The Role of Electronic Public Relation (E-PR) As A Strategy By Government Public

Service During Pandemic COVID-19

Nama/NIM

Abstract. Industry 4.0 bring a whole new level to the public relation, as it relies on
technology in most of its activities. From Industry 4.0, born are the electronic public relation
which utilizes the internet, web ring, and other modern technologies that involves machine in
order to provide the most effective public relation activities. The government for one, are
implementing this by adding online service as an alternative method for public service. It
becomes one of the highlights in Making Indonesia 4.0 movement declared by President Joko
Widodo. Since January 2020, Pandemic Covid-19 causes every aspect of humanity to be on
hold, especially activities that involves meeting a lot of people or activities that gather crowds
in a space, including public relation activities. Thus, the Government of Indonesia faces a
new challenge, which is to maintain the best public service while following Covid-19
protocols, which is physical distancing. This research aims to research regarding the role of
electronic public relation (E-PR) as a strategy by the Government of Indonesia’s public
service during Pandemic Covid-19. The method used in this research is qualitative method
with literature study as an analysis technique towards secondary data, and lastly provide the
report using descriptive qualitative method.

Keywords: Electronic Public Relation; Indonesia; Pandemic Covid-19

INTRODUCTION
Society these days are currently in the phase of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (or Industry
4.0). the definition of Industry 4.0 varies, since it is still in research and development stage.
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel (2014) argues that Industry 4.0 is a comprehensive
transformation of all production aspect in industry through the combination of digital
technology and the internet with conventional industries. Schlechtendal et al. (2015)
emphasizes the definition as a speed element of information availability, namely an industrial
environment in which all entities are always connected and able to share information with
one another.1

1
Hoedi Prasetyo and Wahyudi Sutopo, ‘Industri 4.0: Telaah Klasifikasi Aspek Dan Arah Perkembangan Riset’,
Jati Undip : Jurnal Teknik Industri 13, no. 1 (2018): 17–27., p. 19.
 The existence of public relation is very important to achieve organizational goals.
Therefore, every organization or agency needs to make public relation as one of the
communication strategies to reach and manage their public. This situation is needed – not
only business organizations, political organizations, but government organizations and non-
profits as well, who want to be successful in today’s digital era. The presence of the internet
has a great influence on new ways of managing public relation. The success of public relation
is largely determined by the use of internet technology as a new communication medium. The
internet is an information highway that is free of obstacles, which can be used by users
around the world without being restricted by barriers of geographic, cultural, political,
economic barriers. It also can be used by public relations practitioners as a medium for
communication and information with the public, both internal and external, collaborate, and
form positive organizational opinions.
In today’s digital era, the use of technology is very important to achieve goals.
Electronic technology does not only function as a means to manage internal and external
resources of an organization, but also as a medium for managing public interests quickly and
broadly. This occasion is where electronic public relations (E-PR) is needed to use computer
network technology in a planned and systematic way to achieve organizational goals
effectively and efficiently. The obstacles faced by public relations professionals are
increasingly complex due to social changes and technological changes. However, it also
becomes an opportunity for E-PR to continue development and provide better services in an
era of change.
Some of the components associated with implementing E-PR in an organization are:
technology; relationship; public type; type of organization; and the purpose of E-PR. 2 The
first aspect is the use of electronic technology, especially the internet. Second, the
relationship, namely the relationship between the organization and the public it serves, which
is the core of Public Relations, abbreviated as PR. These relationships include
communication management, interaction and interdependence between organizations and
stakeholders. Third, the interested parties are none other than the public or people served by
the organization, both inside (internal public) and externally (external public). Fourth, the
type of organization itself can be in the form of government, private companies (profit), or
social organizations (non-profit). Fifth, the purpose of public relation is primarily to form a

