Indonesia's diplomats have tough job

Indonesia's diplomats have tough job

Indonesian diplomats have come under fire recently, with
critics berating them for everything from poor mastery of foreign
languages to a lack of assertiveness. Noted political scientist
J. Soedjati Djiwandono takes a look at the issue from another
point of view.

JAKARTA (JP): There is nothing really new about the criticisms
leveled in recent days at Indonesian diplomats for their poor
performance. What is unusual is that the recent spate of critical
comments was sparked off by a criticism made by none other than
the Foreign Minister himself. While washing his dirty linen in
public, the minister gave the impression that he had no
connection at all with the various faults that he and others have
found with the diplomats.

There is, admittedly, a lot of truth in most of the
criticisms: the diplomats' inferior command of foreign languages;
their lack of knowledge and sophistication; timidity; tendency to
"flock together"; "reactiveness", as opposed to "proactiveness";
and the rest.

But surely it is both incorrect and unfair to generalize. It
is equally unfair to mention exceptions as including only senior
diplomats. It is even worse to locate all the blame with the
diplomats themselves.

For the sake of fairness, the other side of the story may be
worth examining. The less-than-satisfactory performance of our
diplomats, granting that it is so, may be simply a reflection of
what may be seen as a process of ossification on the part of our
bureaucracy, due to the increasingly centralized system of
government.

Increasingly, everything has to come from the center and from
the top. Rather than saying what the government's policy is on
certain things, for instance -- even with regard to would appear
to be trivial matters -- cabinet ministers not infrequently refer
to Presidential instructions, saying "the President has given his
directive ..." or "according to the President's directive ...".

That, in fact, should go without saying, for the President is
supposed to be the one who makes policy, while cabinet ministers
are merely his aids. Their pronouncements on policy certainly
represent that of the government, and thus of the President, with
whom, in the words of the late President Truman, "the buck
stops."

What does such a phenomenon imply? Officials tend to shirk
their responsibilities. They are afraid to make the smallest
mistake and, by displeasing their masters, place their jobs in
jeopardy.

They are cautious about expressing their views even at
seminars or informal forums in which they attend in their
personal capacity. This is true especially when their boss is
around.

Why? Apparently because, for whatever reasons, few Indonesian
leaders trust their subordinates and few believe in the
delegation of power and responsibility. In contrast with the
President, for instance, government ministers seldom leave it to
subordinates to meet the press.

It is also possible that few ministers listen to their
subordinates' opinions and appreciate their abilities, while
focussing on their mistakes, shortcomings and failings, while
overlooking their own. And in doing so they would be treating
their subordinates the way they themselves are treated by their
superiors.

The results: Officials tend to lose their self-confidence and
thus their resourcefulness. Diplomats wait for instructions or
"official reports", which are not always forthcoming or
necessarily true, before venturing to take initiatives. They are
inclined, at best, to make denials. But what is true is seldom
presented adequately.

They are not always to blame. They often really are poorly-
informed. Or if they are well-informed, they are perhaps aware
that the information in question is either confidential or --
where the truth is bitter -- indefensible and embarrassing. This
would be the case if, for instance, diplomacy on the
international scene was not sustained by appropriate domestic
policies and developments, so that diplomats would have to either
remain silent or tell lies and thereby risk their credibility.

A telling remark once made by former foreign minister Mochtar
Kusumaatmaja on our diplomats reveals some other aspects as well
and is perhaps a fair comment: "Given the meager salaries they
receive, the few facilities they enjoy and the sorts of
constraints they face, I am proud to say that they are not doing
badly at all."

The writer is a member of board of directors of the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta.