T

he Foreign Ministry is always open to constructive criticism to enhance its performance and to addresses any shortcomings. We welcome views from people from all walks of life. We therefore appreciate the views recently expressed in The Jakarta Post in an article entitled '€œThe death of reforms in the Foreign Ministry'€ by a former ambassador, Djoko Susilo, who previously served as a lawmaker.

The ministry'€™s work has benefited from continuous evaluation and appraisal by many quarters, both domestic and international. That work includes fulfilling the constitutional mandate of contributing to shaping a world of peace and social justice, including regional peace, stability and prosperity; playing a leadership and activist role in common efforts to resolve global issues, such as climate change, environmental sustainability, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation; protection of Indonesian citizens abroad; etc.

We let the facts speak for themselves. However, as the ministry'€™s secretary-general, I am compelled to respond to the article to clarify some points raised that are not based on facts.

Reform is a continuous and comprehensive process, not an event. Some of the points below are illustrative of the reforms taking place in the ministry.

First, the ministry gives special emphasis to good governance, particularly in the conduct of its financial affairs. It used to be that the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) merely issued a disclaimer on the budget execution of the ministry, but during the past three years (2011-2013), the BPK issued an unqualified opinion or a clean opinion on the ministry'€™s financial statements.

Second, as to human resource development, a very high standard, open and transparent recruitment process continues to be upheld and carried out. The ministry encourages and facilitates the improvement of education levels and skills of its staff. More than 900 out of around 2,700 of the diplomatic and service staffers hold Master and PhD degrees. Merit-based promotion is also the norm.

The ministry also continues to strive for improvement of its services, and in the past few years, various directorates have been awarded with no less than seven ISO certifications for their performance.

Since 2009, the ministry was able to secure the safety of around 34,000 Indonesians from countries abroad.

Third, it is true that the ministry is operating today under budgetary constraints, but these constraints have not been applied to the Foreign Ministry alone. All other ministries have had their budgets reduced as a result of the government'€™s policy of balancing the budget.

And yet the ministry continues to carry out the tasks it has assumed. In 2012, when we were required to cut 9.56 percent of the ministry'€™s budget, according to the evaluation by the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), the ministry was still able to implement more than 92 percent of its programs.

Given such facts, I fail to understand why the ministry is being criticized for the budget cut when actually it has been able to perform and deliver results with more efficient use of the available budget.

Fourth, the ministry continues to give high priority to the protection of Indonesian citizens abroad. Through comprehensive approaches involving prevention, early detection and protection measures, cases involving Indonesian nationals abroad have continued to decline in the past few years.

Since 2009, the ministry was able to secure the safety of around 34,000 Indonesians from countries abroad where they were facing various dire situations, ranging from natural disasters to political upheavals. Furthermore, since then also, through quiet and diligent efforts, the ministry was able to commute and/or free 199 Indonesian nationals who faced charges that carry the maximum sentence of capital punishment.

Fifth, economic diplomacy, through promotion of trade and investment, remains a key priority of the ministry. Of course, the ministry is just one of many agencies involved in our national efforts to promote trade and investment ties with friendly countries.

For instance, in the past several years, the Foreign Ministry worked closely with other relevant ministries to promote the yearly event, Trade Expo Indonesia. From 2009 until 2013, about 40,000 businessmen and entrepreneurs from all over the world attended the Expo. Our diplomatic missions abroad played a key role in enticing them to attend the expo at their own expense.

Given the economic downturn in some of the traditional markets for Indonesian exports in Europe and North America, we have given priority to enhancing trade with non-traditional and emerging markets such as in Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Southern part of America and Central and Eastern Europe.

In the past few years we have seen significant increases in Indonesian exports to these non-traditional markets. At the same time, concerted efforts are carried out by our missions abroad to enhance and promote foreign investments to Indonesia.

Domestically, the ministry holds an annual event called '€œUpdate from the Regions'€ whereby participating provincial governments are given the opportunity to showcase their economic, tourism, trade, investment potentials and opportunities to the Jakarta-based foreign representatives.

Sixth, strategic steps were taken to promote closer economic ties with friendly countries by enhancing bilateral ties. In the past few years, various bilateral mechanisms at official, ministerial and even leader levels were established, with no less than 17 strategic and comprehensive partnerships with key partners such as the United States, Brazil, South Africa, China, Australia, France and others.

Seventh, in line with the democratization of Indonesia'€™s foreign policy, all Indonesian stakeholders should be able to contribute to the shaping of foreign policy.

Therefore, the ministry continues to hold foreign policy consultations '€” except that these are no longer just breakfasts but day-long affairs in which stakeholders such as academics, local officials, the media and students exchange views with our senior officials. No less than 200 such discussion forums have been held in recent years.

Thus, the reform process in the ministry is continuing, with emphasis on, among other things, good governance, human resources development, improvement of services and outreach to foreign policy
constituents.

The ministry also continues to deliver concrete results based on its mandate in undertaking Indonesia'€™s foreign policy, including in the promotion of economic cooperation and protection of Indonesians abroad, despite budget cuts faced by all government institutions.

Finally, let me once again underline that the ministry welcomes input, including criticism to improve its performance, and we encourage those who need information about the ministry to contact us so that they may be able to make an objective assessment.