DR (h.c.)
JOHAN B. P. MARAMIS :
GLIMPSES OF MY
DIPLOMATIC CAREER
1. THE ROAD TO THE UNITED NATIONS
Early School years
Travelling down memory lane, I could still
recall vividly some events during my early school years.
Starting with Elementary School (Dutch Eerste Europese Lagere School) in Manado I had to repeat the 5th
grade since I was not allowed to attend school for several times because of my
frequent fights with my school mates which included the late Sujatmoko who later became Rector of the U.N. University in
Tokyo and Ambassador to United States and the late Henk Ngantung
who became a painter and Governor of Great Jakarta.
I had also problems at Dutch Senior High
School, K.W.III, when I received six red marks in the 4th grade. The
Director Dr. Esbach even
suggested to go to a Government high school (AMS)
But I refused and studied thoroughly to erase
those red marks and I succeeded and graduated without any red marks.
I was never a bright student and was already satisfied
to make the grades.
I was fortunate to receive a scholarship from
the Government of East Indonesia to study in Netherlands to strengthen the
ranks of the civil servants. I was already married - when my wife Nini and I left for Netherlands in November 1946. I started
my studies in Leyden university in January 1947
and was able to graduate in 14 March 1951. Nearly a year earlier, the Minister
of Interior had yet no plans for us and we were allowed to
apply to other Ministries.
I applied for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
since I had already a taste for diplomacy when I assisted the Information
section headed by Wim Latumeten of the Republican
Delegation during the Round Table Conference held in December 1949 in the
Hague.
It was a decision that proved to fulfil my
true calling as a diplomat.
I joined the Ministry on June 1, 1951. I was
fortunate to start my career by attending several regional conferences and
global United Nations forums which gave me the opportunity to learn how to manage
such conferences and to participate effectively in such forums.
Gradually I also learned the art of
systematic lobbying and to obtain the support and trust of several important
countries including the co-operation of U.N. Secretariat. Along the way I had
to gain experiences in chairing important conferences, mastering the rules of
procedures and to become a valuable and trusted partner in seeking compromise
solutions to pending problems. Ultimately I was able
to manage important U.N. bodies such as U.N. Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) and Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
When Indonesia offered to host the next
annual Session of ECAFE (Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East) in
Bandung in 1953 I was appointed conference officer responsible for the smooth
running of the conference. Apparently I succeeded and
received letters of commendation from the Executive Secretary of ECAFE Dr. Lokonathan, the Foreign
Minister Mr. Moekarto Notowidigdo
and the Finance Minister Dr. Sumitro
Djojohadikusumo who was also the Chairman of the
Conference.
Mr. Moekarto even
promised a reward that was extended to me by Dr. Sunarjo who was Mr. Moekarto
successor. Mr. Sunarjo appointed me as a member of
the Indonesian Delegation to the regular session of the UN general assembly to
be held in New York in 1953.
This was my first acquaintance with the
United Nations. One could imagine my feeling of pride and great anticipation
that a very junior official having served for less than three years I had been
appointed as a member of the Indonesian Delegation to the regular session of
the United Nations.
When I arrived in New York I was given the
task to represent Indonesia at the Special Political Committee of the General
Assembly. I had to make my first statement on the item “South West Africa”
which much later became independent Namibia. I had to study thoroughly the
history and the present developments of the territory.
In my maiden speech I strongly supported the
advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in 1950 that South
Africa the administrator of South West Africa should do the utmost to promote
social progress of the inhabitants as a sacred trust of civilization and that
the United Nations should exercise the supervisory functions of the League of
Nations. I strongly condemned the oppression and exploitation of the people and
demanded the early independence of the territory.
South Africa however refused to accept the
Court’s opinion and over the ensuing 15 years opposed any form of UN
supervision. Before my maiden speech I was naturally very nervous and could
hardly sleep the night before. I was somehow able to mobilize my courage to
deliver my first speech in a world forum, which helped to boost my
self-confidence tremendously.
I decided without consulting the government
to run for one of the vacant Asian seat on the
Governing Council of the Special Fund
The first thing I set out to do was to
mobilize enough votes to be elected since India was also running for
re-election. I knew I had to receive the affirmative votes of the big powers
and influential members of different geographical groupings like Latin America,
Africa and Europe. I laid my plans to lobby those countries carefully. Fortunately I had the advantage that India was seeking
re-election and was so confident that it completely ignored my efforts. I
carefully pointed out how frequently India had served in the past but how
especially a large country such as Indonesia had never previously occupied a
seat on the Council. The result of the vote was indeed in favour of Indonesia.
I was delighted and also proud that my intensive
lobbying had paid off.
Another example of effective lobbing was done
when I proposed Foreign Minister Adam Malik for the post of President of the
General Assembly in 1971. I persuaded successfully Adam Malik with the help of
his late advisor Mr. Elkana Tobing
to run for the Presidency. That was the year for an Asian President that
rotated every 5 years among the 5 geographical regions. I succeeded in
convincing the Asian group to support Adam Malik. Indonesia was fortunate
already to be known internationally for its role in the Asian African
Conference, the Non-Alignment Movement, the establishment of the IGGI and the
ASEAN regional grouping.
