Dewi has Habibie's ear on foreign issues

By Kornelius Purba

JAKARTA (JP): When President B.J. Habibie stunned the world on Jan. 27 with his sensational announcement that he was ready to let East Timor become an independent state, journalists, politicians and foreign diplomats were busy analyzing Habibie's real motives and trying to discovering who had influenced the decision-making process.

The chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Abdurrahman Wahid, quickly pointed his finger at Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Habibie's advisor on foreign affairs.

"Pak Habibie listens more to Dewi than Pak Alatas," Abdurrahman said of the role of Dewi and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas on the decision.

"My role is quite minimum, I am only an assistant to the state secretary. I don't think I can influence him (Habibie) very much," Dewi told The Jakarta Post in an interview at her office at the State Secretariat on Monday.

Dewi, a PhD holder specializing in foreign affairs, officially serves as Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung's assistant on foreign affairs. Dewi previously worked as Habibie's assistant on global affairs when Habibie became vice president from March to May last year, before replacing president Soeharto on May 21.

Habibie personally appointed her as his spokeswoman on foreign affairs. Foreign diplomats and the media appear to find it much easier to get access to Habibie through Dewi.

Some senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say Dewi plays a more dominant role in the ministry, especially on East Timor affairs since she is one of the 40 member-team to draft Indonesia's proposal on special autonomy for the province.

Portugal and Indonesia are still negotiating the proposal in New York.

Dewi just laughed when she was informed about the officials' opinion.

Dewi was born in Bandung, West Java, on May 22, 1958. Her parents are Minangkabau. Her father Khaidir was a professor of literature.

She lived with her grandparents in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra, from 1964 to 1973 and was reunited with her parents only after she completed junior high school. She joined her family who moved to London, where her father worked as a professor of Indonesian studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

In 1978, she studied at SOAS and obtained her master's degree a few years later with her thesis The Kaaba and the Garuda: The Dilemma of Islam in Indonesian politics.

She continued her studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She earned her PhD in 1990 with a dissertation on ASEAN as an Aspect of Indonesian Foreign Policy.

She started working as a researcher on foreign affairs at the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in 1983 and is still active there.

She is also on the staff of the Center for Information and Development Studies (CIDES), a think thank established by the influential Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI). Habibie was the founder of ICMI.

Married in 1983 to Yos Rizal, a distant relative, Dewi is the mother of daughter Laraswati, 15, and son Deka Febriawan, 9.

Yos works at a private company. Dewi said her husband's salary is the family's main income. "I am a civil servant, but my taste is really a private employee's taste".

The following is an excerpt of the interview:

Question: How do you influence Pak Habibie on foreign affairs?

Answer: I don't think there is anyone, particularly the President, who really knows or watches foreign policy. Of course I am the advisor for foreign affairs.

Q: What does the President think about the autonomy plan (for East Timor)?

A: In his view, this is the best draft we have been able to come up with. And you know, we hope it will meet people's aspirations, particularly the East Timorese, both proindependence and prointegration, and will also meet the aspirations of the Portuguese government. The East Timor issue continues to be a major issue, so we hope that with this, Portugal will be able to remove the East Timor issue from its constitution. And that Portugal, according to the draft once it is signed by the agreement, will be obliged to initiate the removal of this issue from the UN General Assembly agenda. If this is not accepted, then the second option will be the only choice left.

Q: Do you think it will be able to satisfy the East Timorese?

A: We will have to see.

Q: How long have you advised Habibie on foreign affairs?

A: Not long. I've worked directly for him since May 1998 when he was vice president, I was an assistant for global affairs. In terms of duration, not too long. From before that, as you know, I have been a researcher at the LIPI and CIDES on international affairs. But here again, even if the foreign minister wanted to do something and the President didn't, it does not mean anything. It is misleading to say that the President is dictated to. I see myself as a very small component.

Q: Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid) once said that the President listened more to you than to Alatas?

A: I regard it is compliment... Pak Alatas is playing the leading role in foreign policy, including the East timor issue.

Q: People at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say your presence there is strongly felt...

A: Really? I do not know whether it is positive or negative. The fact of the matter is that in the past the assistant for foreign affairs here, Pak Widodo, was more responsible for interpretation and translation. But now with the restructuring of the State Secretariat, my office has become more involved in helping the minister, in issues related to international relations. So in that sense this office has become much more involved.

But now on the particulars of the East Timor issue, I'm a member of a small team comprising first echelon officials which helps work out the draft that the minister of foreign affairs will take to New York. So we are very involved from the very beginning.

And of course, I have direct access to the President, so it is easier for me sometimes to carry a message. Sometimes when colleagues from other ministries want me to tell the President something, it is quite easy for me to write a memo to convey the message that needs to be conveyed to the President. Whether the President takes notice of it is another matter. I do have direct access, I have meetings with him in person.

Q: Who is the most dominant advisor to the President?

A: I do not think there is anyone who is dominant. In the past two months, when the President asked coordinating minister for political and security affairs to coordinate the draft-making, a small team was formed. I am the only woman, there are 40 men.

The President accepted my argument about the need to be more accessible to the media, particularly the international press. I also tried to make the President more accessible. I think people should see more.

Q: People are curious about the President's offer of independence.

A: I did not need to convince Pak Habibie because he came to his own conclusion. Well, we share the same idea, but it does not mean I tell him. I think he came to his own independent conclusion that the East Timor issue has to be resolved. It does not mean that he wants to let East Timor go just like that. Personally, I think all of us Indonesians would like to see East Timor continue to be part of Indonesia, for political reasons, security reasons ... but because of our commitment to democracy, our commitment to human rights, that East Timor is an international issue and not just our own issue, then we have to accept certain limitations in our abilities to resolve the East Timor issue independently. We need a breakthrough.

But what happens if a majority of East Timorese chose not to be part of Indonesia? As a democratic country and according to the constitution, we can not just simply force our will, we should allow them to have self determination. We should give them the choice.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to the same conclusion many years ago. It has been working on an autonomy package, suggestions for autonomy, since 1994. In fact, Pak Alatas mentioned it to Pak Harto in 1994. But Pak Harto would not even consider the suggestion. That is why people think (that the ministry was passive).

As a matter of fact, the ministry's people came to the conclusion a long time ago that we have to find a breakthrough to solve the East Timorese issue. As you know, our diplomats have suffered criticism, humiliation in various international forums, they do not want the issue to go on indefinitely. So they are very supportive of the President's solution.

Q: Ministry officials jokingly say the initials for Dewi Fortuna Anwar -- DFA -- stand for the Department of Foreign Affairs...

A: Somebody says DFA, but I do not consider myself to be influential at all, because the President is the president, he makes his own decisions ... If people think I am overly influential that is their perception.

Q: National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais has often mentioned you as a possibility for his foreign minister if he wins the general election. Has he told you about his plan?

A: He has said it several times, including at a seminar in Australia in 1998. I think it is a compliment from Pak Amien Rais.