Al-Ansari: Ambassador and composer
Al-Ansari: Ambassador and composer
By Riyadi
Kuwait Ambassador Ali Zakaria Al-Ansari is ending his term in
Indonesia soon. He agreed to an interview with The Jakarta Post
to discuss some of his impressions during his tenure, while
revealing a bit of his personality.
JAKARTA (JP): When outgoing Kuwait Ambassador Ali Zakaria Al-
Ansari returns to his country, Indonesia will miss not simply a
seasoned and experienced ambassador, it is also losing a musical
master.
Sadly few people here realize Al-Ansari's talent as a
composer. And the ambassador himself has not availed the
Indonesian public of the opportunity to listen to his works,
perhaps because his diplomatic duties came first.
"You might be surprised to know that I'm a composer," Al-
Ansari told The Jakarta Post during the interview at his office
on Jl. Denpasar Raya in Kuningan district.
A surprise for sure, but the highly artistic design of his
room quickly attested to the ambassador's musical traits.
On this occasion, Al-Ansari indulged in talk about his love
for music, as well as his diplomatic career and duties.
Al-Ansari, 65 years old, has served as ambassador for his
country in a number of countries, ranging from Tunisia,
Switzerland, the Soviet Union, Brazil and India.
Nothing in his educational background and initial working
career pointed to a long service in the foreign office. He
thought that he was going to be a teacher, or perhaps a writer.
After finishing his under-graduate study at Cairo University
in English literature, Al-Ansari worked for several years in the
Kuwaiti Ministry of Education. During this period, he published
several short stories and poems in a variety of magazines.
Then in 1961, the Kuwaiti foreign ministry recruited him, and
he has never looked back since.
"A diplomat only needs a good common sense. If you have common
sense you can gain a career as a diplomat," he said about how he
managed to fit into the diplomatic career.
Music
Al-Ansari said his interest in music began in his early
childhood. He had an opportunity to take up and study the playing
of an Arabic instrument, called the 'ud. It is now his lifelong
serious pastime.
While serving in Moscow, Al-Ansari found the opportunity to
take courses in Western European harmony, orchestration and
composition, his main tutor being the Soviet composer Michaelov.
The ambassador has already composed three symphonic works. The
first two were performed and recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil, when
he was ambassador there. The last one, entitled Liberation, was
performed and recorded by The Royal Academy of Music's Symphony
Orchestra in London earlier this year.
"It was received warmly by the audience in the Academy Hall.
After the concert, I had to give many interviews, about 10, with
newspapers and magazines about my symphony," said this father of
four children.
He particularly treasures Liberation because he wrote it
before, during and after the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq.
Al-Ansari came to Indonesia immediately after the end of the
Gulf War in 1991, and one of the first assignments, which also
turned out to be the most challenging during his three-year
tenure, was to convince Indonesians that Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait was wrong.
He said he tried hard to convince the press here as some
people were confused by the Iraqi attempt to tie the invasion to
the Palestinian problem , thus fanning a possible Christianity-
Islam conflict. "We tried hard to correct things, present the
bare facts and provide figures whenever it was deemed necessary,"
he said, thankful for the support of the Indonesian government
during his country's difficult time.
He recalled that more than 1,000 Indonesian-trained workers
helped in extinguishing the fires at more than 700 oil wells
which were set ablaze during the war.
Relations
After the war, relations between Indonesia and Kuwait have
steadily been increasing. The Kuwait Fund for Development resumed
its activities that had been interrupted by the invasion.
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Development has extended soft loans
totaling $167 million, with long grace periods and low interest,
to Indonesia to finance highways and electricity power projects.
"His Highness, the Emir of Kuwait, wrote off the interest on
these loans that amounted to US$816,000 ... And I'm happy to
state that Kuwaiti financial institutions are becoming more
interested in investing their money here, and businessmen began
to know their way to Indonesia."
Last month representatives of a leading financial institute,
the Kuwait Financial House, visited Indonesia. And with the
encouragement of the authorities here, it has established a
branch office in Jakarta to explore investment possibilities. The
institute is planning to establish an Islamic bank in Indonesia.
Al-Ansari said an agreement on the avoidance of double
taxation has been signed. This is to pave the way for more
investment and more economic cooperation between the two
countries since the investment is guaranteed and the atmosphere
of confidence is available.
He suggested that Indonesian businessmen be more aggressive in
promoting their products in Kuwait and other countries in the
Gulf region to increase the amount of Indonesian non-oil exports.
"Indonesian businessmen should be more aggressive. They should
go to the area, like the Japanese and the Taiwanese who go there
and collect information. So, they would know what to export."
Unfortunately, information about Indonesia's potential is not
always available in Kuwait, and Indonesian businessmen do not
know about Kuwait's potential either.
"You have to promote your products, your facilities and your
other potentials. If you are aggressive, you will see more money
will coming here, not only from Kuwait but also from other Arab
countries," he said.
He invited Indonesian companies to participate in building
Kuwait's development projects, especially in construction.
"You have good reputation in construction. It had been
mentioned by our cabinet delegation when they visited the
Ministry of Public Works. We have so many things to construct, if
you have expertise to contribute, please come."