Embassy People

I already mentioned my friends who took me all over Jakarta and Ancol (Sila, Hikmah, Yus, Saara, Shadli, Ika) and allowed me to see the city in a way that I never would have alone. I also want to mention the State Department people.

It is an interesting contrast between people and organization. Diplomacy and War are among the oldest functions of government and our state department our "senior" cabinet post. It was here that Jefferson served as our first Sec. of State. I'm not an expert at this subject but I would imagine that of all the departments speaking with "one voice" is critical while, recruiting top people is as well -- they move all over the world, need some facility with language and are required to do a remarkable array of tasks. Our Foreign Service, and the accompanying Civil Service are incredibly competent and qualified. But they operate within a pretty comprehensive bureaucracy that often makes simple things fairly difficult. The contrast between the talent level and the bureaucracy sometimes jarring.

I also want to mention the local people who work for the Embassy. These are often people (and the same was true in Russia) with wide experience in other fields, language skills, and managerial talent. I don't know for sure but I would guess that in a country with strong economic opportunities for people (Sweden?) the Embassy might have a harder time recruiting - but in Russia and Indonesia, countries with a strong educational system and a talented population, they have an chance to pick the best people -- and the embassies would literally fall apart without them.

Robyn Remeika and Fira in Jakarta (and I met Toto, Shita, and Ann Grimes there as well); John Taylor and Este in Surabaya and Bali, and Rachma Jaurinata in Sumatra all made the trip efficient and, I think, effective for themselves as well. I couldn't begin to record all they have done. I don't think Fira wants to run for office but I have worked hard on getting Este and Rachma into running for office -- they are the kind of candidates Indonesia needs. Este and Rachma were also my translators and did an outstanding job (I think). Talking to them after a presentation made my talks better and gave me a lot of insight into the issue behind the questions. I think they also blunted some of the hard edges of my answers (answers tend to get blunter by the time you are into the 15th repetition). Rachma was the only person from the Consulate I met in PekanBaru (sumartra) and she not only ran the program she, at my request, set up evening dinners with local party people that were very informative -- and I think interesting for them as well.