Page 31 - Inzist Special Edition

AMBASSADOR

IS (ALSO)
A SALESMAN

Diplomats have long been stigmatized as bourgeois that live high-end lifestyle, travel first class, eat caviar, drink the best wine, wear
branded suits and fancy wristwatches. Well, I love all those and actually who doesn’t ?. But it is not the case for me, at least in my almost
five-year tenure as a salesperson ambassador, our trade ministers call me. I have to muscle out and knock the doors to get all the
merchandises sold.

Besides the inherent political, consular and cultural tasks – similarly like any other Indonesian missions worldwide, Indonesian embassy in
Wellington is also bestowed with the mission to promote Indonesia’s products and services and should significantly contribute to
Indonesia’s export. Our president Joko Widodo always says “the successful ambassadors are those who can increase our trade and
investment, among others”. Due to their geographic location, New Zealand and the Pacific are remote and small markets. It takes
perseverance to convince our traders, exporters and manufacturers back home to do business with this region. I am lucky to have had done
sales and marketing jobs in various companies in the past from which I learned a salesman must not easily give up.

An industrial-based country with an abundance of natural and human resources, Indonesia has a lot to offer. Indonesia manufactures a wide
range of high-quality products, from the simplest of tissue paper and cotton buds to the most sophisticated of light aircrafts, cars and
televisions.

The venture to promote Indonesia was somewhat tirelessly and audacious. We had to make it simple, but yet memorable as well as to make
it inviting to look at. Aside from frequent and gathering and constant emailing the distributors and prospective buyers, I also visited many
importers, growers, distributors right at their premises. They come from variety of business i.e. energy, agriculture, consumer goods, dairy
products, furniture etc.

Indonesia has always put tourism economic priority. We are tasked to bring in as many Kiwis as possible to Indonesia as tourists. Being an
ex-hotelier, I am so keen and honored to do this job. A number of table-top events were held in Auckland, Christchurch as well as Wellington
in collaboration with Indonesian Ministry of Tourism before Covid came. Along with people from the ministry, I took the stage to promote
Indonesian beauty, unique culture and friendly people to travel agents, wholesalers and airlines. During 2017-2020, Kiwis tourists increased
handsomely. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, the visit had plummeted significantly.