Quality of RI diplomats

Quality of RI diplomats

The letter from Ikrar Fatahillah of the Jakarta chapter of
Public Advocacy (The Jakarta Post, Sept.27) which concerns
nepotism within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' recruitment
system is one-sided and baseless. The selection test for
diplomat candidates is very tight and competitive; the required
minimum average academic score is 2.75 and 3.0 for S-1 and S-2
university graduates respectively, while an average level of 500
for TOEFL is mandatory.

The survey by Tempo weekly in 1995 disclosed that the
qualifying test for candidate employees to the foreign ministry
was considered the most competitive compared to similar entrance
tests at other government institutions.

Recruitment at the ministry is announced every year through
the media and this year the announcement was published in the
Kompas daily in September and the website of the foreign ministry
(www.dfa-deplu.go.id).

Those who are accepted are required to follow special
education and training at the School of Foreign Service (Sekdilu)
that lasts for eight months before they are required to take
internship at the ministry, after which they are posted to one of
our missions abroad.

The education and training at the ministry consists of three
stages: The junior level of diplomatic training at Sekdilu, the
secondary level for middle rank officials (Sesdilu), and the
senior level for high ranking officials (Sesparlu). Training at
the two latter levels are for those who have been posted at the
Indonesian Missions abroad, and those who pass TOEFL at the
scores of 525 and 550 respectively.

It is therefore untrue that the posting of an Indonesian
diplomat abroad must go through a selection that requires money
as kickback as accused by Ikrar Fatahillah. The selection of any
staff member to be posted abroad includes deliberation and
decision-making by the Board of Consideration for Positions and
Ranks chaired by the ministry's Secretary General.

Any Indonesian citizen who meets the above requirements has
every right to participate in the ministry's entrance test. In
the event when children of Indonesian diplomats get accepted (and
the number is very small), it is because he/she has passed the
selection test and not because of his/her parents' position.

The ministry now has some 6,000 employees and it is absolutely
nonsense that the children of all staff can be accommodated,
considering that the annual batch can only take 60 people. The
accusation that Indonesian diplomats only enrich themselves is
also too far-fetched because every diplomat posted abroad
receives only a foreign service allowance determined by the
Ministry of Finance, and the amount depends on the local index of
expenses.

M. WAHID SUPRIYADI, Director of Information and Media,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta