistic policies that discriminate against “foreign” businesses. For businesses and the individuals that work for them, this also means seeking ideally to both do well and to do good. Often this is described as “good citizenship” or “corporate social responsibility”. That can be tough when you are the new employee or when you are up against competitors that don’t follow your own pursuit of a strong “triple bottom line” of positive economic, social and environmental impact. I have confidence though that this can be done — even in Indonesia’s mining and other natural resources industries. In my own time in Southeast Asia, since stepping down from my role on the Board of Directors of the ADB, I have done what I can to encourage others to move forward and to compete smarter, and to compete differently. Here is one example from a Thai-based company called Equator Pure Nature, whose advisory board I recently joined. The company recently launched a line of all-natural, certified hypoallergenic cleaning products under the Pipper Standard brand name. As the number of people with allergy symptoms has increased in across Southeast Asia, this company’s products are intended to address that growing trend and an untapped market of people seeking to reduce the amount of chemicals in their homes. Certainly, Equator Pure Nature is taking up the challenge and the opportunity provided by the AEC, and other smart companies and entrepreneurs will do the same. Echoing the Pipper Standard tagline, I note that a more competitive Indonesia also starts at home. Whether building your own brand, fighting the little bric or focusing on finding that right balance to growth, these three “Bs” may well help business compete in a changing Indonesia and Asia, but also do so in a better, happier and more sustainable way. ●