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