Germany a long-standing partner of Indonesia

Germany a long-standing partner of Indonesia

German Ambassador to Indonesia Heinrich Seemann enjoys citing the perhaps surprisingly long relationship enjoyed by his nation and Indonesia, including a sojourn spent by famed 19th century painter Raden Saleh in Dresden. In a recent interview conducted before the German election, the ambassador expressed confidence the relationship would continue to thrive in Indonesia's time of need.

JP: How will the outcome of Germany's election affect its foreign policies, particularly toward Southeast Asia, in regard to its role as a major global player?

Ambassador Seemann: Foreign policy is not a controversial argument in the election. It is more of a personality election, and there are more major issues. There will be no change in our policy on Asia, which was set a couple of years back and will be valid for the future forever. This policy envisioned more cooperation, etc. It will remain valid even if there is a change in government.

JP: What concrete measures is Germany taking to help Indonesia, the hardest hit of all Asian economies?

Ambassador Seemann: Indonesia is a major partner of Germany and the most important in the region. This has to be seen from a worldwide angle. Indonesia needs someone for balance in the region and the world, including in Europe. And Germany is a major player in Europe, with the largest population and GDP.

There is also the traditional friendship of our two countries. Germany can be the door opener to Europe for Indonesia, and Indonesia can do the same for us in this region. One of the ways we can help is through giving advice and help on the economy, for example, and cooperation in the economy. We have set up a special fund to help small and medium businesses.

Our aid to Indonesia is broken down into financial/soft loans and technical cooperation. This year it is DM 408.9 million, including DM 371 million for financial. And we are involved in the International Monetary Fund, the European Program and the World Bank in their aid programs to Indonesia. We are major contributors.

JP: How can Indonesian-German ties continue to advance in the present difficult economic situation?

Ambassador Seemann: We continue to advise business, setting aside special funds for special advisors such as Mr. Schlesinger, a former Head of the Bundesbank who is now here. We are also helping out with our advisors from the Central German committee on election law, and the former president of the antitrust agency, Mr. Kartte. Indonesia needs such a law.

On Wednesday (Sept. 23), it was Indonesia day in Frankfurt, with the country represented by Minister of Industry and Trade Rahardi Ramelan. I think the Indonesian delegation was about 50 people, and of course top German officials attended.

And we were prominent in the Frankfurt agreement on debts earlier this year.

Our relations are of long standing. After Indonesian independence, a lot of students from here went to Germany. There are now about 17,000 alumni of German universities here. They are the backbone of our close ties. Germany was here during the Dutch times, and we have know ups and downs. For example, Siemens just celebrated 150 years since its founding, and it has been here for 143 of those years. The fact they came here gives you a little bit of context.

JP: As Germany marks its Reunification Day, how does its efforts to put its own house in order in tackling unemployment and legacies of the East German system affect its ability to help developing nations such as Indonesia?

Ambassador Seemann: We will not cut our budget for economic cooperation to the Third World. We will stay with our obligations.

JP: How do you characterize the status of bilateral relations today, and how can they be moved forward?

Ambassador Seemann: Again, I have to refer to the old traditional relations. They have always been excellent, and they continue to be excellent. We support the new Indonesia. I was very impressed by President Habibie's Aug. 15 State of the Nation address, and I hope we can help him realize the goals he stated in that.

Our economic cooperation continues. We will open a German Center in Bumi Serpong for small and medium German firms interested in marketing their products here. It will officially open next year. We are in the process of establishing a German- Indonesian institute for training in the German dual system, what would be called here sistem ganda.

The German Center at Bumi Serpong is the impetus to open a German industrial fair, the "technogeoma", next spring, on March 1. It is the biggest German industrial fair in the world and held only every five years. We made our decision to hold it in Indonesia before the crisis, and we are sticking to it. All of the top members of the German economy will be there, as well as 180 small and medium sized enterprises.

You also have to consider that Germany will be the chairman of the European Union for the first six months of next year. And the euro, its single currency, will be interesting for everybody. There are 377 million people in the European Union, and enlargement and expansion is envisage with Eastern Europe -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Rumania, the Slovak Republic. They will all sooner or later join and you then have a market of about 477 million.

So Germany, as the chairman, can be the basis for more cooperation with Indonesia.

JP: Habibie is a renowned Germanophile. What do you think this will do for your relations here?

Ambassador Seemann: I come back to the fact that our close relations are nothing new. We had high-ranking advisers with Sukarno, so that is nothing new. Habibie wants to make the best use of the German advisers for democratization. Consider that he studied and lived there, in a democratic and liberal system, for many years. He knows how it works.

JP: What about cultural ties between Germany and Indonesia?

Ambassador Seemann: We need to do some public relations on what our educational system has to offer. Study in Europe went into oblivion because Indonesian students went instead to Australia and the U.S. So Europe was forgotten. There is the problem of recognition of academic degrees from Germany here, and the problem that our university system is too liberalized. We need to reform that.

We have three Goethe institutes here, in Bandung, Jakarta and Surabaya, and more people are taking German-language courses than ever before. We have lots of cultural exchanges -- pianists, composers in the past, and a ballet troupe during the art summit. All of our political parties have offices here and are very active.

We know it is best to stay here. I am proud that all the German firms are still here, none has left. We all know nobody can destroy Indonesia.