Minister sends wife for singing diplomacy
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta
It is undeniable that foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda has worked hard, and succeeded, in chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual meeting this week in Jakarta, including the Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
As a finishing touch to the completion of his assignment on Friday evening, however he chose to entrust his wife to represent him to sing at the gala dinner he hosted for the 23 foreign ministers from the Asia-Pacific region and representatives of the European Union.
Nature probably determined the minister's singing talent or lack of. But he is lucky indeed to have a wife Herawati Wahyudi, more popularly known as Denok Wahyudi, who was a pop singer in the 1970s.
Hassan always delegates the task of singing to his wife in the ASEAN annual event. "I'd rather do push-ups than sing," is the Indonesian minister's standard reply when asked to sing.
"Ibu prepared for the performance really well, she even held a special rehearsal a day before the dinner," one of the staff at the foreign ministry told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
The event was closed to the press, but journalists tried to take a peek and even CNN television network aired the performance on Saturday.
Performing in front of fellow foreign ministers at the end of Asia's largest security meeting is probably on of the most awaited sessions for the diplomats.
Closing the serious talks over security issues in the region with dialog partners, the ministers sing and perform at the gala dinner on Friday night.
According to the Associated Press, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell performed Village People's hit YMCA, but replaced the refrain with "ARF-PMC".
"Young man, there's no need to feel down, I said, young man pick yourself off the ground," sang Powell.
Wearing a cowboy hat, a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, Powell entertained his peers at the gala dinner and received a rowdy applause from the other ministers.
Powell danced alongside five other U.S. officials blasting out the 1970s disco classic to the delight of foreign ministers from across the Asia-Pacific and Europe.
"President Bush, he said to me, 'Colin I need you to run the state department. We are between a rock and a hard place'."
The Russian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, sang a version of the Beatles Yellow Submarine as a woman waving a Russian flag ran around the dinner tables.
Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh read a poem before his delegation burst into song. Indian Ambassador to Indonesia, Hemant Krishan Singh however played a crucial role that night, playing guitar in the diplomats' band.