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I GUSTI AGUNG Wesaka Puja: ‘Dancing’ diplomacy

It’s always a blessing when one can incorporate hobby into one’s job

Dicky Christanto (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, September 18, 2012

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I GUSTI AGUNG Wesaka Puja: ‘Dancing’ diplomacy

I

t’s always a blessing when one can incorporate hobby into one’s job.

Newly appointed director general for ASEAN Cooperation at the Foreign Ministry, I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, widely known as Puja, considers his dancing skills a distinguishing factor that has polished his career as diplomat.

A proud dancer, Puja says that his dancing skills helped him display the beauty of Indonesia to audiences. In fact, Puja is a multitalented artist; besides dancing he also plays the gamelan and paints.

“Channeling my artistic abilities always gives me peace of mind. Therefore, I have no reason to not do it,” he recalls.

The fact that he is multitalented distinguish Puja from his fellow diplomats. You may spot some envoys that can
sing, play musical instruments or even master a classic dance, but finding someone with all these talents is quite rare, let alone a public official.

Many of Puja’s moments as a dancer and gamelan player were showcased when he was still Indonesian ambassador to Austria, his post before director general.

Since his two-year tenure began in 2010, Puja has charmed audiences on many occasions with his artistic talents.

Among his shining moments as a dancer, while serving as Indonesian ambassador for Austria, Puja performed an original piece called the “evolution of creativity” on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) stage in Geneva. He performed five different dances, with five different masks, illustrating the steps of the human evolution process.

As gamelan player, Puja has also managed to bring traditional gamelan music to a new level at Der Musicverein in Vienna, where world-class musicians usually perform to observe the New Year.

“That was the first time our gamelan music was brought to Musicverein and it managed to impress the audience,” he recalls.

Years before the applause and enthusiastic audiences, Puja recalled that he learned how to dance the hard way. He remembered that his dance instructor was very strict and he got punished whenever he performed a wrong move or showed any sign of boredom.

He trained after school in replacement of his previous hobby of chasing kites, which was not approved by his father, a local royal figure. Besides dance lessons from a local dance instructor, Puja also learned from his grandfather, I Gusti Agung Nyoman Tegig, a famous mask dancer in Bali. It was from his grandfather that Puja learned how to dance with taksu or aura.

“You can always tell if someone performs their skill with passion. My grandfather taught me to dance with wholeheartedness,” he recalled.

But, for now, it will become less of an occurrence to see Puja perform. As director general for ASEAN Cooperation, Puja will apply a different strategy. The word friendship will likely become his keyword in carrying out his new duty.

His biggest duty is to mull necessary preparations to ensure the smooth running of the ASEAN Single Community implementation in 2015. Puja acknowledges that Indonesia’s experience and leadership in ASEAN is expected to be effective in this crucial phase.

In a more specific area, he continues, ASEAN has also been considering the creation of a conflict resolution academy, a think tank organization that will host the bright and eager minds that have concerns about the future of the region.

He also cited the potential conflict between countries like China, Japan, South and North Korea and several ASEAN countries over the South and East China seas, a clear example of why countries in the region must join forces in tackling this problem in the spirit of friendship.

However, Puja will never forget art and the strategic use of it in diplomacy.

Asked about how big of an influence his dancing skills had on his career as a diplomat, Puja says that his dancing skills have always been a part of his strategy in relationship management with fellow officials and other people as well.

He considers his set of special skills a soft power that becomes very useful in gaining empathy and helps to spark healthy discussion.

He then cited that during his tenure as Indonesian ambassador to Austria, besides communicating with fellow envoys and related public officials, he also mingled with commoners and local artists, not only in order to create new friendships but also to gain interesting perspectives on how to improve Indonesia’s image in the international community.

“At the start of my duty there, I met people who had mistaken Indonesia for many other countries,” he recalled.

He acknowledges that he was envious of Austria, a country half the size of East Jakarta mayoralty, but could book 1.09 million rooms in 65,200 hotels, according to last year’s data.

“One of my duties as ambassador was to promote Indonesia so that people would know more about the country than just Bali.”

Puja came up with the strategy to introduce Indonesia through art performances, where he also became one of the leading artists.

As a bonus for his hard work and thanks to his well-known reputation as a dancer, many consider Puja a fellow artist instead of a public official. The response makes him happy because as a fellow artist, he feels that the relationships he has created with people are genuine.

“The value of something genuine is always priceless and that includes friendship. In the bigger picture, gaining genuine friendship with nations could create benefits to all parties involved.”

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