Overseas trips and homework

Overseas trips and homework

Several legislators have been questioning the results of
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 12-day overseas trip that
took him and the First Family to the United States, Vietnam and
Japan until Friday. As we published in our Monday headline,
Legislator Abdillah Toha from the National Mandate Party (PAN)
faction specifically criticized the President for not being able
to fully bring to an end United States' military sanctions
against Indonesia.

This legislator's assessment is shared by many Indonesians,
who do not want the President to repeat the mistakes of his two
predecessors, Megawati Soekarnoputri and Abdurrahman Wahid, who
made frequent foreign visits. The trips made by the two former
presidents were often regarded by cynics as no more than
expensive picnics, with few tangible results.

Since the economic crisis hit the country in 1997 people in
this country have been strongly inward-looking. They are busy
with their own hardships, while the government has been
preoccupied with domestic chaos.

However, living as we do in a rapidly globalizing world, the
nation has no choice but to remain active on the international
stage while it continues to restore the economy. Domestic and
international issues have to be faced in tandem; Indonesia's
foreign diplomacy cannot be put aside just because of our
domestic problems. It is important, however, to remember that
people need to see tangible results from international diplomacy
and not just long lists of memorandum of understandings.

Since his election as the country's sixth president in
September last year, President Susilo has shown a strong interest
in foreign affairs. His experience as an Army general, and as a
coordinating minister for political and security affairs, also
helps him in shaping foreign policy. As the country's first
directly elected president and the leader of the nation with the
world's largest number of Muslims, he has strong working capital.

During his visits to the United States and Japan, where he met
top executives of world-class companies such as Microsoft's Bill
Gates, he acted as a salesman for Indonesia by attracting buyers
for Indonesian products and inviting investors to pour in their
money. He really worked hard to persuade business leaders to
bring their money and technology to Indonesia. His tight
schedules during his overseas trips perhaps could only be matched
by former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

It is true that the U.S. Congress remains reluctant to lift
the military embargo on Indonesia, but no one expected that the
President could persuade the congress to lift the embargo after
just a brief stay in Washington. The embargo will last as long as
the United States, the nation's main provider of military
technology, feels unsatisfied with the reform of the Indonesian
Military (TNI).

With Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi Susilo agreed to accelerate
the negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement between the two
countries. He also met with top business leaders in Tokyo. But as
a foreign diplomat said, "No matter how hard you try to persuade
foreign investors to come to your country, as long as your
country fails to combat its chronic diseases like corruption and
poor law enforcement, never hope much that investors will bring
their capital here."

After his trips to these three countries, the President is
already considering more visits. In terms of their geopolitical
importance, closer relations with major entities like China,
India and the European Union would also be very positive, and
visits highly advised.

More importantly, however, is how to create a conducive
atmosphere for business growth. Foreign investors have been
complaining about the same things for years; the corrupt judicial
system, security disturbances and rampant corruption practices.
As long as we do not resolve these fundamental problems, no
number of presidential foreign trips will lead to an improvement
in our economic development.