Public Relations as I think it should be
OK, let's get this out of the way: Unspun believes that voilence in retaliation for words is almost always not justified. Having said that, I cannot help but to think that Ade Armando and the society that has elevated him into a public icon of sorts has brought the violence upon themselves. Armando is of... Continue Reading →
Normal is when something happens often, becomes predictable and loses the power to shock, anger and spur people into action. The biggest danger that Jakartans face is the normalization of the widespread floods which is happening so often lately, I think about seven this year so far. Each time time it floods the same things... Continue Reading →
A battle royale is raging on Twitter between established online media houses including kompas.com, kumparan.com and professional buzzer @Kurawa and so far there have been threats of legal suits, applying the Draconian UU ITE and others. The story unfolded on January 5 when Rudy Valinka, aka @kurawa, tweeted an accusation against Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan for... Continue Reading →
There is something amiss in the Government's handling of the demonstrations that have taken place in at least nine cities over the past week. It is at best, half-hearted and amateurish; at worst, grist for a conspiracy theorist's mill. Contrast this week's handling of protests with that of how it handled the protests surrounding the... Continue Reading →
Today, thousands of students have taken to the streets in Jakarta and other cities demonstrating against the Criminal Code. Traffic in Jakarta was clogged up and as the day progressed, water cannons and tear gas were used on them, but it could not dampen their spirit. A couple of days ago, after widespread protests, President... Continue Reading →
Former US Ambassador who reinvented himself as the organizer of Supermentor, Dino Patti Jallal, has a point in the ongoing feud with BEKRAF chief Triawan Munaf over Indonesian Rapper Rich Brian where children are concerned. Children should not be exposed to obscenities. But the whole episode is not as clear cut as he makes... Continue Reading →
Good writing is hard to come by, so what we do with recruits at my workplace is to teach them to write well. Being a former journalist and being one who writes moderately well, the task fell on Unspun to conduct the class. Being a firm believer that writing is a reflection of your mental... Continue Reading →
Since the #MeToo movement, one of the dreaded developments for male politicians in America must be to be accused of inappropriate behavior toward women colleagues. Former US Vice President Joe Biden was accused last week of "inappropriate behavior" by a Nevada politician. She said he tried to kiss the back of her head. This was... Continue Reading →
Yesterday evening was billed as a special session with the Malaysians living in Indonesia with the new old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. It was part of his first official visit to neighbouring Indonesia where he would meet Jokowi. I went with mixed feelings. I was curious to see the old warhorse, still flushed from his... Continue Reading →
Indonesian friends, your help is needed to ensure that this man, who is not unlike those who incite hatred in Indonesia, doesn't use Indonesia as a refuge from the justice he deserves in Malaysia. His name is Jamal Yunos and he used to be a division leader of Umno, the party that was under the... Continue Reading →
In media training we tell our clients that they should never repeat an emotionally-charged negativism, even when denying it. This, appearing on the cover of the latest edition of Tempo, is a very obvious reason why. Former Armed Forces Chief General (Retired) Gatot Nurmayanto has been jockeying to get into big-time politics in the upcoming... Continue Reading →
It says a lot about Indonesia today that when an employee of mine recently quit his job to apply for asylum in Canada on grounds that he's gay and feels discriminated against in Indonesia, they not only put him on the Protected Person's list as they usually do to asylum seekers - they classified him... Continue Reading →
Unspun 