Indonesia has stepped up its role as a peacemaker and a consensus building partner in international affairs, Indonesian Ambassador to the United Nations Marty Natalegawa (man who raised hand) said on Tuesday.

He said that with Indonesia’s international image as a bridging country that did not believe in “either-or” policies, it was now an opportune time to be involved in world affairs. “Whatever the area of the problem is, we always try to ensure that we (contribute)”.

Indonesia has become more diplomatically involved in creating solutions for conflicts involving the United Nation’s 192 member countries, Marty said in an interview with the Jakarta Globe.

“Building bridges is not inspired by some do-good mentality,” Marty said. “But it’s a real political type of approach because we don’t want to be in a situation where we have to choose”.

He cited Indonesia’s support for the G-77 forum of 77 nations, which led to a membership to the more exclusive G-20 group. Another example, he said, was on the Myanmar issue of repressed democracy. Marty said that in the past, Indonesia would have said that the problems in Myanmar were matters for that sovereign country to solve on its own, but Indonesia was now willing to participate in an international discussion of possible solutions.

“Since we’re now out of the United Nations Security Council, we have begun a new process called the Focus Group on Myanmar,” he said. Under UN supervision, the group had been holding discussions with several other Asian countries on mapping out the latest conditions in Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s newly professed role of being a facilitator within the UN is being played out at the three-day UN Asian and Pacific Meeting on the Question of Palestine, currently being held in Jakarta.

Quoted from : The Jakarta Globe

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