Megawati inaugurates ambassador to Japan

Megawati inaugurates ambassador to Japan

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Senior diplomat Irsan Abdul Gani was finally sworn in as the
Indonesian Ambassador to Japan on Wednesday, ending a
complicated, almost year-long appointment process.

In a ceremony at the State Palace, President Megawati
Soekarnoputri inaugurated Irsan along with Amin Rianom and
Hardikun Supandar, who will take ambassadorial posts in
Turkey/Azerbaijan and Algeria respectively.

The House of Representatives, who according to the amended
Constitution, has the authority to scrutinize ambassadorial
candidates, did not recommend the three for the posts in June
last year.

Article 13 of the Constitution requires the government to hear
the House's opinion before naming an ambassador.

"The inauguration confirmed there has been no more objections
on the part of the House. We have agreed that they deserve the
posts," Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said after
the ceremony.

The absence of an Indonesian ambassador to Japan for such a
long time contradicts the fact that Japan is one of Indonesia's
major trade partners, sources of investment and foreign aid
donor.

The three new ambassadors were among eight ambassadorial
candidates who did not win the House's support during the
election process last year.

Irsan was considered inappropriate by the House because he was
close to the retirement age of 55 and he had been posted as the
Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands.

Hassan said that to prevent such a snag in future, he
suggested both the government and the House seek common criteria
to appoint ambassadors.

"There are a few things that should be regulated, for example
the maximum age and how long a person has served as an ambassador
are not issues in the appointment of ambassadors by other
countries throughout the world," he said.

The minister said the inauguration of the new ambassadors
should not be perceived as the government ignoring the House's
opinion.

"Of course not. We took the House's recommendation into
consideration and only four of the eight problematic candidates
finally received a green light," Hassan stressed.

A source at the foreign ministry said another diplomat who
would likely pass the House hurdle was Rezlan Izhar Jenie, who
had been nominated as Indonesia's permanent representative to the
United Nations in New York.

"He is slated to leave for New York around May or April," the
source told The Jakarta Post earlier this week.

The House said Rezlan, who is his late 40s, was too young to
take the job, despite his commendable diplomatic performance. He
is now the director for America at the foreign ministry.

Hassan said the government was fully aware of the Constitution
that required the House's recommendation in the selection of
ambassadors, but underlined that the President still had the
prerogative to appoint Indonesia's representatives overseas.

Currently the House is also processing another 17
ambassadorial candidates, including Susanto Pudjomartono, former
chief editor of the Post for Australia, former defense minister
Juwono Sudarsono for England, and the current ambassador to
Belgium, Sulaiman Abdulmanan, for New Zealand.