Woolcott's

Woolcott's
'Hot Seat'

The veteran Australian senior diplomat, my good friend
Ambassador Richard "Dick" Woolcott, has published a most
interesting memoir. His book: Hot Seat -- Reflections in
Diplomacy from Stalin's Death to the Bali Bombing, published by
HarperCollins Publishing, was launched in a festive manner in
early March, in Sydney.

Unfortunately, the book contains an erroneous reference of a
serious nature about The Jakarta Post daily. On page 128, Dick
Woolcott mentioned an experience he had in October 1976 in
Jakarta as the then Australian ambassador. One week before the
arrival of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, the ambassador gave an
off the record briefing to the press, among others providing a
realistic profile regarding his VIP guest from Canberra. The
ambassador was disappointed that The Jakarta Post had committed
"a breach of confidence" by printing on its front page the main
points of his off the record briefing.

The relevant passage that Ambassador Woolcott wrote on page
128 of his recently published memoir Hot Seat reads as follows:

"Malcolm Fraser was duly elected in December 1975 and made a
prime ministerial visit to Indonesia the following October. While
I knew Fraser, I'd not had the opportunity to work closely with
him, as I had with four of his predecessors. Tall, strangely shy,
with a severe face that reminded you of those mysterious carved
faces on Easter Island, he arrived with his wife Tamie at Halim
airport.

"I feared that the visit would not get off to a good start. I
had given a briefing to Indonesian journalists about a week
beforehand in order to promote interest in the relationship and
the visit. Whitlam had been a popular figure in Indonesia. Fraser
was less well known and many Indonesians were still confused
about Whitlam's dismissal by the governor-general. Some were also
sceptical about Fraser's attitude towards Indonesia. Stressing
that the briefing was an off the record discussion essentially
for their background information, I told the journalists that the
visit could be difficult, given Fraser's personality, the timing
of the visit and the negative attitude in much of the Australian
community towards Indonesia -- attitudes resulting from the death
of five journalists at Balibo and Indonesia's invasion of East
Timor.

"Having worked closely and cooperatively with the Australian
and foreign media for over a decade without any breach of
confidence, I was somewhat taken aback to read on the front page
of The Jakarta Post, the day before Malcolm was due to arrive,
that 'the Australian Ambassador, Richard Woolcott, said in a
briefing that he was expecting some difficulties with the visit
of the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser'. The report
added for good measure that Australian officials regarded him as
unrelaxed, overfocused on China and difficult."

From that passage, it is apparent that Ambassador Woolcott is
an eloquent writer. However, that particular passage contains one
basic flaw: The Jakarta Post did not exist at the time of Prime
Minister Fraser's visit in October 1976. The first edition of the
newspaper came out only on April 25, 1983. I should know, because
I was the Post's first chief editor, until May 1991, when I
received my assignment as Ambassador to Australia.

I hope that passage will not give readers of Ambassador
Woolcott's Hot Seat a wrong impression of The Jakarta Post.

SABAM SIAGIAN
Jakarta