2
Muhammad Anshar, ‘Electronic Public Relation (E-PR): Strategi Mengelola Organisasi Di Era Digital’ 8 (2019):
200–213., p. 200.
positive image, mutual understanding, and cooperation between organizations and the
public.3 The use of electronic technology is no longer is no longer a complement in managing
public relation but as an instrument that integrates with other sub-systems as a determinant of
the success and failure of an organization. From this, the term E-PR was born. According to
Onggo (2004), E-PR is a public relation PR initiative that uses internet technology as a means
of publicity.
In Indonesia, Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia, on April 4th 2018 has launched
Making Indonesia 4.0, which is a road map and strategy in order to enter the digital world
era.4 The preparation for this road map involves a variety of stakeholders from the
government, industry associations, business actors, technology providers, as well as research
and education institutions. From Making Indonesia 4.0, the Government of Indonesia will
focus on five main technologies, namely: 1) Internet of things (IoT), 2) Artificial intelligence,
3) Human-machine interface, 4) Robotic and sensor technology, and 5) 3D printing
technology.5 E-PR in this roadmap is known as Online Public Relations or Cyber Public
Relations. For daily lives, the use of the term E-PR appears like the term E-Learning, E-
Business, E-Government, or E-Commerce and others that refer the use of electronic media,
especially the internet in managing organizations and interacting with audiences (the public).
The ability of computer technology to manage, display, and send various forms of messages
(multimedia) has been used by organizational leaders to build a brand and build trust through
E-PR.
E-PR is not only needed by organizations but also a public need as a whole. In today’s
digital era, society or the public needs online interaction and community, such as newsgroup,
online forums, discussion groups, mailing lists, or web rings. Through online groups or
communities, users can communicate and exchange information electronically via email or
chat without the need to meet face to face. In building an online group or community, user
activeness, creativity, and ethics are needed. The use of electronic technology from the
organization and the public will create an effective E-PR.
Since December 2019, the world has been shocked by a new virus outbreak, first
named coronavirus per its genus in Wuhan, China. This virus, further named Covid-19,
causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, which leads to various sickness from breathing

3
Ibid.
4
Cisilia Sundari et al., ‘Fenomena Digital Era Revolusi Industri 4.0’, Jurnal Dimensi DKV Seni Rupa Dan Desain 8,
no. 1 (2019): 47–58., p. 48.
5
Ibid.
difficulties to respiratory failure.6 One of the things that makes this virus terrible is the
incubation period, which is 14 days. It means that during the 14 days since contact with
Covid-19, a person does not know that her or she has actually contracted Covid-19, thereby
increasing the risk of spreading, because he or she does not self-quarantine themselves at
home or at a medical facility.7 The spread continued for 14 days or until the first symptom of
Covid-19 were found on the patient (usually cough or high fever with breathing difficulties).
This situation is what ultimately causes the spider-web infection of Covid-19 to enlarge and
transformed from an outbreak to a pandemic level.
Covid-19 can be contracted when a person touches the sick, or if the person is at a
close range to the patient. As a result of Pandemic Covid-19, people had to be quarantined in
their own homes as an effort to prevent getting the disease. Individuals have to physically
distance themselves from one another and regularly wash their hands. Even if a person needs
to leave the house due to urgent needs, they are obliged to wear masks as a preventive
measurement. This rule is called physical distancing. In applying physical distancing, a
person is not allowed to physically touch other people, such as shaking hands or hugging. 8
Interactions must be kept at a minimum distance of 1-meter, especially interactions with
people who are sick or at high risk of infection from Covid-19.9 On March 2nd 2020,
Indonesia announced their first two Covid-19 victims, and soon the numbers went sky-high
and the virus is spreading like wildfire across the nation, making the Government of
Indonesia faces a heavier and more complex system in providing public service and a
challenging public relation activities to all people currently reside or staying in Indonesia.10
As the Pandemic COVID-19 strikes, the nature of this virus forces people to adjust to
new public relation protocol, in which the main element that is playing is electronic public
relation. It is because the nature of SARS-nCov2 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) forbids people
to do a physical contact with other people, as it may increase the infection rate. This situation
has cause new challenges for public relations organizations all around the world. Thus, it is
6
Fei Zhou et al., ‘Clinical Course and Risk Factors for Mortality of Adult Inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan,
China: A Retrospective Cohort Study’, The Lancet 395, no. 10229 (March 2020): 1054–62,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30566-3.
7
S. A. Lauer et al., ‘The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) from Publicly Reported
Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application’, Annals of Internal Medicine 172, no. 9 (2020): 577–82.
8
Muhammad Rasyid Ridlo et al., ‘Peranan Perpustakaan Perguruan Tinggi Dalam Mencegah Penyebaran Covid-
19’, Tadwin: Jurnal Ilmu Perpustakaan Dan Informasi, 2020, 58–73.
9
Derek K Chu, Elie A Akl, and Stephanie Duda, ‘Physical Distancing, Face Masks, and Eye Protection to Prevent
Person-to-Person Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’, Lancet
395 (2020).
10
Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, ‘BREAKING: Jokowi Announces Indonesia’s First Two Confirmed COVID-19 Cases’,
The Jakarta Post, 2020, https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/03/02/breaking-jokowi-announces-
indonesias-first-two-confirmed-covid-19-cases.html., accessed at 17 th November 2020.
urgent for the Government of Indonesia to make a breakthrough and innovative policies in
order to overcome problems while still being oriented to the best public services to the
community. From this background and issue, it is the author’s intention to further analyze the
role of electronic or digitalized public relation as a strategy by the government public service
during Pandemic COVID-19.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Research questions serve as a limitation as well as the focus which will be discussed
in this research. Therefore, the problem formulation or research questions to be discussed in
this research is:
1) What are the types of Electronic Public Relation currently exist in Indonesia?
2) What is the role of Electronic Public Relation as a strategy in Indonesia’s government
public service during Pandemic COVID-19?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND BENEFITS

