Should Megawati have stayed home?

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.