'RI should not over-react to foreign criticism'
JAKARTA (JP): A senior military officer said yesterday that Indonesia should not be overly sensitive to foreign criticism nor hastily brand critics as enemies.
The commander of the Army Staff and Command College, Maj. Gen. Arifin Tarigan, argued that criticism and negative comments should be treated proportionally.
"While not all criticism thrown in Indonesia's way may be true, we should still consider expressing a more proportional and professional reaction based on legal ethics, as well as cultural and universal norms," he said.
Tarigan spoke at the seminar, "Indonesia and International Dynamics", sponsored by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).
"Let's react proportionately. If there are some universal (debates), let's accept them," he remarked.
In turn, Tarigan had some criticism for Indonesia's diplomatic corps. Indonesian diplomats abroad, he said, are not doing enough to assert Indonesia's position on various thorny international issues.
Specifically, he called for Indonesian diplomats to take a more active stance in countering the lobbying efforts of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
"There's a lack of approach toward important world organizations, including certain NGOs that continue to campaign to box Indonesia into a corner," he said.
Tarigan said Indonesia's diplomatic response abroad to various issues is often less than optimal.
Indonesia often fails to anticipate foreign intervention in domestic affairs, he argued, because of inadequate analysis.
"This is caused by our limited ability to absorb information and our weakness in diplomacy abroad," he said.
The most recent example of this problem occurred when Indonesian envoys failed to anticipate the awarding of the Nobel Peace prize to East Timorese separatist leader Jose Ramos Horta. Without anticipating events such as this in advance, it is difficult for a country to formulate policy or international public relations strategies in advance.
Tarigan maintained that there is nothing wrong with the country's conceptual approach. Rather, it is the implementation that leaves much to be desired.
"Diplomatic activity is not intensive enough and there's a lack of coordination with other aspects," he charged.
Communities of Indonesians living abroad, he said, are valuable resources and should be mobilized to help defend Indonesia's interests.
Indonesia's Ambassador-At-Large on Law of the Sea, Hasyim Djalal responded that foreign policy and domestic developments are inseparable.
Diplomats cannot keep on defending the country when there are problems at home. "He (the diplomat) can't just go on defending while there's problem at home. What else are you going to defend?" remarked Hasyim, a former ambassador to Germany.
Diplomacy, and how it can defend or advance the country's interests, is a perennial problem, he said.
According to Hasyim, the most important aspect of diplomacy is coordination between the various governmental institutions in Jakarta.
"You can defend and explain something when that something is clear and understandable. When it's not, then you have to make it up. If the make-up is good, then it looks good, but when it starts to wear off, then it looks bad," Hasyim said of the delicate situation often faced by envoys. (mds)