The objectives that are expected to be achieved in this study are:
1) To recognize the types of Electronic Public Relation currently exist in Indonesia;
2) To analyze the role of Electronic Public Relation as a strategy in Indonesia’s
government public service during Pandemic COVID-19.
The benefits that the Author hope can be achieved from this research are:
Theoretically:
1) To add information and research regarding the types of Electronic Public Relation
currently exist in Indonesia; and
2) To research regarding the applicable method of electronic public relation during
Covid-19
Practically:
3) To provide knowledge and information regarding how Electronic Public Relation has
a role in Indonesia’s strategy in government public service during Pandemic COVID-
19; and
4) To give an input regarding how electronic public relation has a role in the
Government of Indonesia’s strategy to fight against Pandemic Covid-19.

RESEARCH METHODS
1) Research Type
 This research is a qualitative research with literature review technique. Qualitative
research is a data collection in a scientific setting with the intention of interpreting the
phenomena that occur in which the researcher is the key instrument, the sample data
collection is done purposively, data analysis is inductive/qualitative in nature, and qualitative
research emphasizes meaning rather than generalizations.11

2) Data
The data used in this research is secondary data. Secondary data is a type of additional
data that is not obtained from the main source, but has gone through the umpteenth source.
That is, these people do not feel directly the phenomenon being studied, but get the
information from other primary source.12 The secondary data has many sources, ranging from
books, journals, articles and previous researches. All can be used as a data sources, as long as
the data obtained is valid and can be scientifically proven or responsible. 13 Thus, data in this
research is collected from books, journals, researches, articles, and many more related to
public relation, government public service, and its correlation to Pandemic Covid-19.

3) Data Collection Technique

The data collection technique used in this research is literature study. Literature study
is a data collection technique that is directed at finding data and information through
documents, both written documents, photographs, images, and electronic documents that can
support the writing process. Thus, in this research, the author will use literature study to find
written documents and existing interviews from other sources regarding how the government
public service use the role of electronic public relation as a strategy during Pandemic
COVID-19.

4) Data Analysis Method

The data analysis method used by the researcher is a descriptive qualitative approach.
Qualitative research emphasizes the processes that occur in the data source and the entire
context with inductive analysis. Nawawi and Martini (1994) describes descriptive qualitative
approach as a method that describes or pictures an objective situation or a specific event

11
Johan Setiawan and Albi Anggito, Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif (Sukabumi: Jejak Publisher, 2018)., p. 8.
12
Iqbal Hakim, ‘Data Sekunder: Pengertian, Ciri-Ciri, Dan Contohnya’, Insan Pelajar, 2020,
https://insanpelajar.com/data-sekunder/., accessed at 17 th November 2020.
13
Ibid.
according to the seen facts accompanied, followed by making the general conclusions based
on these facts.14

14
Agustinus Ufie, ‘Kearifan Lokal (Local Wisdom) Budaya Ain Ni Ain Masyarakat Kei Sebagai Sumber Belajar
Sejarah Lokal Untuk Memperkokoh Kohesi Sosial Siswa’ (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, 2013)., p. 39.
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Anshar, Muhammad. ‘Electronic Public Relation (E-PR): Strategi Mengelola Organisasi Di

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A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’. Lancet 395 (2020).
Gorbiano, Marchio Irfan. ‘BREAKING: Jokowi Announces Indonesia’s First Two
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