Media Informasi Kemaritiman Cakrawala Edisi 414 Tahun 2013 | Page 84

THE IMPORTANCE OF
MILITARY PUBLIC AFFAIRS

I

n the era of technology,
information flows is faster
than we thought before.
News, whether is good or bad,
will go to people in a matter of
seconds. Internet technology
has a big role in the changes
that we feel these days. It drives
people’s demand for information
higher. They want and need
credible, complete and honest
information as soon as an event,
incident or accident happens.
As a Public Affairs (PA),
it is our mandate to inform
public about our organization,
military organization. It doesn’t
mean that we have to share all
information we have. But, there
are some informations we can
share to public. Not everything
secret, or operational security
matters. The information of
military exercise, operations,
or an event in our military base
are good examples for the
way to inform people about
our organization. More people
familiar and well informed about
military, than there is chance
that public support to military will
increase.
It’s also in line with the
Openness to Public Information
Policy (KIP) which guaranteed

people right to seek information
even in government institution,
such as military. In KIP, it’s state
that it’s the obligation for the
institution to give information to
the people who demand it. So,
as long as the information is not
the exceptional information, we
have to give it. And if we manage
it wisely, by means that we
have to be truthfull, transparent
and accurate when giving
information to public. Later on,
it will generate credibility in the
public, which very important in
the works of PA.
In the military PA, the
tasks are more than just inform
the public. In the modern
military PA, especially in military
operation, beside to inform, the
PA tasks is also to support the
commander or senior leader in
the decision making process. PA
has a big role to determine how
the operation will be conduct.
For example in Afghanistan,
the NATO forces claim that they
were there to protect Afghans
people. But, that wasn’t what
Afghans people thought. They
thought that the NATO forces
were there as an enemy. This
reality was hard to believe by
the NATO forces. But, soon they

realized when the PA told them
that they are using a wrong
communication strategy. How
come they send messages as
a “peace keeping forces” when
they not looking friendly at all to
Afghans? How come they claim
that they are there to “protect
people” when everyday some
Afghans injured or even died, hit
by military vehicles speeding-up
on the country road?
This reality makes them
believe that they might win the
war, but not the Afghans’ heart.
So, that’s why they started to
lose their credibility from the
Afghans. And of course, the
enemy took a lot benefit from it.
They started to expose this leak
and make the Afghans turn their
back from the NATO forces.
Learned quickly from their
fault, the NATO forces trying to
develop their new policy and
now include the PA as part of
their decision making process.
The PA even now has special a
relation with the commander as
an advisor. The PA responsibility
is to advice the commander or
senior leader about the PA
matters in every military avtivity.
From
that
example,
we know that PA plays an