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.