Your letters: Life is a piece of cake

Paper Edition | Page: 8

Life is too short to spend much time worrying about politics and religion, the two great taboos in this world, and so it’s time to look at something worthwhile. In my reckoning, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa is probably the biggest cake eater in Jakarta, as he must get loads of invites to diplomatic functions.

You have probably seen the pictures in The Jakarta Post, foreign ambassadors, overweight lawmakers, other hard working ministers and high-ranking delegates, all smiling and deeply involved with the cutting of massive cakes.

In all those pictures, despite the different countries involved, there are two common factors — Marty and a big cake. Somehow, he doesn’t seem to put on much weight and this I assume is much to do with his stressful job.

Only recently he returned to Indonesia after a regional ASEAN Paracel and Spratly squabble, which forgot to produce an official joint statement. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was combing his hair at the time, spotted the oversight and sent Marty back to the countries involved, while the Chinese, periscopes up, watched his every move.

Marty checked his cake-munching schedule, missing out on only two functions as he flew to Cambodia, Manila, Hanoi and Phnom Penh. In the end, they all agreed on a six-principle statement, the word “principle” causing massive confusion back in Jakarta.

On his welcome return, Marty was mobbed at the airport as if he was a rock star, the foreign minister clearly delighted with his achievements. “Well done, Marty” said SBY. “What’s new?” Marty dipped into his briefcase and pulled out a sachet of Vietnam nuoc mam sauce and said “You’ll like this boss, it’s yummy.”

Maybe if the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is not too busy, it may be worth their while checking out who has the cake contract, as someone told me the budget for that was higher than the one for infrastructure projects.

David Wallis
Medan