House examines ambassadorial candidates

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following the controversial installment of three new ambassadors recently, the House of Representatives began to screen 17 more ambassadorial candidates with the expectation that President Megawati Soekarnoputri will heed the House's recommendations.

House Commission I on security, defense and foreign affairs screened six of the 17 candidates on Thursday to determine their vision and mission in the posts.

The six were Sulaiman Abdulmanan, Setiyanto Pujowarsito, Basri Hasanuddin, Abdurahman Matalite, Roni Hidayat and Ribhan A. Wahab.

The screening was conducted behind closed doors in order to maintain confidentiality.

Commission chairman Ibrahim Ambong declined to identify the 17 ambassadorial candidates and would not reveal the countries they were to be assigned to.

"Our main goal is to ensure that the ambassadorial candidates are skilled in international diplomacy to forge bilateral cooperation between Indonesian and foreign countries," he said.

When asked how the ambassadorial candidates were screened, Ambong said that every candidate had been asked to present their vision and mission if assigned to a post overseas.

The deputy chairman of the commission, Isac Latuconsina, said screening would be completed within two weeks.

The House has protested the installment of three ambassadorial candidates who, according to the commission, do not meet the minimum criteria set by the House.

Many legislators called on the House to boycott the screening of the 17 ambassadorial candidates because the President had ignored recommendations on three previous candidates.

Despite objections from the House, Megawati went ahead with her plan to swear in Irsan Abdul Gani as new ambassador to Japan, Amin Rianom to Turkey and Azerbaijan and Hardikun Supandar to Algeria.

Article 13 of the amended Constitution stipulates that the president in his/her capacity as head of state has the prerogatives to appoint ambassadors after listening to the House of Representatives' considerations.

Ambong said the President went ahead with the planned installment because the House leadership did not explain in its letter to Megawati why the three new ambassadors were considered unsuitable.

"We hope the President will listen to our recommendations on the 17 ambassadorial candidates," he said, adding that commission members had no personal interest in the matter.

He added that the commission had done its duty in screening the ambassadorial candidates objectively and fairly and had taken all elements into consideration before forwarding its recommendations.