Indonesian diplomats told to improve their skills

Indonesian diplomats told to improve their skills

JAKARTA (JP): Noted international affairs observer Juwono
Sudarsono has urged local diplomats to improve their overall
skills to enable them to catch up with the rapid developments in
international issues.

Juwono, a former defense minister, said an improvement in
skills is badly needed because the current approach they apply is
no longer effective in dealing with current international issues.

Speaking at a seminar held by the association of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs' pensioners on Wednesday, Juwono told
diplomats to adopt a philosophy detailed in an article entitled
"Lexus and Olive Tree" written by Thomas Friedman in the New York
Times daily about two months ago.

"Be like the Lexus which adopts elements from various
countries in the world, but still be adamant like the olive
tree," said Juwono reminding the diplomats to be aware and adopt
everything considered necessary in international affairs
development, but not to leave their own roots behind.

The Lexus is a Japanese luxury car made by adopting technology
from various countries while the Olive Tree has strong roots.

Juwono added that one problem faced by Indonesian diplomats in
dealing with their diplomatic duties is that most of them still
depend heavily on domestic references rather than international
affairs.

"Indonesian diplomats frequently face difficulties in lobbying
their foreign counterparts because nearly 80 percent of them
still use references from within the country to deal with rapid
developments in international issues," he said.

Juwono admitted that the president of a certain country plays
a significant role in the success of its foreign diplomacy.

Juwono's last remark however, was opposed by Aisyah Aminy, a
member of the House of Representatives' Commission I on defense,
foreign and political affairs, who said that the success of
foreign diplomacy does not depend only on a president, but also
on its foreign minister.

Citing the previous administration, she said that Indonesia's
policy on foreign affairs was pretty much tarnished by neglect on
the part of the then foreign minister.

"Alwi Shihab preferred to accompany former president
Abdurrahman Wahid jetting around the world rather than
concentrating on the country's foreign affairs policies," Aminy
explained, adding that she received many complaints from several
foreign delegations because they failed to make contact with the
then foreign affairs minister.

Meanwhile, former foreign affairs minister Ali Alatas, another
speaker at the seminar, discussed his experiences during the
Soeharto and B.J. Habibie era.

"I see that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still lacks the
willingness to adopt what has been going on in the latest foreign
affairs arena to be transferred to the people inside the
country," he said.

He admitted that such shortcomings made foreign policy gain
less support from the people, as they feel they were not told
about the real problems happening in the nation.

"They always said for example, that the East Timorese issue
was no longer a problem even though foreign diplomats still
raised tough questions on the problem," he said.

The second problem he said, was that without help from other
institutions the foreign affairs ministry was working alone in
restoring the country's image among the international community
following the outburst over the East Timor problem that has
marred the nation in the past few years.

He therefore underlined the importance of foreign affairs
policies reflecting the political situation inside the country.
(09)