Samenvatting

Indonesian Students Association in The Netherlands, PPI Belanda, is an independent organisation, which was established in 1922 by Indonesian youths who studied in The Netherlands. This organisation is made to be of service as a medium for all Indonesian students' needs as well as to give contribution to the nation. Even though it was inactive for several years due to certain conditions, PPI Belanda has succeeded in presenting its existence to public again in 1998. PPI Belanda is an official Indonesian student organisation in The Netherlands, which pioneered other Indonesian student organisations in other countries. PPI Belanda's mission is to become a valuable representative and an ambassador for Indonesian youths abroad. This is to stimulate the spirit of the Indonesian students to be proud of their nation as their identity.

This paper aims to observe the current problems PPI Belanda has to encounter, therefore advices and recommendations are made. Recently, PPI Belanda has been working to re-build their image. The "just-a-name" image of PPI Belanda has made its target group -the Indonesian students lost their trust and prefer not to join PPI Belanda. It attempts to re-build image and trust, not only from its target group but also its external relations. Therefore, a research has been made in order to find out how PPI Belanda is perceived. Besides the desk research, interviews with a number of people related to this issue have also been integrated. Finally, a survey has been conducted as a final measurement for the perception of the target group towards the organisation.

Lately, most of the Indonesian students in The Netherlands have been involved in the organisation as PPI Belanda member. However, the involvement is not optimal since there is no structure and clarity in the organisation, especially its membership. It appears that members can not distinguish themselves from non-member. As a result, the sense of belonging towards PPI belanda is declining. The current communication has been measured through the help of the survey and it turns out that it has more negative perception. It is proved that the desired situation of PPI Belanda do not match with the current situation. Therefore, the communication between PPI Belanda and its target group needs to be improved. A new strategy and approach is highly needed in order to maintain its existence.

The term: From Us, To Us, By Us, means the existence of PPI Belanda is happened due to the involvement from the Indonesian students which the outcome will be favoured to and by them. Being more pro-active, transmitting the correct message to the target group, and maximising integrated communication strategy are the key that should be implemented to reform a new image of PPI Belanda. The author assured after applying these strategies PPI Belanda could improve more. As the result, PPI Belanda would not only be known by its name, but also its better services and activities. Thus, its membership is valuable.