RI diplomats lack initiative, says scholar
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian diplomats are often criticized for lacking initiative, a character which makes them the target of ridicule by foreign countries, a prominent scholar has said.
Mohammad Budyatna, dean of the University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences, said yesterday Indonesian diplomats tended to work only to rebut attacks by other countries.
"They (the diplomats) serve like fire brigade employees who work only after a fire occurs," Antara quoted Budyatna as saying.
"They dance only after somebody else beat the drums," he said.
Budyatna was commenting on criticisms first raised by Dewi Fortuna Anwar, an international relations expert from the Center for Information and Development Studies. Dewi told a seminar last week Indonesian diplomacy did not have enough personnel who had both mastered languages and were able to quickly identify current international issues.
Budyatna said Indonesia's defensive style of diplomacy had been most clearly seen in the East Timor case.
"We are not ready to counter political maneuvers launched by Portugal and other international bodies," he said.
East Timor had become the center of dispute between Indonesia and Portugal after the former Portuguese colony's integration to Indonesia in 1976.
Budyatna said Indonesian diplomacy had resorted to the old saying "right or wrong my country" when it encountered disputes.
"Instead of solving problems, this stubborn behavior will keep us under the constant pressure of the international community," he said.
Budyatna said such attitudes to international relations were no longer relevant, in a world where sophisticated technology left everything visible.
Citing the case of an Indonesian pilot, Mohammad Said, charged in the Netherlands with Ecstasy trafficking, Budyatna said Indonesia should not protect diplomats it was alleged had been involved in the case.
"We should not have denied (the involvement) so abruptly, (a stance) inspired by the 'right or wrong my country' principle," he said.
"It would have been wiser to tell everybody we were investigating this possibility and would take stern punitive measure against any diplomats involved," he said.
The Indonesian Ambassador to The Hague, J.B. Sudarmanto Kadarisman, last week reiterated that none of his staff were involved in the Ecstasy case.
Budyatna suggested a revision of the diplomat recruitment procedures, which encouraged the development of a diplomatic career from the lowest rank of the department.
"Diplomatic posts now look like ancestors' heritage," he said. "Many ambassadors are appointed without regard to whether they have (the proper) diplomatic background." (amd)