Volvo diplomacy

Volvo diplomacy

Something is not quite right with this picture: Key Cabinet
ministers arriving in their chauffeur-driven Volvo sedans to a
Cabinet meeting on Monday to consider which direction to take on
the status of Indonesia's relations with Sweden. It is not
terribly ironic in itself that they are driven around in Volvos
-- a fine Swedish automobile. It could have been a Mercedes Benz,
which President Megawati Soekarnoputri arrived in.

The unfortunate irony is the mismatch between the ability (or
rather inability) of our political leaders to understand
international law and diplomacy, and the virtues that cars like
Volvo and Mercedes have: sophistication, reliability and
dependability.

The Cabinet met on Monday after Stockholm rejected Indonesia's
demand to arrest and hand over, or expel leaders of the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) who have taken up Swedish nationality. Sweden
maintained that these GAM leaders-in-exile, including president
Hasan di Tiro, have not broken any Swedish laws.

Responding to Swedish rejections, some Cabinet members and
national leaders like Amien Rais (who as chairman of the People's
Consultative Assembly is also entitled to a Volvo limo) are
calling on the government to punish Sweden, either through
downgrading diplomatic ties, or severing them completely.

Fortunately, there are still one or two cool heads in the
Cabinet (the ones who have Volvo-like virtues) to persuade
President Megawati to postpone any action against Sweden, and
instead to send another high-powered delegation to Stockholm to
persuade the Swedes to cooperate in fighting GAM.

Indonesia, of course, has acted within its rights in asking
for Stockholm's cooperation to arrest the GAM leaders who now
have Swedish citizenship. After all, they have been conducting
their campaign for an independent Aceh state from there.

But Indonesia's diplomacy, unfortunately, has not been matched
by more thorough preparations at home, so it was easy to see why
the efforts were doomed to fail.

Technically, Hasan di Tiro and his colleagues in Sweden have
not broken any Indonesian laws either. No Indonesian court has
ever tried them (in absentia or otherwise), let alone convicted
them for their actions which date back to 1976.

The only thing Jakarta has in making its case to Stockholm is
an allegation of Hasan di Tiro's role in the Aceh insurgency, or
more recently, an allegation of GAM's role in several bomb
blasts. None of which have been brought before a court of law.

The National Police's request to Interpol to help arrest the
GAM leaders was sent recently, long after the last official
letter Jakarta sent to Stockholm.

A request for Interpol's help however will not be sufficient
to convince Stockholm. The least the Indonesian government should
do first, would be to make a case against Hasan di Tiro in court,
even in absentia, and get him convicted for whatever laws he has
broken.

Assuming that the trials are credible (which is a tall order),
only then can Jakarta present a stronger case to Sweden. In the
absence of an extradition treaty, this is still no guarantee that
Sweden will comply. But at least Jakarta would be able to make a
case that Hasan di Tiro has broken an Indonesian law. The way
things stand now, he has broken no laws from any country.

In international diplomacy, it is one thing to ask, and
completely another to demand or to impose something on another
country. Going by their statements in calling for punishment
against Sweden, many of our political leaders have failed to
grasp the consequences with regard to Indonesia's international
standing.

Our relations with Sweden go well beyond bilateral trade, aid
and investment, all of which these leaders seemed quick to
belittle.

Stockholm accepted these GAM leaders in exile under the 1951
Geneva Convention on Refugee Status which requires countries to
provide sanctuary for people who face persecution in their own
country. And Article 33 specifically bars the forced return of a
refugee if he or she risks persecution.

For Indonesia to impose its will on Stockholm is demanding
Sweden to break the Geneva Convention.

Another matter that Jakarta should consider is that Sweden is
a member of the European Union. To pick a fight with Sweden would
be tantamount to picking a fight with almost all of Europe. With
the Union trying to coordinate the laws on asylum, it will not be
long before Hasan di Tiro and friends will also enjoy protection
across Europe.

We must have learned by now from our dealings with Portugal,
during the height of the dispute over East Timor. As a member of
the European Union, Portugal managed to push resolution after
resolution through international bodies condemning Indonesia's
policy in East Timor.

Picking on Sweden, when our own position is weak, would risk
the wrath of the European Union and further internationalize the
Aceh issue, the very thing that most here wanted to avoid.

It is clear that this is a fight that Jakarta is unlikely to
win, given the ineptness, poor preparations, and most of all, our
leaders' poor knowledge of international laws and diplomacy.

If you believe in the popular saying "you are what you drive",
then most of our Cabinet ministers and political leaders do not
deserve the Volvo limousines they ride around in every day. They
should opt for something less sophisticated, less reliable and
less dependable.