New consuls general, directors installed

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda on Wednesday inaugurated four new consuls general and 16 ministry directors, calling on them to do more to protect Indonesian citizens and secure national interests in foreign lands.

"Indonesian representatives abroad must open up their offices and make them a comfortable home away from home for expatriate Indonesians," the minister said in his speech.

He emphasized that the main duty of a consul general would not be to deal so much with political affairs, but to provide protection for the Indonesian expatriate workers and travelers.

Hassan began the restructuring and regeneration of the ministry when he was appointed as minister in 2001. Despite objections, he began to appoint many new faces aged under 50 to take up key positions in the ministry.

Of the 20 officials installed on Wednesday, many have just finished their first stints abroad.

Additionally, President Megawati just signed a new decree that will change the organizational structure of the representative offices abroad.

Under the Presidential Decree No. 108/2003, signed on Dec.31, the government streamlined the office management with only two attaches for the defense and technical departments placed under the embassy's office.

One diplomat was quoted as saying that the main purpose of the policy was to confirm that the ambassadors and consuls general abroad are the main representatives of the Indonesian government.

"With the new decree, we hope to intensify coordination between departments for the sake of national interests abroad," Hassan remarked on Wednesday.

New foreign ministry officials --------------------------------------------------------------------

Name Position --------------------------------------------------------------------- Benny Permadi Consul General in Houston Raziaty Tanzil Consul General in San Francisco Soeharso Budi Consul General in Toronto Wahid Supriyadi Consul General in Melbourne Edi Setiabudhi Chief of legal affairs Budiarman Secretary to the Asia-Pacific

director general Hamzah Thayeb Director for East Asia and Pacific Dian Triansyah Djani Director for Asia-Pacific cooperation

Retno L.P.Marsudi Director for West Europe Yuli Mumpuni Director America-Europe cooperation Iwan Wiranataatmadja Director for special politics Mohammad Oemar Director for multilateral trade and

industry Nahari Agustini Secretary to the public diplomacy

and international agreements

director general Arif Havaz Oegroseno Director for political and security

agreement Lutfi Rauf Director for information and media Subijaksono Secretary to the protocol and

consular director general Diene Muhario Director for protocol Pitono Purnomo Director for ASEAN cooperation Moenir Arie Sunandha Chief of Asia-Pacific research Suprapto Martosetomo Chief of International organization

research -------------------------------------------------------------------