REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The management of PT Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunication company, has apologized for its social media commercial with a tagline "Traveling to Aussie is easier than to Bekasi", which made some residents of Bekasi, West Java, to feel offended.
"We herewith apologize as we never aim to offend any parties through our promotion. The commercial also had been withdrawn shortly after we realized the impacts," said Indosat President Director and CEO Alexander Rusli here on Sunday.
According to a press statement made available to Antara, Indosat had withdrawn the commercial from an account Twitter @IndosatMania following some protests and appreciated the comments and suggestions from the public.
"We highly appreciate the protests and comments from the Bekasi residents and the public and will use them as correction to make us better," Rusli noted.
Indosat also wanted to enhance its cooperation with the Bekasi local government in some ongoing programs, including car-free day, "keep clean" campaign on the waste bins with Indosat logo and endorsement for West Java chess athlete: Woman Grandmaster Medina Warda Aulia.
"We are very open to hold dialogues and public hearings with Bekasi residents to discuss this problem in the first place," Rusli said.
Earlier, on Saturday (Jan 10), a lawmaker of the Bekasi legislative council, Ronny Hermawan, said there is no insult on the Indosat's commercial "Traveling to Aussie is easier than to Bekasi".
"Ethically, there is no insult. But maybe it is a satire as they promote a grant of holiday abroad to their customers," he said.
According to Hermawan, the public must start to think and act to resolve the roots of the problem that makes Bekasi being bullied, instead of being provoked and overreacting on such commercial.
"Do not be too sensitive, let's just be more creative. We should understand that the current bullying to Bekasi is an accumulation of public expressions and hopes for a better city," he noted.
Hermawan mentioned that the bullying to Bekasi was caused by some bad conditions, such as escalating traffic jam, stifling heat because of lack of green open spaces, and damaged roads.
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