Minister sends wife for singing diplomacy
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.