Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung Instructs Government Officials to be Proactive in Communication

Cabinet Secretary speaks before a Forum Group Discussion adopting theme ‘Challenges and Approaches of Public Communication in the Digital Age’ on Tuesday (22/8), in Bandung

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung asserted that living in the digital age encourages people to be careful to understand every single issue. Pramono reminded people that we leave digital traces which can be tracked.

“This age changes our landscape. Interaction process can be done any time. Young people can get free access to information through several media, including youtube, facebook, twitter and others,” Pramono said in a Forum Group Discussion adopting theme ‘Challenges and Approaches of Public Communication in the Digital Age’ on Tuesday (22/8), in Bandung.

Therefore, communication should be done in proactive and consistent manners, Pramono added. The Cabinet Secretary also relayed a directive from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo which was delivered in a cabinet meeting, that saying “Do not lose to haters, so that the public still have trust to the Government.”

Pramono Anung, in the event organized by Presidential Special Staff for Communication and attended by Presidential Communication Team and officials of Communication Board in West Java and Banten, reminded all that the power of the media is so enourmous. It makes everything possible.

“For example, elementary student can write to the President in social media, thus, the President may notice it immediately, and respond to it,” Pramono added.

However, Cabinet Secretary reminded people that we must be careful in this digital age because mistakes that we made can be viral.

Pramono added that social medias of the President, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Social have many followers, and incredible responses. According to Pramono, there should be a guideline in managing social media, but it should not be too rigid.

“Thus, it evidently can affect and optimize the dissemination of Government’s policies,” Pramono stated.

Therefore, a manner to disseminate Government policies should be changed. It could not only depend on public relations any longer, not to mention that we could not always depend on mainstream media. Thus, we must change.

“Information dissemination should be done in smart, clear, straightforward and flexible manners. This is important so that people can understand the information well,” Pramono added.

Regarding hoax, Cabinet Secretary asserted that we should combat hoaxes. “The administration of President Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla has firmly stated that democracy in cyberspace should not be silenced. However, people should not receive hoax and false news because they have rights to get fact,” Pramono firmly said.

Moreover, we must continuously provide education to the people in this digital age.

On the same occasion, Minister of Home Affairs Tjahjo Kumolo instructed the regional communication forum to improve its quality because the forum is an important means in developing communication in regions, not only at province and regency levels, but also at subdistricts.

Furthermore, early detection is important to maintain public stability and order.

For that reason, Tjahjo instructed the governors to have dialog with local administration’s working units (SKPD) to check any measures conducted in addressing the current obstacles.

“It is really important so that the communication and information can run smoothly from the highest to the lowest level,” Tjahjo concluded.

Also attending the FGD were Presidential Spokeperson Johan Budi, Governor of West Java Ahmad Heryawan, Director General for Public Information and Communications of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics Rosarita Niken Widyastuti, and representatives of Communication Board in West Java and Banten. (EN/SM/AS/ES) (RA/MMB/YM/Naster)