Appointing

Appointing ambassadors

From Rakyat Merdeka

Allow me to respond to Raswari's article in this paper of March 7, 2003, titled Stop appointing pensioners as envoys In that article, he alleged that the foreign ministry was one of the most corrupt, wasteful and rotten of all ministries.

I don't know how Raswari could arrive at that conclusion, as the audit in the second semester of 2002 budget year carried out by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) did not include the foreign ministry on the list of government institutions, agencies, or enterprises allegedly involved in corruption.

As for Raswari's allegation that the foreign ministry could do nothing in helping the state to deal with the monetary crisis, it must be borne in mind that the restoration of Indonesia's image -- or image-building in general -- is not something that can be achieved overnight.

Indonesia's image abroad relies heavily on the country's internal state of affairs. However hard a diplomat may try to sell the image of his country abroad, he will fail to persuade his "audience" if the domestic situation is not conducive to it. Remember, the world is very transparent today.

As the world is increasingly unified and becoming more complicated, diplomacy is no longer the monopoly of diplomats. The community also plays a role in this regard. Hence the term "multi-track" diplomacy. The foreign ministry is aware of the public demand and is therefore, after restructuring the ministry itself, now restructuring Indonesia's representative offices.

Under Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, the ministry is implementing its main action program of making Indonesia's representative offices and the staff of Indonesian embassies more professional.

The restructuring of the offices is expected to be completed this year.

As for the assertion that an ambassadorial position is a gift for a retired state official or one about to retire, it should be explained here that an envoy is a political appointee and that it is the prerogative of the president to appoint someone as an envoy.

M. WAHID SUPRIYADI Information and Media Director Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jakarta