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