In the beginning I had faced some
difficulties since the Saudi Arabian Ambassador sponsored Princess Asraf the twin sister of the Shah of Iran. Fortunately Iran had already occupied the Presidency in 1950
by Foreign Minister Entezam.
I made fully use of that event and ultimately
succeeded to have Adam Malik to become the sole candidate of Asia and was
subsequently elected as President of the 26th regular session of the
General Assembly in 1971.
Effective and systematic lobbying is one of
the important tools of diplomacy. My first lesson taught me
that choosing the right timing to act, good planning and perseverance will
ultimately prevail.
During my first assignment at the United
Nations (1960-1965) I was already elected to chair several important
conferences such as UN Capital Development Fund, AD-Hoc Committee on the
co-ordination of technical assistance programmes which led to the establishment
of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Group of 77 developing
countries.
With those experiences behind me, I was
elected Vice President (1969) and subsequently President of Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) (1970) during my second assignment as Deputy Permanent
Representative to UN with the rank of Ambassador (1969-1972)
Those position I believed were mainly due to
my ability to establish close and friendly relations with a
number of important countries and members of the Secretariat and my
efforts to seek compromises on important issues.
When I was President of ECOSOC for example
under my guidance the Council adopted a resolution on the Second United Nations
Development Decade despite the existence of divergent views on international
development strategies. I did it by persuasion and calling for informal
meetings to iron out difficulties. The Council also adopted other important
resolutions such as calling for the establishment of an
United Nations Volunteers Program. The program provided an opportunity for
younger professionals in international and national development programs to
gain experience in international and national development programs and to share
their experience.
In my early years while
attending several international conferences I discovered that the Secretariat
played an important role in conference implementation. During my first annual
session of ECAFE in 1974, I had not only proposed to change the name into ESCAP
to give greater importance to geographical/political balance and the social
dimension of development but I also proposed to
establish an Advisory Committee of Permanent Representatives to ESCAP (ACPR).
Both proposals were unanimously approved.
I was determined to have
regular and intensive dialogues with the member countries through the Advisory
Committee to give me advice on important activities I would initiate. Several
important changes were indeed made as the result of this co-operation.
Innovative changes were
made in the conference structure and ESCAP’s work program, the establishment of
the Asian and Pacific Development Centre designed to serve as a think tank for
the region which was the brain child of Mr. Sudjakmoko
whom I recruited as special consultant, the establishment of a Sub-regional
office of ESCAP in the Pacific to encourage greater sense of involvement
of the Pacific islands countries and other important initiatives were easily
adopted thanks to those dialogues
As a by-product I was able
to raise considerable extra budgetary resources in the form of voluntary
contribution from the member countries to finance other ESCAP’s expanded
programs because of their trust in me. It is indeed vital to have regular and
constructive dialogues with your constituents.
Two difficult assignments
The first one related to
encourage China to play a more active role in ESCAP. China was re-admitted as a
member of the United Nations during Mr Adam Malik’s Presidency in 1971 but in
ESCAP’s forum China was acting as an observer only and rarely raising its
voice.
I was determined to have
China actively participate in ESCAP’s activities. This was indeed one of my
commitments to change the name into ESCAP to bring the Pacific countries and
countries bordering the Pacific in particular China
and Vietnam into the mainstream of ESCAP’s activities. ECAFE’s activities were
more Asia oriented like the Asian Highways, an Asian Railroad projects.
I visited China three
times and included several of my division’s chiefs to give extensive briefings
of ESCAP’s work programs and activities. I even offered China an important post
as division chief. Our efforts ultimately paid off and China chose the position
of Chief of the Natural Resources division for one of their experts and
promised to hold several workshops and seminars in their country that they did.
They also discussed with me their bilateral relations with Indonesia, They were eager to normalize their relation with Indonesia.
I conveyed their messages to my government and indeed several years later
Indonesia normalized its relation with China.
ESCAP requested me to
revive the Mekong river basin project which was disbanded by Vietnam during the
Viertnamese war. The project involving 4 riparian
countries Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam had as its objective building of
dams to increase electricity supply, increase rice and fish cultivation and
improving its waterways. The Thai government in
particular was eager to revive the project and normalize their relation with
their one time enemy.
I had to engage in shuttle
diplomacy to remove their respective suspicions and encouraged both sides to
build a river of peace and pave the way for peace, tranquillity and trust in
the region for the well being of the whole region.
Ultimately Vietnam agreed
to establish an interim tripartite agreement involving three riparian countries
Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as a start. The other riparian countries could join
at a later stage.
I achieved the art of
compromise, which helped me in my future endeavours.
Recommendations
As I approach my sunset
years, it is my fervent hope that my experiences would be useful to all who
wish to journey on the same road to diplomacy as I have embarked upon
As I mentioned
before the essential elements of a successful UN diplomat:
intensive
knowledge of the issues under consideration
a good sense of
timing to act
familiarity
with the rules of procedures of UN
close rapport
with important UN members as well as members of the UN
Secretariat to gain their trust.
efforts to seek
compromises on important issues
a good command
of English or other official language of UN
an abiding and
deep sense of self-confidence.
Indeed those
qualities seemed a tall task. But I believe with perseverance and will to
succeed will help in obtaining these ideals.
Posted: 28
April 2002 Admin: rudyct https://tumoutou.com