No foreign trips?
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.