In the City

So I moved to The City - New York, the World's capital, so to speak - a few months ago.

Hence the new title.

More to come. I'm a bit depressed now, can't think of something worth writing.. Correction: a lot depressed. Am getting my third cup of coffee for today, hopefully it will be a bit relief. Watching my usually playful and high spirited feline company in gloomy mood and distant is heartwrenching. He somehow has this instinct that I'll be leaving him for a while.

First Randomness of 2011

God speaks in a million ways.

At a mall's security check, the officer waved at me and said "Keep your spirit high!" as he concluded his task. It was an unusual greeting, even during the first days of a new year.

In the background, Des'ree sang, "You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser.. You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger..."

Call it coincidence if you wish. I choose to see them as my Divine One's whispers, telling me that as the going gets tough, He'll help me be the tough that gets going. Ain't that what one needs most when things around one speed up faster than lightning bolts.

For some friends - and to an extent, for me too - 2010 was a hard year. An online friend had to give up to terminal illness. A close friend lost her father to cancer, and somehow we grew distanced not long afterward. Nobody is to blame for that. I was occupied with some works, so was she, and then she moved to Wellington for her 4 year tour of duty.

The online friend, Gracia, is another story. Our first 'encounter' was when she left a comment on a post dedicated to teachers here, years ago. Naturally, she was a teacher. Then she frequented this blog on its heyday - a.k.a. when I blogged regularly. She started her own blog during that time too.

By the time I got lazier and lazier in updating this blog, she also had less and less posts in her blog. I didn't pay too much attention on that - I spent my time more on tweeting. I didn't know if she tweeted too, I still don't, but she seemed more into Facebook. Of course, she added me.

October last year, she sent me a Facebook mail, saying hi and mushing about my new Big Boss. We made a small thread, conversing on that point, and it was discontinued simply because I had not replied to her last message. One month later, another friend from DC informed me that she had passed away. It still breaks my heart reading that last conversation. I just visited her Facebook page again and saw a wall message from her niece, whom she mentioned when she commented on my post about Abby. It's one heartwrenching experience, I tell ya.

November also gave me another surprising news: my next assignment. I'll be going back to the States. Another place though, somewhere around three hours drive from my previous post. That gave me chills in the beginning - a mixture of shock, joy and fear. I'll be doing something way beyond my expectation and something I never did. It took weeks for me to fully absorb the fact - and the preparation process kind of helped me through it. We were expected to arrive there as early as possible, so the office tried its best to expedite all things.

As the clock ticked closer to the end of 2010, I tweeted, "My 2011 resolution will be updating my blog".

And there it goes. My first post in 2011.

Diplomacy in the Age of No Great Statesmen

The Ministry celebrated its 65th anniversary some days ago, only two days after the country marked the 65th year of its independence. I often wonder whether the Ministry was the first national agency established. It has to be – I’m too lazy to make small research right now, but it is logical that at the time when international recognition was desperately wanted (and needed, by the way), an organization representing the nation abroad was deemed top priority. Aside from the president, what other state apparatus could serve this purpose? A foreign minister, of course.

History also tells us that during Indonesia’s early life (which could go as far as twenty years after the Proclamation Day) diplomacy had played a critical role in forming AND securing its very existence within the international community. An abundance of negotiations and agreements, accompanied by several military aggressions (which went both ways, in my humble and must be unpopular opinion), finally in the dawn of 1949 Indonesia got its long awaited, deserved, recognition from the Dutch. It was not a secret that the US’s stance on the Indonesian issue, deriving from its rivalry with the Soviet Union, determined the final process.

It was also diplomacy that won Indonesia’s interest in securing its borders and marine resources in the UNCLOS negotiations. Despite the fact that some countries – including the US – don’t recognize this international convention, it’s still a law abode by the majority of the international community, the US included in most cases.

