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em>As a diplomat, former Indonesian ambassador to the United States Dino Patti Djalal said that he felt like a fish out of water when he was first given the chance to take part in the Democratic Party presidential convention by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in February last year. But with a desire to make a change, Dino accepted the offer and soldiers on, despite his slim chance of victory. In the past weeks, he has crisscrossed the nation promoting what he calls '€œwinning nationalism'€. Dino recently talked with The Jakarta Post'€™s Hans Nicholas Jong. Below are excerpts:

Question: Can you give us an update on the race?

Answer: I have received a lot of job offers [after resigning from my position as an ambassador], but to be honest I'€™m glad that I can focus 100 percent [on the convention]. Because if I work as a government official, 80 percent of my time would be spent serving the country. So I need to focus fully on the convention. I have spent two weeks here [in Indonesia], so I'€™m already in tune. I only have a budget of less than Rp 1 billion (US$ 81,699), but I'€™m trying out a new kind of politics. I'€™ve become the first presidential candidate to disclose my bank accounts to the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK].

What is your concept for leading this country?

My concept is called '€œwinning nationalism'€. This is not a concept that I conceived. This is a concept that I fully believed in as a diplomat. I see our country and witness how other countries have become more developed [than Indonesia].

Indonesia could only be a developed country if we use a type of nationalism that can make Indonesia more competitive. There are many types of nationalism; there is a quasi-nationalism, blind-nationalism, narrow-minded nationalism and so on. If you adopt any of these, then our nation would suffer from a setback. But if you adopt the right kind of nationalism, then we can surely develop our country.

What do you mean by winning?

Winning means Indonesia has to reach above its potential. For example, our economy is US$1.3 trillion. But if we look at Brazil, which has roughly the same amount of assets and potential as us, they are able to have an economy of $3.5 trillion. It means we are only able to reach a third of our potential.

Indonesia also has so many islands, more than 17,000 of them. We also have vast maritime areas. However, Indonesia has not been able to become a maritime country. We still behind in terms of fishing, freight and shipping industries. Despite being bestowed with tremendous beauty, Indonesia only managed to attract not more than 9 million tourists, while other countries easily have more than 20 million tourists. It means that we have huge potential but haven'€™t been able to realize our full potential. '€œWinning nationalism'€ is not a policy. It is a mindset, an eagerness to win.

What kind of policy would you adopt to follow up on the concept of '€œwinning nationalism'€? What area that you would focus on to develop the country?

Clearly, the future president would have to focus on education. Why? Because there is still an education gap. For example, 60 percent of the middle class go to college, while only 1 percent from the lower class do so. That is a very wide gap that needs to be fixed through an improvement in curriculum. Indonesia needs to emphasize digital and scientific literacy. Most developed countries emphasize digital and scientific literacy. Indonesia, however, is still lacking in innovation due to weak research and development. As a president, I will try to improve that. I will also focus on using technology to eradicate poverty.

The second thing is the private sector. My priority is to develop the private sector in the best way possible to increase economic growth and lessen the economic gap. Unfortunately, Indonesia still ranks low in terms of ease of doing business. While some people have said that there has been progress, many others still complain about the cost of setting up a business here as well as red tape. So I will make it easier for people to open up a new business in Indonesia.

The third is bureaucracy. Our challenge is to figure out how government programs can be supported by bureaucracy. Currently, there are many programs from the upper level that face resistance from the bottom. We also need to increase our productivity. In the past 10 years, we have continued to depend on our commodities, while our manufacturing is still weak. Looking ahead, we can'€™t rely on our commodities anymore. We need to push on the manufacturing side.

How should Indonesia move forward with its foreign policy?

My definition of foreign policy is a bit modified. The traditional concept is free and active. But it'€™s no longer enough. It has to be free, active and creative. Being active is easy, just show up at every meeting or conference. But we also have to be creative. I think it is very important for our diplomats to be creative.

The quality of being creative will be very important and ASEAN must still be our corner stone. As we go global, our position will be strengthened by our position in ASEAN. We owe it to ASEAN and ASEAN also expects Indonesia to be the corner stone. We should use that as leverage.