Outgoing foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda handed over the helms of Indonesian diplomacy to his successor, Marty Natalegawa, on Thursday, saying he felt both “relieved and happy”.
“I am relieved because I have ended my term as foreign minister for eight years since 2001 ... leading the country’s diplomacy after the reform era is not an easy task,” the visibly emotional Hassan told diplomats and his former staffers at the historic Pancasila mansion.
“I am happy because my successor is one of the finest diplomats at the Foreign Ministry. He is professional, skillful and dependable,” he said of Marty, who had been sworn in a few hours earlier at the State Palace.
Hassan was appointed foreign minister during the Megawati Soekarnoputri administration in 2001, replacing Alwi Shihab, a renowned Muslim scholar who was then a close aide to former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
Marty’s appointment by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to replace Hassan is no surprise, with many believing the career diplomat had been groomed to become foreign minister.
He was the youngest diplomat to be given an ambassadorial posting, to the United Kingdom in 2005, when he was only 42. He left two years later to take on the more prestigious post of Indonesia’s permanent representative at the United Nations.
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