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.