Minister Mar'uf, costly image!

If you happen to be a reader of one of these newspapers (Kompas, Suara Pembaruan, Koran Tempo, Seputar Indonesia, and Rakyat Merdeka), you should have easily identify the man I am writing about, for one simple reason. Advertising!

Remember the ad with a graph with big head shot photo of M. Mar'uf, minister of domestic affairs at left? Well, the full colour one quarter page size ad has been in the above newspapers for four consecutive days.

What's in the ad actually? Well, as shown in the graph, the minister wants people to know that local leaders election has gone smoothly (92%).

With a simple check, the cost of such ad varies from 24 million rupiah (US$2,400) to 48 million rupiah before tax (10%). Make it 35 million rupiah average per newspaper per day. For sure, the department of domestic affairs paid all these media buying.

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