No foreign trips?

When leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet in Laos in November for their annual summit and hold dialogues with partners from China, Japan, South Korea, and India, or get together during the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) later this year in Santiago, Chile, they will not likely be able to greet their new colleague, president-in- waiting Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Why? Because Susilo, who is affectionately called SBY, has repeatedly pledged in his election campaign, that he would not travel abroad for at least 100 days starting from his official swearing-in as the country's sixth president on Oct. 20. He has promised to stay at home until January next year to enable him to set a clear agenda for the direction of this government until 2009. He also wants to prove to the country that he has a strong sense of crisis.

Many Indonesians welcome his decision, because for many Indonesians, overseas travel by a president is often perceived more as an opportunity to holiday abroad with expenses paid by state coffers rather than to promote the country's national interests.

For SBY, one of the most crucial reasons behind his reason not to tour friendly countries in near future, is likely the lesson he learned from his two predecessors, Megawati Soekarnoputri and Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid. During his two-year tenure until July 2001, Gus Dur traveled to at least 35 countries, while his successor Megawati obediently followed her predecessor's penchant for 'picnics'. The two leaders were widely criticized for their intensive traveling, although there was no convincing evidence to support their claims their trips were aimed at promoting Indonesia to foreign investors.

We do agree that our new president should prioritize his domestic agenda before taking a higher profile on the international stage, because success in improving our international standing much depends on our success solving the country's prolonged economic and political crisis at home. Foreign affairs policy is the mirror of our domestic situation. Investors will not come even if the president knocks on their doors repeatedly, as long as domestic conditions are far from being conducive for investment.

However, we must also remind our new president he should not ignore the diplomatic tradition in the region. There is a custom among ASEAN members that new leaders are expected to introduce themselves to other colleagues by visiting ASEAN's other nine state capitals. If Susilo does not want to spend too much time visiting the nine neighboring countries for bilateral talks, then his attendance at ASEAN summits would help him get acquinted with the other leaders. It would be embarrassing for Indonesia, the largest member of the regional grouping, if its president failed to show up at such important summits.

SBY should not repeat the 'hobby' of his two predecessors of traveling abroad, but at the same time Indonesia should not become inward-looking through its absence from international fora; the country must continue to play its role in the international community, especially as member of ASEAN.

A selective number of foreign tours is a must for the president. It is not necessary for him to retract his promise to stay at home for 100 days. What he needs to do is explain directly to the people that he at least must introduce himself to the leaders of our immediate neighbors.