Diplomats told to focus on lobbying

Diplomats told to focus on lobbying

JAKARTA: Political analyst Indria Samego urged Indonesian diplomats stationed overseas on Tuesday to improve their lobbying of various parties in a bid to help anticipate any stance hostile to Indonesia.

"Our diplomats are not competent in lobbying, unlike foreign diplomats stationed in Indonesia," said Indria who is also a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Science after attending a discussion on the threat to disintegration and the role of the Indonesian Military.

Indria said most Indonesian diplomats were not very skillful in building contacts with various local circles and if they did they were not maximizing them and tended to miss the point.

"I fear they do not have a good reason for making contacts or they just do it to pick up guests at the airport," he said, urging them to change their orientation by approaching as many local figures or organizations as possible, including non- governmental organizations.

"Like the foreign diplomats working here, who are close to Adnan Buyung Nasution or Hidayat Nurwahid," Indria said, referring to the noted lawyer and speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, respectively.

"They are close to nearly all circles here so that they are informed of any new development that is connected with their country and can immediately comment on it," he added. -- Antara