Alatas urges RI diplomats to be more articulate<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas urged
\nIndonesian diplomats yesterday to be more articulate in defending
\nthe country's interests instead of simply reporting on criticism
\nhurled at Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"Our diplomats should not just be reactive,\" Alatas said here
\nyesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists, Alatas elaborated on statements he
\nmade on Friday that Indonesia needs new unconventional approaches
\nin diplomacy and to improve its abilities to inform the world of
\nits position in the face of increased global challenges.<\/p>\n
He pointed out East Timor, an issue which regularly generates
\nadverse publicity for the country.<\/p>\n
\"If there are unfavorable things written about Indonesia on
\nthe issue of East Timor don't just report on it, but respond to
\nit right away by forwarding a counter.\"<\/p>\n
The role of Indonesian foreign policy has been criticized,
\nparticularly by members of the House of Representatives, for
\nbeing reactive.<\/p>\n
Legislators complain about the fact that Indonesia is often
\noverly silent in responding to criticism from abroad,
\nparticularly over the East Timor issue.<\/p>\n
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor became Indonesia's
\n27th province in 1976. The United Nations, however, still
\nrecognizes Lisbon as the administrative power there and
\ncategorizes East Timor as a non-self-determining territory.<\/p>\n
At the opening of a photo exhibition on 50 years of Indonesian
\ndiplomacy on Friday, Alatas strongly encouraged approaches which
\ndevelop arguments and ideas to rebuff accusations from abroad.<\/p>\n
\"In other words, a more assertive and proactive attitude is
\ndemanded from our diplomacy by leaving behind our habits of being
\nsilent and avoiding defensive, reactive diplomacy,\" Alatas said.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that such an attitude was not easy to adopt.
\nThe motive behind his call for a more assertive proactive role,
\nhe said, was a combination of both the challenges of global
\nchange and the diplomats' own lack of assertiveness in the past.<\/p>\n
\"At times I do have to keep pushing our diplomats to become
\nmore active,\" Alatas remarked.<\/p>\n
He has often personally responded or rebuffed press articles
\nwhich he considers untrue or groundless concerning himself or
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year Alatas responded to a column by Fretilin
\nseparatist leader Ramos Horta in the Far Eastern Economic Review,
\nwhich attributed Alatas' failure to become UN Secretary General
\nto the East Timor issue.<\/p>\n
Alatas, a former journalist, responded that Horta was
\n\"dreaming in the daylight.\"<\/p>\n
Apart from articulating Jakarta's position, the foreign
\nminister yesterday also urged the country's foreign policy
\npractitioners and thinkers to actuate a role for Indonesia in the
\npost-Cold War era.<\/p>\n
He stressed the importance of not just analyzing a world
\nundergoing political transformation, but also the need to
\ninterpret the role Indonesia can play in such a world.<\/p>\n
\"I would like our diplomats and those who are at home, rather
\nthan analyzing, become proactive and project Indonesia's role in
\nit and then to express those ideas,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Alatas, new challenges facing Indonesia are now
\ncoming from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and thus efforts
\nmust also be directed to anticipate them.<\/p>\n
\"The fact that NGOs now play an increased role throughout the
\nworld, not just Indonesia, is a new symptom in the international
\nsphere,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the foreign ministry yesterday also issued a
\nstatement expressing its grief over the death of United States'
\nSpecial Envoy to the former Yugoslavia, Robert Frasure, who died
\nin a vehicle accident on the way to Sarajevo.<\/p>\n
\"The Indonesian government notes that they died while they
\nwere serving the cause of peace,\" the statement read.(mds)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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