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FM dismisses ‘pretty diplomat’ furor
Nara Masista Rakhmatia - Tribunnews
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Nara Masista Rakhmatia - Tribunnews.com
The Foreign Ministry on Thursday brushed off concerns that Indonesia had insulted no fewer than six Pacific Island heads of state, following a viral video of a junior diplomat trashing their allegations of human rights violations in Papua and West Papua during the recent UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Social media users this week have been agog over the UNGA session where Nara Masista Rakhmatia, the second secretary at Indonesia’s permanent mission to the UN, responded to last Saturday’s speeches of the heads of state of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Tonga.
“Nara was speaking using the right of reply on Saturday [Sept. 24], which was after the heads of state had finished giving their statements. She didn’t speak during the session of the heads of state,” ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said.
The 71st UNGA was held in New York from Sept. 19 to 29.
Many viewers of the video of the “pretty young diplomat”, viewed almost 200,000 times on Youtube as of Friday afternoon, praised Nara’s response, saying it had “checkmated” or “crushed” the heads of state.
Among other things, the Indonesian diplomat said criticism against Indonesia amounted to “interference” and encouraged separatism in the two provinces.
However, others questioned why the ministry had assigned a lower-ranking diplomat to respond to the heads of state, which could be interpreted as a deliberate insult to them and their countries.
Furthermore, reports on Friday said Nara was drawing fury from “separatists”, who cited repeated and unresolved human rights violations against residents of Papua and West Papua.
Evi Fitriani, a lecturer of international law at the University of Indonesia (UI), said Indonesia had not violated any convention, “but diplomatically there is this rule of reciprocity, that if a head of state says something, the response shall come from another head of state” or at least from a high-ranking official.
She added it was legally acceptable, “but not diplomatically appropriate” for Indonesia to have the second secretary deliver the responding statement.
Arrmanatha said Nara’s response was “Indonesia’s position, which has been discussed thoroughly” within the ministry. “It doesn’t matter who says it. Whoever conveys the message, it is still Indonesia’s position,” he said.
For the country’s diplomats, he added, “the unitary state of the Indonesian Republic is a fixed price” where interference in Indonesia’s sovereignty and separatism is unacceptable.
Hikmahanto Juwana, another international law expert, said it was normal for Nara, as a diplomat in the Indonesian delegation, to convey the reply. “It was an Indonesian voice,” he said on Friday.
On Monday, Australia’s state broadcaster ABC quoted Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare as saying at the UN General Assembly, “Human rights violations in West Papua and the pursuit for self-determination of West Papua [Papua] are two sides of the same coin.”
“Many reports on human rights violations in West Papua emphasize the inherent corroboration between the right to self-determination that results in direct violation of human rights by Indonesia and its attempts to smother any form of opposition.”
Nara said such criticism “only reaffirmed the persistent violation of […] the UN Charter by blatantly interfering in the internal affairs of other states, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other nations.”
The Indonesian government has previously said it is examining 22 cases of alleged human rights violations in Papua, three of which it hopes to complete by the end of this year.
Critics say the government persistently approaches issues relating to Papua with policies that rely heavily on doling out money while ignoring human rights abuses.
The alleged failure of Papua’s special autonomy has given rise to attempts to support independence movements, particularly from Pacific nations. (vny)
