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Top diplomat defends track record in last annual address
Foreign Minister Retno proclaims that Indonesia “has been playing a starring role, not a spectator role” in maintaining peace and stability, amid election-related mudslinging from the third televised debate on Sunday.
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Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi delivers her annual foreign policy speech at the Merdeka Building in Bandung, West Java on Jan. 8, 2024. In what is likely to be her last address before the imminent transition of power later this year. Retno proclaimed that Indonesia has successfully demonstrated its leadership and bridge-building role on the global stage. (Antara/M Agung Rajasa)
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi on Monday defended her near decade-long leadership of Indonesia’s diplomatic corps in what sounded like her final annual policy address ahead of an imminent transition of power later this year, having boasted concrete outcomes from Indonesia’s economy-forward foreign policy doctrine.
Jakarta’s diplomatic strategy has neither been just about doing business, nor has it skewed passive for the sake of being neutral, Retno asserted in a speech at the historic Merdeka Building hall in Bandung, West Java, which some observers believe was delivered in response to criticisms directed at the nation’s diplomats in the lead-up to next month’s three-way presidential election.
“Indonesian foreign policy is not transactional,” she proclaimed, prompting applause from the audience of local and foreign diplomats as well as the press.
“Indonesian diplomacy has been well-measured, well-calculated, action-oriented and results-oriented. At the same time, it has also upheld unwavering values and principles,” the minister added.
Under the stewardship of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Indonesia’s foreign policy has been accused of being too inward-looking or too economically pragmatic, to the point of neglecting political and security considerations that may jeopardize the country’s international reputation.
But analysts were convinced her 40-minute oration aimed not only to list her ministry’s diplomatic wins over the nine years but also to answer once and for all to the fervent critics of Jokowi’s distinct brand of foreign policy.
Sunday evening’s third televised election debate brought some of these criticisms to the fore, particularly when presidential candidate Anies Baswedan appeared to dismiss the work of the nation’s diplomats by proclaiming that Indonesia has been “absent” from the world stage.
