T

em>The ASEAN market is more promising than any regional market in other parts of the world, and low cost carrier AirAsia has recently opened a regional base in Jakarta to better penetrate the market. Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes moved to Indonesia’s capital city to formulate the company’s strategy to spread its wings in Southeast Asia. The Jakarta Post’s Nurfika Osman talked to the man himself to find out just what he is doing in Indonesia. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Question: Why did you pick Jakarta as the base for AirAsia ASEAN?

Answer: We always do things differently. We are always a little bit ahead in our thinking. Jakarta to me is the biggest market in ASEAN, and (Indonesia) is the most liberal country: the culture is good; the press is free; you can write whatever you want to write; there is a lot of music and culture and there is a lot of talent here. I think there will be more and more Indonesians working for AirAsia going forward. And, it is just because I like the country.

Like I said in my speech earlier, I wake up in the morning and “wow it’s a dream, I am living in Jakarta” and yesterday when I went shopping for food it was unreal! We are here because it is a good market with good people, and I think Indonesia will become the center of ASEAN anyway. Most people go to Singapore: I think that is boring and old. The future of ASEAN is in Jakarta and I want to be part of it.

How will you develop AirAsia ASEAN and what kind of strategy do you have?

When you are in the airlines business, you do not have a lot of time to think because everyday there is a problem. But, I can think in this office, have a very clear mind, and I can meet people. I can fly to Surabaya tomorrow, I can go to Sulawesi, I can begin to understand the ASEAN market, and I start to communicate with Indonesians. Today, I received Twitter messages saying “Can you start a service from Sulawesi to Singapore?” or “Can you start a flight from Surabaya to Phuket?” By understanding what the people want, I can plan and move forward. So, the plan for AirAsia Group will be formulated here, and now we have CEOs in every country. I can really look to the future.

What is your vision for AirAsia ASEAN?

The grand vision is that we will be as well known as Coca-Cola. If one day everyone in ASEAN knows AirAsia, that will be a great success, that is number one. Number two is I think when most Indonesians play Broery songs, they feel nice, there are good memories, and I want when we say “AirAsia” people will feel nice things. AirAsia gives people the opportunity to fly to places they never been, gives jobs to people who never had jobs, so, there is a nice feeling about AirAsia. I hope that we can connect places that never had connectivity, like Bandung.

Now everyone flies to Bandung, but it was started by AirAsia, we are the pioneers, and it is good. I don’t care if other airlines are going to Bandung. It is fair, and the more choice, the better.

I believe there are many people haven’t flown to Sulawesi from Vietnam. Well, how many Vietnamese come to Indonesia? I am sure there are only a few. How many Indonesians go to the Philippines? I say it is a few. So, that is what I would like to do: make ASEAN a smaller place; everyone knows it, everyone likes it.

How strong will AirAsia be in the next five years?

I have a vision. Whether I get there or not, I don’t know, but we will work hard to make it happen. I really do not know. When I was a young kid and I told my dad
I wanted to have an airline, he laughed at me. I said I wanted to own a football club, he really laughed at me. Then, I said I wanted to own a Formula One team, he laughed at me again. But, I am lucky enough to make my dreams come true even though they are unbeliveable dreams. So, whether I get to my vision, we have to wait and see, but at least I have a vision and I will try. If I fail, I fail.

I’d rather try and fail than not try at all. Life is hard, it is easy to just stay at home and do nothing. It is much harder when you receive criticism and people dislike you. I’d rather go out there and try to do new things, help people, create jobs, create new business, than take the easy options.

So, what are your concrete plans to make AirAsia bigger in Indonesia?

The concrete plans are to start more flights to Indonesia. I think we have to work on our distribution system because we have focused on the Internet too much yet and most Indonesians do not have access to the Internet, especially outside of Jakarta. I also want to focus on building Internet properties, mobile technologies, with a lot of talented people in Indonesia. I believe they can help me grow our mobile applications and we are working with a lot of Indonesian companies on that.

What is the biggest challenge in running business in Indonesia?

The biggest challenge is the people do not really know you and they have heard a lot of rumors about you. I don’t think Indonesians are any different from other countries. Sometimes, it is like you may have a different vision of me, then you meet me, and you have yet another different vision.

It is a big country with a lot of media, a lot of Internet and lots of things have been said already. The challenge is to tell your real story to everybody. That is the biggest challenge in a country like Indonesia. But, generally we have been warmly welcomed here.

The other day when I sat in a coffee house, there were two people in the coffee house looking at the Internet, then they came to me and said, “Are you Tony Fernandes? Can I take your picture?” and it was fine for me. But, they did not believe that I was here by myself without bodyguards or lots of people, and I was short, and just walking around.

It is all about perception. They think I am up there so, the people can not talk to me, and so on. Perception remains the biggest challenge.