Foreign ministry's

Foreign ministry's inefficiency

From Kompas

I met an Indonesian diplomat in Singapore in September on his way to Beijing for an Asia Pacific coordination meeting of the foreign affairs ministry's information department. It reminded me of the various overseas meetings of ambassadors and consuls general frequently held when I studied abroad.

Public funds worth hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on travel and accommodation expenses, ladies' programs for wives of diplomats and so on, while the country has numerous embassies and consulates general around the world. The effectiveness and efficiency of these sessions, however, are very slim. Though they can be accounted for in terms of budget expenditure, the large sums wasted cannot be morally justified.

It would be more beneficial to spend the money on assistance to Indonesian citizens neglected abroad or trade and tourism promotion. Foreign office coordination can actually be achieved via fax, phone or a Website linking the country's foreign missions with the foreign office in Jakarta. The same is true of other ministries, which could achieve greater efficiency in the national interest.

ROBERT PALIMANAN

Bekasi, West Java