House queries ambassadorial candidates
JAKARTA (JP): As part of its constitutional obligations, the House of Representatives (DPR) queried on Thursday nine prospective candidates for Indonesian ambassadorial positions.
The hearing was held by House Commission I on security affairs.
"This is the first time in Indonesia's legislative history that the House has held a hearing with ambassadorial candidates.
"The hearing, as stipulated in the amended 1945 Constitution, is held to obtain the House's recommendations on the candidates' track records," Commission I chairman Yasril Ananta Baharuddin said on Thursday.
He said the hearing was not part of a fit-and-proper test, merely an interview to learn each candidate's vision and mission for their posts as representatives of the country abroad.
"We're just trying to get to know more about these ambassadorial candidates.
"This is a double-check to ensure that the government does not pick wrong persons for the ambassadorial posts," Yasril said.
He admitted that the House did not have the authority to reject the candidates, and will only comment to the government on their observations of the candidates.
In October 1999, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) amended Article 13 and Article 14 of the 1945 Constitution, stipulating that the House's opinion must be taken into consideration by the president before the appointment of diplomats.
The candidates that went through Thursday's hearing were former state minister of state administrative reform, Freddy Numberi, as ambassadorial candidate for New Zealand, Golkar legislator Ekky Syachrudin for Canada, former foreign ministry's secretary-general Rahardjo Jamtomo for Germany, current foreign ministry spokesman Sulaiman Abdulmanan for Belgium.
The government also named deputy to Indonesia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Makmur Widodo, to be the chief of the Indonesian representative office for the UN.
Other ambassadorial appointees are Dachlan Abdul Hamied for Iraq, M. Indro Y. Udono for Switzerland, A.A. Kustia for China, and Susanto Santoyo for Italy. (dja)