Circumstances demand foreign minister stay close to Gus Dur

Circumstances demand foreign minister stay close to Gus Dur

Foreign minister Alwi Shihab has been under fire from critics,
who have charged he has spent too much time with President
Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) and too little on foreign affairs.
Political analyst Jusuf Wanandi thinks rare political
circumstances in Indonesia's transitional period have forced the
minister to be always in close touch with the President.

Question: Critics of the minister, including legislators, have
said Alwi Shihab spends too much time at the palace and not
enough at his own ministry. Others have said most of the
minister's comments are on domestic issues and that it is not
clear whether the former Harvard scholar has a good grasp of
foreign policy issues.

Answer: One has to remember that this is a transitional period
in Indonesia and one in which the country is plagued with many
problems. As a close confidant of Gus Dur, minister Alwi Shihab
has often been asked to give feedback. So it is a natural thing
to do for Gus Dur. This explains why the minister spends such a
lot of his time at the presidential palace rather than at his own
ministry.

Q: On what issues is Gus Dur seeking advice from Alwi?

A: Numerous issues, including domestic and foreign ones. Also in
matters pertaining to the management of the government.

Of course, in this era of globalization the line between
domestic and foreign issues is becoming blurred. It has become
mixed. Our domestic politics are influenced by foreign affairs
and vice versa.

Therefore, we should learn to accept Alwi Shihab's mastering
of domestic issues in addition to foreign ones.

Also, in this early period of the Gus Dur regime, one of the
most important things for him to do is to restore Indonesia's
standing and place among the international community.

Why? Because too many things happened during the previous
regimes that tarnished Indonesia's previously good name abroad,
including human rights violations in East Timor during the
Habibie government. Gus Dur is trying to mend the image of
Indonesia, which has gone down the drain.

Q: And that's why Gus Dur makes a lot of trips abroad ...

A: Yes, he is aiming to win over the trust of the international
community, and, by so doing, hopefully investors will make their
way back to Indonesia.

So we should never trivialize Gus Dur's efforts. He is
actually laying a new groundwork in international relations and
is playing a pivotal role in this respect. As the foreign
minister, Alwi Shihab would obviously support this role because
the key figure in all these efforts is the President himself.

Q: It seems that the peculiar circumstances we are experiencing
now are among the reasons why Alwi is always in rapport with Gus
Dur...

A: Yes, if the minister is often seen with the President it is
for reasons of credibility, as the President is the one trusted
by the international community.

But, of course, Alwi is trying to implement Gus Dur's ideas.
The recent agreements and cooperation pacts with China, South
Korea and the Middle East, for example, I think are Gus Dur's
ideas.

Once the transitional period is over, there is no reason
whatsoever why Alwi should not start consolidating the foreign
affairs ministry. In that sense, the criticism tabled by the
legislators holds some truth.

The ministry is the main instrument in diplomacy, so we can
not just ignore it. Although in a comprehensive diplomacy the
foreign affairs ministry is only one of the elements. The
ministry, which has yet to be consolidated, has been somewhat
neglected because the minister is so preoccupied. So
Alwi's next step, say toward the end of this year, should be --
and I know he has thought this over -- to set up an education
program for our young diplomats.

Q: How does foreign affairs policy under Gus Dur differ from that
of previous regimes?

A: Firstly, Gus Dur's attention to South Asia. India and the
subcontinent is an area which we practically paid no attention to
in the past.

Secondly, Middle Eastern countries with whom we have emotional
ties because of our similar religions, because of our struggle
for independence from colonialism, things related to nationalism
and also for economic reasons.

I think our attention paid to these countries has never been
so great.

Q: What about South-South cooperation?

A: Gus Dur pays a great deal of attention to this issue because
he is very concerned about the poor, both locally and globally.
His recent visit to Cuba, for example, attested to this. The
South countries are going to meet in Cairo and I think Gus Dur
will attend too.

Gus Dur's conception in respect to developing countries is to
prevent rich countries from becoming the sole institutional
arbiter in deciding the rules of the game in this global economy.
This is what Gus Dur supports.

Q: And what about his initiative for an Indonesia-India-China
axis?

A: Many misunderstood this as an antiwestern alliance. There is
no antiwestern motive at all in this initiative. What Gus Dur is
aiming for was to amend an oversight. In the past, our diplomatic
relations with India and China should have been closer since both
of them are big countries. The same goes with Japan, and in the
ASEAN plus three arrangement which includes Japan, South Korea
and China. Gus Dur's view is correct.

So it is not an alliance, first of all. This term tends to a
narrow meaning, in the sense of a military pact or politics like
the United States and Japan's alliance, for example. This is not
the case (with Gus Dur's idea). He simply meant closer
cooperation in the fields of economy and politics. The mechanism
for it is in place, which is the ASEAN 10 plus three.
They are going to have their third summit in November. (hbk)