Ambassador Lu a versatile diplomat

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Departing Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Lu Shumin has always kept in mind an important piece of advice on how to come out ahead in the survival of the fittest: Adjust, adjust and adjust.

While this has helped China to grow stronger economically throughout the years, Lu said it also helped him in dealing with people from various background during his service as ambassador.

"The saying goes, 'Time and tide wait for no man,' and the late chairman Mao Zedong also said that we need to change the mentality and to tap more positive and active approaches to this matter (of change)," said Lu, who was educated at Carleton and Toronto Universities in Canada.

With such a flexible approach, he said he had been able to adjust to the Indonesian lifestyle, including the cuisine, though he still found it difficult to identify food by its Indonesian name.

"I adjust quickly to different situations, so I had no difficulty with Indonesian food. Moreover, the food here has similar ingredients to those used in Chinese cuisine. The seafood in Jimbaran, which we savored during our visit to Bali, is very enjoyable," he told The Jakarta Post in an interview at the Chinese Embassy in South Jakarta on Wednesday.

Lu presented his credentials to then president Megawati Soekarnoputri in May, 2002. Lu was born in February, 1950, in Shanxi province, which is home to much ancient Chinese cultural heritage, including the World Cultural Heritage Ancient City Wall of Pingyao.

The 55-year-old father of one began his career in the civil service after finishing his studies in Canada in 1976. With his familiarity with Canada, and North America in general, and his proficiency in English, he was appointed to the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After a year in the department, he returned to Canada to serve at the Chinese Embassy as a staff member. In 1979, he returned to China to work in the Beijing Diplomatic Service Bureau.

From 1985 to 1989, he worked in the Chinese Embassy in Australia, initially as third secretary and then second secretary.

From 1989 to 1993, Lu's career took off: from second secretary to deputy director, director and then counselor at his previous department in the foreign ministry. In 1993, he was promoted to deputy director general of the department.

In 1994, he was assigned to the United States as the counselor and later the minister counselor at the Chinese Embassy.

Four years later, he was promoted to director general of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs before being assigned as ambassador to Indonesia in 2002.

Though he has spent most of his career in the West, Lu has had not trouble adjusting to the lifestyle. His affection for golf and tennis help him socialize with the people he meets during his overseas stints.

"Our country is opening up. People, including diplomats and ambassadors, would like to see how China is changing. Golf is becoming a popular sport in China. It's also a very good means of communication, and of making friends.

"I simply try to do my best to become part of the communities (where I am posted). I try to increase mutual understanding and to foster friendship."

Lu picked a proverb to emphasize this point. "There's an English saying, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.' I think here we can also say, 'When in Jakarta or in Indonesia, do as the Indonesians do.' So you have to adapt yourself to local conditions and try to be part of the community."

It is the people of Indonesia that attract him the most. He said the struggle of the Indonesians in overcoming terrorist attacks, and especially the Acehnese in overcoming the agony of losing relatives and belongings in the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, left a deep impression on him.

"These are some things that have left a lasting memory. But it's not because those things actually happened, but because of the fact that those were the times when people displayed courage to overcome difficulty."

What he regrets most as he prepares to leave Jakarta on Friday, is losing the opportunity to travel to all of the Indonesian provinces. Some of the places he was able to visit include Borobudur Temple in Central Java, Yogyakarta and Bali. He added that he was greatly impressed by the culture of the Toraja people of Central Sulawesi.

"I have been to a dozen provinces but there are a lot more I have not yet visited, to see the people and the land. This is a source of some regret.

"But I think there should be opportunities in the future to come and see more of this country -- perhaps as a tourist."