Restructuring at Pejambon
Pejambon, in Central Jakarta, is the spot where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is located. The main building, named the Pancasila building, is considered a historical site since it was there that Sukarno, who was later to become Indonesia's first president, outlined his views on the foundations of the yet-to-be-born independent state of Indonesia.
Interestingly, that building during the mid-19th century was the residence of the military commander of the Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL), Bernhard Duke of Saksen-Weimar-Eisenach. It became the site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1950, when the Republic of the United States of Indonesia was established with Mohammad Hatta as foreign minister as well as prime minister.
Recently, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda announced a vast restructuring of the department that can rightly be seen as the most drastic changes that have been undertaken since the fall of president Sukarno's "guided democracy" regime in 1966. The department has abandoned its function oriented structure with separate director-generals for political affairs, international economic relations and a mixed-bag directorate- general for handling matters related to information, cultural relations and social issues.
Under the present structure, specialists in different fields will be assigned to directorate-generals in specific geographic areas. Of course, in reality the changes involved are more complex than outlined. Actually, though, this concept has been planned and discussed for many years and ministries of foreign affairs in a number of countries have applied structures similar to or approaching this model. The fact, however, is that it was Wirajuda who has taken the decisive step to implement the plan and has started to implement it on a gradual basis.
Obviously, some fine tuning will be necessary in implementation. For example, it can be noted even now that it is not very realistic to assume that North America and Europe more or less share the same interests. One could observe even at this point the independent tendencies of a united Europe, which tends to have its own approaches in tackling the various international problems.
One does not need to be an astute observer of international affairs to predict that the emergence of China as a key player on the world stage combined with a weakening Japan will significantly alter the global balance of power relations. Consequently, it will be prudent for Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make the necessary organizational adjustments from time to time in order to improve its efficacy in enhancing Indonesia's national interests in a constantly changing world. Another encouraging development is that in step with this restructuring, a new batch of diplomats in their mid-40s has been appointed at Pejambon to head a number of directorates. This means that a rejuvenation of expert staff is taking place which naturally will enhance the ministry's working spirit.
The Ministry was in a virtual limbo for almost 20 months during the reign of president Abdurrahman Wahid, when then foreign minister Alwi Shihab was mostly busy as the president's political trouble shooter. With the changes that are now taking place in the ministry -- both in terms of organizational restructuring and with the appointment of younger diplomats in leadership positions -- we can at least say that something is now stirring at Pejambon.