Just like the country, the Ministry’s 65th anniversary is marked by a string of challenges. Corruption allegations and incidents with our beloved neighbor (and the so-called “teman serumpun” – yeah right!) must have given Pak Marty a big headache. You fangirls should have noticed that his hair has turned grayish pretty fast. The Ministry has been under spotlight and not for good reasons.

In the TV show DemoCrazy, Yudi Latief, a prominent scholar, raised the good ole diplomacy days to underline his observation that diplomats these days can’t accomplish what their predecessors did. Using those exemplary cases, one would nod in agreement.

The situation reminds me to an article in Intisari many, many years ago, in which a bunch of science prodigies were asked about their favorite innovators. One of them said it was Newton, claiming that Newton was brighter than Einstein, for “he’d made a lot more findings and innovations”.

That is debatably true. To a certain extent. But if we try to put the gentlemen in time context, we might have different perspective. Newton lived in an era of the newfound freedom of researches and science, Einstein made his findings when basic physics are already in place and formula established.

Similar case, IMHO, can be made to international relations. Post World War 2 was the age of decolonization; new nation-states in Asia and Africa emerged. The World War 2 trauma prompted the establishment of the United Nations, modeled after the failed League of Nations. The international community was in the euphoria of freedom, democracy and liberty. This gave way to highly gifted, inbred politicians in what was then dubbed “the Third World” – the Western educated (and many of them came from affluent families), multi-lingual, microphone and spotlight savvy, charismatic leaders. That was the era of Nehru, Sukarno, Tito, and their peers – who often headlined newspapers.

As in the case of many newborn countries, the Indonesian forefathers were those active in independence-seeking movements. They shared experiences in facing the colonial authority, breaking repressive laws, spending time in jails and exiles, and educating their less fortunate, school-lacking fellows. Some were engaged in physical clashes (by joining the guerilla army, for instance). Despite the various backgrounds, and the differing political ideologies (which transpired in the later stages), their united efforts contributed to the birth of this national entity and the forming of its identity.

This had made them in generally equal positions. They might have taken diverse roles in the government structure: president and the vice (and the prime minister), ministers, advisors, parliament members – but they had equal footings in the decision making process. And in the process of gaining international recognition, they discussed steps to take together, took turn making appearances and public speeches, and practically anything representing the ideal of democracy.

Over the years, the ministers become more and more the aide of the president. Hence, their role was diminishing, though after 1998 there has been significant change – thanks to parties shoving their candidates to fill in the roles. For the Foreign Ministry, however – aside from the one time Alwi Shihab was appointed the Foreign Minister – it has almost always been the case. More often than not, a Foreign Minister is a career diplomat. While this serves the purpose of having a professional doing his/her job, it often affects his/her ability to influence the decision making process.

In many highly politicized cases, the Ministry becomes car bumper, shield, or fire brigade. The recent challenges, and Indonesian missions still struggling to change tainted reputations, albeit the revolutionary internal reform, do not make it easy. How many people outside the Ministry know that diplomats do suffer from their job – not the glamorous ones as pictured everywhere? How many people realize it’s the matter of life and death for the diplomats assigned in conflict areas? How many people observe the number of young diplomats (under the age of 40) died of hard works? (Meetings and preparing documents that last for hours, sometimes well past midnight, with no health insurance) In the past three years, there are five young diplomats passed away this way. How many people understand that a number of diplomats – it’s no coincidence that they are the ones assigned in missions dealing heavily with migrant workers problem – have to consult psychiatrists to stay sane?

Of course, this is not Indonesia’s own problem. I remember a few years ago Washington Post reported that State Secretary Condoleezza Rice had to ‘coercively’ assigned diplomats to their embassy in Baghdad, as these diplomats initially refused to do so.

However, diplomacy today takes place in a whole different era. There are many more actors – and the non-state actors are more heard. More issues to solve, more actors play, and the lack of great statesmen these days – diplomacy is greatly challenged. Not only in Indonesia, but everywhere.