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.