In the first seminar of ISO 26000, at Manggala Wanabakti on November 23rd, 2006, the keynote speaker was Prof. Emil Salim, the Chair of YPB’s Board of Trustees. In his speech, Prof. Emil Salim stated that Indonesia ought not to feel threatened by the coming ISO 26000. Indonesia, supported by BSN, is expected to be actively involve in the formulation of ISO 26000.

YPB/LEAD Indonesia has supported the National Standard Bureau (Badan Standarisasi Nasional) in conducting the Seminar “ISO 26000 on Social Responsibility: Opportunity or Threat for Indonesia?” at Manggala Wanabakti, Jakarta on 23 November 2006.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed standard/guidance for organizations to carry out Social Responsibility. The word ‘Corporate’ is omitted because the guidance is intended not only for corporations, but also for other organizations such as government, NGOs, and others. The guidance is expected to be launched in the end of 2008.

The interesting practice about this process of formulating standard/guidance is that ISO/BSN invites any concerned individuals to participate giving their inputs. Badan Standarisasi Nasional (BSN) as a member of ISO in Indonesia has established a body “National Mirror Committee on Social Responsibility (MC SR)” to compile inputs from various parties, which would then be forwarded to the ISO. MC SR consists of six stakeholder representatives, i.e. government, business, NGO, consumer, laborer, and others. The team has been working voluntarily (pro bono) for almost a year in compiling inputs. The team will be participated in the plenary discussion at worldwide level to fight for the inputs generating from Indonesia.
The standard is not meant for generating non-tariff barriers or legal compulsion for organizations. Organizations are expected to carry out its social responsibility basically in accordance with the standard.

In the context of Indonesia, ISO 26000 can be seen as opportunity to improve environmental and social conditions in Indonesia, but it can also be seen as a threat if other countries, particularly developed countries, use the issue of social responsibility as non-tariff barrier for Indonesian products. Although the standard is not intended for certification, it however can happen in the future.

To improve the opportunity and reduce/eliminate the threat or other threats that might appear, Indonesian people should actively involve in the creation of the standard. The participative method used in this standard creation is a big opportunity for Indonesians to get involved in determining the course of the standard. Even with the support of various experts from the six categories of stakeholder as required by ISO, MC SR still needs more supports because of the complexity of issues examined for the standard formulation. Accordingly, MC SR/BSN needs to be active in publicizing the process of producing the ISO 26000, disseminating the working draft and collecting inputs for the working draft at every phase.

For this first seminar of ISO 26000, the keynote speaker was Prof. Emil Salim, the Chair of YPB’s Board of Trustees. In his speech, Prof. Emil Salim stated that Indonesia ought not to feel threatened by the coming ISO 26000. Indonesia, supported by BSN, is expected to be active in the formulation of ISO 26000.
Mrs. Nurasiah S. Samhudi (BSN) in the seminar explained about ISO 26000 and its formulating process. Maria D.Nurani (YPB) outlined the second working draft of ISO 26000. Frank Ebinger (Jerman) presented a paper titled ‘The World after ISO 26000: Hopes & Fears”. The paper suggested what will happen when you have the opportunity to get involved in the creation of ISO 26000. It will depend on how active you are in the participation of giving inputs and involvement during the formulating process.
D. Savio Wermasubun (Business Watch Indonesia) focused on the implication for Indonesia, while As’ad Nugroho (Lembaga Konsumen Indonesia) and Timotheus Lesmana (Sinar Mas/LEAD Fellow Cohort 11) focused on opportunities and challenges of ISO 26000 for consumers and business entrepreneurs.
The Seminar was attended by 100 participants, and ended by group discussion session that addressed the second working draft of ISO 26000. Many interesting inputs from participants were then studied by members of MC SR to be forwarded to the Working Group of SR ISO as the formal inputs from Indonesia. In the coming January 2007, all the nominated experts and observers of MC SR world-wide will convene in Sydney, Australia to examine the inputs. Besides YPB/LEAD Indonesia, Lembaga Konsumen Jakarta, Jam’s Consulting, and Sinar Mas Forestry have also supported the Seminar.