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View all search resultsAnalysis: Prabowo’s nominee for Washington post proves to be an anti-climax
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Two US Marines take up positions on the West Front of the US Capitol as preparations are made prior to the 59th inaugural ceremony for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in Washington, DC on Jan. 20. (AFP/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto’s choice of a senior bureaucrat to be Indonesia’s new ambassador to the United States is somewhat anticlimactic, casting doubts on whether he has picked the right person for the right job, and at the right time.
The Washington, DC post has been vacant for over two years, and it was thought that Prabowo would pick someone with far more negotiating and diplomatic experience and credentials to represent the country in what must be one of the most strategically important but at the same time toughest diplomatic jobs for any Indonesian ambassador.
Washington is the seat of the most powerful government on earth, and any ambassador from any nation will find it particularly challenging to work in the city to be able to get noticed, and to have access to the White House and other top administration officials and congress.
The often erratic and unpredictable policies of President Donald Trump make the job even harder. Mediocrity does not cut it, and even good is often not good enough. Excellence is the very minimum quality needed for Indonesia’s next ambassador to the US.
Dwisuryo Indroyono Soesilo, 70, served briefly as coordinating minister for maritime affairs under president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2014. A PhD in geological remote sensing from the University of Iowa in the US, he spent all his career as a civil servant in different government agencies.
Last week his nomination was approved by House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees foreign affairs, only three days after President Prabowo submitted his name, along with those of 23 other nominees to head Indonesian embassies in other countries.
Prabowo gave most of the new ambassadorial jobs to career diplomats, in contrast with Jokowi who used the presidential prerogative to give out the jobs as rewards to his loyalists. This is somewhat surprising for Prabowo, a president known to have low trust in diplomats so much that he gave the job of foreign minister to Sugiono, a trusted aide and politician from his Gerindra party, also with limited exposure to diplomacy.
