This book demonstrates original idea to research crisis mana-gement and the responses of the local community using a critical ethnography approach in Indonesian context. There have been not many studies done in the field area of, citing the author’s statement in this book “Public relations issues and crisis management,” applied this methods. The research in this book is not only interested in exa-mining the crisis management of the company, the government of Indonesia and the reaction of the community, particularly the victims, but it is also successfully engaged with the issues of socio-cultural changes and the political economy interest played within the context of the so-called “Lapindo” disaster.
The research in this book also provides the amount of primary materials and interview excerpts with the victims and other relevant sources that have been involved with the incident and those who pay their concern to the mudflow problems. Some historical developments of the mudflow incident and pictures included in the research give a sense of how terrible the incident has turned out and how bad the physical and socio-cultural impacts for the communities surrounding the area and the society at large. These elements marks the distinctive or characteristic the research in this book.
The methodological approach attempted by the author is appreciated, as it is not easy to get involved in such community, doing interviews and gather information from the victims who live in a temporary residential, some of them even live with appaling condition, and inviting them to participate in the focus group discussion. Eventhough some aspects – the setting of focus group discussion, how the condition of the victims at the time of discussion and other concerning matters regarding emotions and psychological situation- need to be more explaned. Somehow the research allows the reader to gain an understanding of the unkind victims’ reactions and what sort of critical opinion the victims hold. As to my knowledge so far, their voices are marginalised by the mainstream media in Indonesia.
The author has attempted sufficient discussions in some areas such as the political interest between the government and the company, the contradiction of the presidential decrees, the manipulation strategies to mitigate the mudflow disaster attempted by Lapindo company, the various media comments, and wide-ranging criticisms and attitudes held by the victims, both by those who are benefitted from the mudflow tragedy and who are suffered mostly.
In summary, this book significantly adds of the discipline of Communication, particularly the application of critical ethnography in the field area of Public relations and crisis management. The research in this book will also become a potential example for research in the field area studied, since I acknowledge that this methodological approach is rarely attempted by the Communication scholars and researchers in Indonesia.