Emphasis on bilateral ties back on foreign policy agenda

Newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda has again underlined the importance of "a free and active" foreign policy, set out for the first time by Indonesia's founding father and first vice president Mohammad Hatta. In his interview with The Jakarta Post, Hassan explains the relevance of such a free and active policy, with an ultimate aim of restoring Indonesia's international credibility and confidence.

JAKARTA (JP): What is a "free and active" foreign policy in the 21st century?

That is one of the primary questions which senior diplomat N. Hassan Wirayuda must answer as he settles into his new job as Indonesia's new minister of foreign affairs.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri when appointing her Cabinet this month, specifically restated the need for Indonesia to pursue the basic policy for its foreign relations as laid down by Mohammad Hatta over half a century ago.

In the Cold War era, "free and active" was identified as not siding with any superpower, but not necessarily being neutral.

In an interview, Hassan said this was an erroneous precept as a free and active foreign policy was a manifestation of Indonesia's inherent character to uphold, as enshrined in the constitution, order "based upon independence, abiding peace and social justice."

Hassan says that whatever the global system, the economic crisis faced by the country or century we live in, Indonesia's basic foreign policy precepts remain very much relevant.

"Freedom that exists in the world is mostly just physical, but it does not mean that people have the right to determine their own political, economic and social cultural system," Hassan said.

Being free should mean that each country has the right to real self-determination, which most countries theoretically have, but not in real-life conditions, he said.

"Most developing countries have the right to determine their system, theoretically perhaps, but not in practice. There are still many countries that live under 'colonization'," he said.

"It is still relevant to pursue a free and active foreign policy. It is our constitutional mandate because many countries still live under the 'rule' of developed countries," he said.

A career diplomat, Hassan, who graduated from the Harvard University Law School, served in Cairo and later Geneva as permanent representative to the United Nations. His negotiating skills were put to the test when he headed the government team in negotiations with Free Aceh Movement (GAM) last year.

Commenting on his new post, Hassan believes Indonesia would play a balancing role between the developed and developing countries in reaching the "new world economic order".

"We will play a constructive and to some extent moderating role in creating that balance," he said.

He referred to dialogs between the wealthy nations of the North and the poor countries of the South and the efforts to forge unity and solidarity among Third World countries through such forums as G-15 and G-77.

"We need a different approach now because as we all know, the confrontational approach in the North-South dialogs had been fruitless. We need to be more constructive," he said.

"The developed countries are reluctant to continue with such dialogs because they feel that Third World countries want to control them (through their control of economic resources)."

Hassan advocates a more realistic approach to foreign relations, one that builds harmonious ties between developed and developing states.

To support the country's ambitious role in bridging the interests of developed and developing countries, Hassan said he would restructure the foreign ministry starting early next year, with each director general overseeing a certain region.

"With the new structure, each official will have more time to focus on each region, encompassing all the economic and political issues in those regions," the minister said.

Speaking on regionalism, Hassan said Indonesia would advocate a change in the orientation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from an outward-looking organization into one which was more inter-ASEAN.

He explained ASEAN was less solid now with four of its anchor members -- Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines -- mired in economic hardships.

At the same time, ASEAN is saddled by problems of helping the four newest members -- Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

"It will be very difficult to launch many initiatives with the current fragile stability. Once we overcome the crisis, we can make ASEAN more dynamic as it was before," he expressed confidently.

On top of that, Indonesia should now concentrate on building better bilateral relations with major countries, especially its major trading partners.

Bilateral relations often contribute bigger benefits to the country, in terms of economic gains.

"For more than 30 years we have been concentrating more on the multilateral relations at the expense of bilateral relations. We need to change that," he said.

After all, the country should reap the benefits of its foreign policy. (Fabiola Desy Unidjaja)