Ambassador Gelbard's departure

Ambassador Gelbard's departure

In the gallery of successive U.S. ambassadors to Indonesia
since Merle Cochran in 1950, after Washington had recognized the
just-established United States of Indonesia, the departing
ambassador, Robert S. Gelbard, occupies a unique position.

Ambassador Cochran, of course, is remembered as the American
diplomat who was "present at the creation", to quote Secretary of
State Dean Acheson's memoirs. Although Cochran was wearing a UN
hat in the late 1940s (in his capacity as member of the UN
Commission for Indonesia, with the task of brokering a negotiated
settlement of the Netherlands-Indonesian conflict), it was quite
clear that he was the conduit of American pressure to speed up
The Hague's acceptance of recognizing an independent and
sovereign Indonesia.

During his two-year tenure in Indonesia after presenting his
credentials on October 18, 1999, Bob Gelbard managed to establish
his own distinct ambassadorial mark. If, in the beginning,
Ambassador Gelbard was quite enthusiastic about president
Abdurrahman Wahid's rise to power as a democratically elected
leader, he did not mince his words later when he saw some obvious
imperfections in Gus Dur's leadership.

He publicly expressed his astonishment when Dr. Sonny Keraf, a
well-meaning academic, was retained by Gus Dur as state minister
of the environment after a Cabinet reshuffle. Keraf's sin was
that he occasionally criticized American companies that allegedly
did not comply with environmental rules of conduct.

At one point, the young and sometimes temperamental chairman
of the House of Representatives Commission on Defense and Foreign
Affairs, Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, demanded that Bob Gelbard be
declared persona non grata. After the brouhaha it was reported
that the State Department had strongly advised their man in
Jakarta toward the end of last year to impose "radio silence" on
himself and refrain from making public statements.

Had the Democratic Party won the November election, though,
Ambassador Gelbard would certainly have acquired a prominent
position in whatever agency he might have been assigned to in
Washington D.C. Fate, however, dictated differently and he
faithfully soldiered on in Indonesia, serving a new
administration not particularly suitable to his political
preferences.

It would be too conspiratorial to suggest that all the recent
brouhaha on the eve of his departure was designed intentionally
by him to leave the scene with a big bang. His demand that the
police be more resolute in protecting U.S. citizens was responded
to by Republika daily newspaper with a critical editorial. The
Rakyat Merdeka daily, which is well-known for its screaming
headlines, shouted on its front page that ambassador Gelbard
should be evicted from Indonesia. His recent performance before
the House of Representatives was deemed by that newspaper as
arrogant and unbecoming for a senior diplomat. Surely, no other
departing ambassador, as far as we remember, has left Indonesia
in such a glare of publicity as Bob Gelbard.

Although most probably some of his colleagues in the
diplomatic corps would not share Bob Gelbard's aggressive style
and his tendency to convey impulsive remarks, at the end of the
day all he did was what any competent ambassador should do --
namely, defend the interests of his country and secure the
protection of its citizens in times of incipient danger. If only
Indonesia's ambassadors around the world could be as tenacious as
Bob Gelbard in defending their country's interests and protecting
its citizens in their accredited postings -- not necessarily
fully imitating his style and mannerisms -- then Indonesian
taxpayers' money in funding such an expensive state agency as the
foreign service would have been well spent.

We wish Bob and Alene Gelbard a safe return home. They will
always be welcome to visit Indonesia and look up their numerous
friends whom they have managed to acquire in such a short time.