Ambassador Junus Effendi Habibie in “Buitenhof” - Today the Indonesian Ambassador in The Hague, Junus Effendi Habibie, was interviewed for half an hour by Clairy Polak in “Buitenhof”. Which is the main Dutch (weekly) TV program on social, economical and political issues.
Habibie, who speaks Dutch fluently, made it clear he played an important part in the damage control of “Fitna”. It was on his advice that the Dutch government distanced itself from this notorious movie. It was on his initiative also that the other 23 Ambassadors of countries with an Islam majority, played for moderation and agreed with his letter to the Dutch government in which it was praised for its stand.
On trade and investment the ambassador did admit the relations between The Netherlands and Indonesia are still hampered by two old Indonesian vices: corruption and lack of sound legal protection. Habibie pointed out however that the Indonesian government made lot of progress here over the last years . In his opinion Dutch and other European entrepreneurs do miss good opportunities now when they stay as aloof as they are at the moment.
Habibie made it clear that, in his opinion, relations between both countries are good. But asked about a pending pending economical partnership’s treaty - which was to be signed last April - he said that first “Garuda” must regain it’s rights to fly to Europe. The Indonesian carrier has been banned from the European skies because of presumed safety failures. There will be no treaty, nor a visit of President SBY to The Netherlands ( and Germany) as had been planned, as long as this problem has not been solved.
Finally the Ambassador and Clairy Polak skirmished over Papua. The interviewer had a question about the difference in treatment of the autonomy in Aceh and in Papua. While Aceh is a success, Papua is still a problem. In one part of the country a region has an effective autonomy while in the other even the waving of the regional flag is considered to be revolutionary. The explanation of the ambassador was rather peculiar: the problems of Papua are caused by the colonial heritage, by the tribal society and by the lack of responsibility of the local leaders. Not quite a satisfactorily answer.
All in all the Ambassador’s main purpose seems to have been to exploit his presumed success on Fitna to promote the lifting of the ban on Garuda. Which is what a good ambassador should do. He has still some time to finish the job, because he will leave in december 2009.
