Indonesia Hosts International PR Conference in Feb. 2010

Indonesia takes center stage in international public relations early next year when it hosts an IPRA (International Public Relations Association) International Conference Feb. 2-4, in Jakarta.

Theme will be Global Reach International Leadership.

What will make the Jakarta Conference doubly significant for Indonesia is that it will coincide with the assumption into office of one of her own, Dr. Elizabeth Goenawan Ananto, a prominent academician and active IPRA leader for many years, as President of IPRA for 2010.

The conference will look into how PR can help restore trust in institutions and its strategic importance in helping governments and the private sector in overcoming the global economic crisis.

PR practitioners in Asia have a unique perspective in relating to this challenge, faced as their Clients and their environments have been with threats to economic stability, posed by global and domestic conditions, and weakening trust in many established institutions.

Another topic that should be of particular interest to Filipino PR practitioners is Corporate Social Responsibility: Global Application.

Among speakers will be the international PR gurus and scholars, Dr. James E. Grunig and Dr. Larissa Grunig; Robert W. Grupp, 2008 President, IPRA; Richard Linning, 2011 President, IPRA; Paul Holmes, Chairman, Holmes PR Report; Ahmad Fuad Afhdai, IPRA National Chair, Indonesia; Prema Sagar, Founder-President, Genesis Burson Marsteller, India, and IPRA Past Presidents Loula Zaklama (Egypt) and Roger Hayes (U.K.).

Dr. Elizabeth is particularly eager to have her fellow practitioners from Asia, including the Philippines, to come to Jakarta for this Conference.

Following Jakarta will be IPRA's XIX World Public Relations Congress, to be held in Lima, Peru, June 1-3 2010.

Lessons of Ondoy

Ondoy killed, destroyed and left us dazed. It made us realize: in the face of angry nature, we are helpless, we can be snuffed out at any moment. Ondoy showed us how brave, kind, generous and all-giving we can be.

Only in 1986 perhaps did we see our people as united and as selfless in giving themselves to others. The impact of Ondoy has made us more reflective, and humbler.

It is obvious that we have not been all that good in putting systems, structures and training, perhaps budgets also, that might have made Ondoy not all that destructive. In the first hours of Ondoy, my family were frantically making calls to authorities, and got no answer. And they were not, perhaps could not be, around. Ondoy put us all together, helplessly engulfed.

Without absolving government, I would not spend too much time reminding it how it goofed on this one. Instead we would be better off telling it that it must shape up for the next Ondoy, because we will hold it accountable, and if need be to our courts.

We must honor those who perished, and lost property and opportunities in Ondoy. One way to do this is making ourselves smarter, more organized and more amply funded in the matter of disaster prevention, control and impact mitigation.

Another way is documenting and retelling the stories of men and women, young and old, famous and unknown, who risked their lives, and up to now are giving their time and money and to help the victims of Ondoy.