TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Yuddy apologizes for demeaning remarks on ambassadorial mandate
Former minister and lawmaker Yuddy Chrisnandi has apologized for a quip he made earlier this year that enraged the Indonesian diplomatic community.
Change Size
The then administrative and bureaucratic reform minister Yuddy Chrisnandi (center), Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly (right) and then General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Husni Kamil Manik converse before a limited Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office on May 31. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
F
ormer minister and lawmaker Yuddy Chrisnandi has apologized for a quip he made earlier this year that enraged the Indonesian diplomatic community.
Yuddy, who was nominated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration as the Indonesian ambassador to Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia, caused a stir in July when he said he was interested in serving as an envoy for a small country with an equally small workload, so that he could "afford to teach and write books".
Prior to that, he was dismissed by Jokowi from his position as Administrative and Bureaucratic Reforms Minister as part of the latter's second Cabinet reshuffle.
(Read also: Jokowi's picks for ambassadorial posts)
Just a few days later, an open letter published on a citizen journalism website went viral because its author, the daughter of an active Indonesian ambassador, criticized Yuddy for underestimating the work of ambassadors in small countries.
"There was never any pretension to belittle the work of an ambassador, even one who presides over the smallest and least-populated of countries," Yuddy told reporters on Wednesday evening after attending a closed-door vetting process by lawmakers at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta.
"If my wording was considered inappropriate at the time, I apologize. I have come to understand that the task at hand is very important and must be carried out in the best possible way," he added.
The Hanura Party politician used to serve as a lawmaker representing the Golkar Party from 2004 to 2009 before jumping ship to his current party in 2010.
On Wednesday, Yuddy had to undergo an examination by the House of Representatives' foreign affairs commission as part of a process to confirm his nomination as ambassador.
Yuddy is among 23 figures nominated by President Widodo as ambassadors, all of whom expect to start their term early next year. (hwa)
