The Mind Behind a Homegrown Bus Brand Image

Dawn hasn't fully broken when the hangar doors open. The air in Ungaran, Semarang, is still cold, carrying the faint weight of morning mist.

From inside PT Laksana Bus Manufaktur's production floor, the clang of metal and the crackle of sparks from welded steel frames fill the air. That is the scene Singgih describes as he passed through on his way to his office each morning.

Born in Cilacap in 1992, Singgih is not the kind of person who spends his days watching screens. In September 2025, he was appointed Brand and Marketing Communication Manager at PT Laksana Bus Manufaktur, one of Indonesia's largest bus body manufacturers. Their buses run through every corner of the country and have penetrated markets across South Asia and the Pacific.

"I know I haven't been at Laksana long. But when we put together the annual report at year-end, it turned out that sixty percent of all our social media traffic came from content produced in the last four months," Singgih said in late February.

When he first joined, the company's social media presence was relatively rigid, filled with unit photos and technical specifications. The information was there, but it lacked emotional pull.

According to Singgih, people never buy just an engine. They buy trust.

"Our product is strong. But people don't yet know the story behind it," he said.

He made a deliberate shift in approach. By championing a National Pride campaign as one of their core marketing strategies, he set out to introduce locally made buses as world-class products in their own right.

"During the Transjakarta campaign, I really wanted to put national pride front and center. People generally assume that Transjakarta's complete built up (CBU), buses are all imported from China, from Zhengzhou Yutong Group Co., Ltd., Zhongtong Bus Holding Co., Ltd., and so on," he said with concern.

Meanwhile, domestic products accounted for only ten percent of total procurement. He wanted to challenge that perception, directing the narrative squarely at the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government and PT Transportasi Jakarta.

"I built the case: why import at all, when we can build buses just as good, if not better right here?" Singgih said.

The results spoke for themselves. The 60 percent annual traffic figure he cited earlier was driven largely by the Transjakarta campaign period. Engagement surged. PT Laksana Bus Manufaktur gained significant exposure across a wide range of media outlets.

"A brand is about story. Tell it well, and people will find their way to you," he said.

Although he was born in Cilacap, nearly all of Singgih's childhood memories are colored by Solo. It was there that he grew up, went to school, and learned many of life's lessons.

As an only child, his home often felt quiet. No siblings to argue with or share stories. He spent much of his free time alone.

Books became his closest companions. He devoured almost anything, with fondness for history.

At school, Singgih was a familiar face at public events. He joined poetry competitions, book review contests, and was regularly appointed master of ceremony for school functions at SMA Negeri 2 Surakarta.

He was once entrusted to host an event attended by the then Mayor of Solo, Joko Widodo, as part of an agenda called Meet Mr. Mayor. That early experience confirmed that he was genuinely at ease talking in front of a crowd.

Even so, choosing a college major was another matter. At one point he considered culinary school. Archaeology crossed his mind too. Nothing felt quite right until an aptitude test pointed him toward Communication Sciences at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS).

"Honestly, it was my third choice. My parents were pushing dentistry. But it never felt right," he recalled.

The choice he had barely planned turned out to be the foundation of his entire career. On campus, he was never content just sitting in class.

Singgih and his friends enjoyed organizing small activities outside formal academic routines, discussions, film forums, and critical conversations. One of them included screening the documentary The Act of Killing by Joshua Oppenheimer.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Singgih joined The House of Representatives of Surakarta (DPRD) as a public relations and protocol officer. It was there that he felt truly tested.

The defining moment came in September 2019. Waves of student protests swept across many cities, including Solo. Thousands took to the streets to oppose the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) and the KPK Law.

From morning through midday, the courtyard of the council building was packed. Banners unfurled. Speeches rang out. As tensions rose, tear gas was fired. People scattered in panic.

Singgih stood not far from the main entrance, camera and phone in hand, documenting everything as it unfolded.

“Working while feeling anxious. Afraid, yes, but the job had to go on,” he explained.

In the thick of it, there was no room for error. He had to draft official press releases quickly, verify the sequence of events, and contain the spread of misinformation before it made things worse.

Eleven months at DPRD taught him a great deal about crisis communication. From there, he moved to the private sector, joining Netra Group to manage promotions across its hotel, restaurant, and transportation business units.

The pace shifted entirely. Singgih spent more time designing campaigns, planning events, and building media partnerships. He learned to read consumer behavior, when people travel, what draws them in, and how a single sentence can tip a purchasing decision.

From there, his path increasingly leaned toward digital marketing. He continued in similar roles at 168 iLuFA and later led content strategy at Socmedia Group.

After several months serving as Head of Content Strategist at Socmedia Group, Singgih received a call from his campus. An application he had previously submitted had reached the university leadership’s desk.

Singgih was appointed Public Relations & Marketing Communications Coordinator at UMS. His task: to rebuild and sharpen the university's communication presence from the ground up, mapping audiences, building content calendars, streamlining team workflows, and reading social media performance through data.

"No overnight breakthroughs. Just consistent, data-driven research. Every month, I'd go through the reports. Whatever was working, we kept. Whatever wasn't, we fixed," he explained.

The numbers showed steady growth. The university’s TikTok account, which initially had around 4,000 followers, jumped to 35,000 within the first four to six months. On Instagram, content reach surpassed 48 million impressions, generating more than 1 million interactions, with audience growth reaching tens of thousands of accounts within a year under his leadership.

Armed with experience in bureaucracy, business promotion, and digital strategy, Singgih eventually entered a new phase. He joined PT Laksana Bus Manufaktur to handle brand and marketing communications.

At Laksana, his role remains consistent: ensuring the product is strong not only operationally but also in communication. During the Transjakarta fleet campaign, for example, Singgih and his team developed a creative concept highlighting Central Java’s identity, Laksana’s hometown, through light, engaging copy written on the bus bodies.

Rather than stiff corporate messaging, they went with lines like "Proudly Made in Indonesia, Authentic Product of Central Java," woven together with affectionate nods to local food and familiar expressions. "The message has to be fun, easy to remember, but still land with meaning," Singgih said.

Singgih (third from the left) with two members of his team and a client from Thailand at PT Daimler Commercial Vehicle Manufacturing Indonesia during the inaugural export of bus units produced by PT Laksana Bus Manufaktur to Thailand.

For him, no matter how big the product is, the market has to be told why it matters. And Laksana's market stretches well beyond Indonesia. Their buses run in Fiji, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, and Sri Lanka.

That means the communication he builds has to travel too. "A good product alone isn't enough. People need to understand why it's good,  and that's what I keep coming back to, every single day,” said Singgih.

Writer: Genis Dwi Gustati

Translator: Farizal Luqman Majid

Editor: Al Habiib Josy Asheva