Should Megawati have stayed home?

Umar Hadi, Diplomat, Jakarta

While an editorial in The Jakarta Post on April 1 praised the visit of President Megawati Soekarnoputri to the Korean Peninsula, the following day an article by J. Soedjati Djiwandono in essence criticized Megawati's recent trip.

But the question remains, whether the ongoing presidential visit to the four Asian countries, including Megawati's "mediating role" in the Korean Peninsula, serves our national interests.

There are many different opinions which can be divided into two camps. One camp says that the visit will benefit our country, including in economic terms.

Others say that focusing on our economic recovery is much more important than traveling abroad. In his article "Foreign policy: Think globally, act locally", Soedjati eloquently elaborates the line of thinking of the latter.

We agree that, for the moment, the top priority of Indonesia's national interests should be economic recovery -- for which Indonesia needs credibility in the eyes of foreign creditors and investors. We also agree that, to regain credibility, the government must be able to restore domestic peace and stability and to establish law and order.

Hence, all the efforts of our foreign policy ought to be focused on the top priority i.e. economic recovery. Indeed, this is one of the top priorities in the work program pursued by Megawati's Cabinet.

Another top priority is, of course, maintaining national unity and territorial integrity. However, putting our house in order should not mean in any way neglecting the situation in our neighborhood. From time to time, we need to visit our neighbors, make friends, explain what we are doing in our house and make them understand our situation and support our endeavors. And we may even ask for help, if they are friendly enough and if the neighborhood is conducive enough to such friendly relations among households.

Meanwhile, there are two basic premises that remain valid in our foreign policy. First, regional stability is essential to our national stability. Second, we need institutional capacity building in our reform process and we know that some countries in the region have the experience and expertise to share with us; some even have the capacity to be our partners, both in new and renewed partnership, in promoting bilateral and regional economic transactions.

Perhaps the President's visit to China, North Korea, South Korea and India could be better understood in a more defined time frame and context. In announcing her Cabinet in August 2001, Megawati also declared the six points of her Cabinet's program which includes the implementation of the free and active foreign policy. Hence, there is consistency in pursuing our foreign policy that serves our national interests and focuses on the real and immediate problems. The program of work provides clear objectives that our foreign policy must strive to attain; most notably are national unity and territorial integrity and economic recovery.

The President's first overseas trip was to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, aimed at reaffirming our commitment to ASEAN as the main pillar of our foreign policy. Then she made a trip to the United States and Japan, our two largest economic partners. And now, she visits the four Asian countries which are often termed as the main countries in our "second concentric circle".

The visits to China, South Korea, and India draw less comments as those countries are important both in terms of regional stability and bilateral relations. It is Megawati's trip to Pyongyang that has drawn many comments and, mostly for our benefit, brought the whole trip into the center of the world's attention.

The visit to Pyongyang is important to strengthen the friendship between Indonesia and North Korea as well as to contribute to the promotion of regional stability in East Asia. For the latter part, there have been messages from the countries involved to be conveyed to North Korea, aimed at the resumption of peace talks on the question of the Korean Peninsula.

Now, whether Megawati's visit to North Korea is a success, the answer is "yes". She came there; she strengthened the long- friendship between the two countries; and she diplomatically delivered the important message with the expectation that it would contribute to a better situation in the region. Whether her role will influence the subsequent developments in the Korean Peninsula, we will have to wait and see.

In real diplomacy, nothing is "cash and carry". In this regard, we should always bear in mind that credibility can also come from our deeds which are based on our strong conviction to the principle of free and active foreign policy.

Lastly, despite all the debate, it is really encouraging to see that a vibrant public discourse on foreign policy is beginning to flourish. Hopefully it will contribute to the emergence of a foreign policy community in Indonesia.