Prabowo’s nominee for Washington post proves to be an anti-climax

President 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.

Indroyono is one of the few among the 24 nominees who do not come from the Foreign Ministry. The others include Hotmangaradja Pandjaitan, a retired Army general who is bound for Singapore and Nurmala Kartini Sjahrir for Japan. These two countries and the US are among the most important embassies, given Indonesia’s intensive relations with them.

But at least Hotmangaradja and Kartini had served as ambassadors before, respectively in France and Argentina. Indroyono’s only claim to diplomatic experience is that his father, Soesilo Soedarman, served as Indonesian envoy in Washington in 1986-1988.

There were no public explanations for Prabowo’s strange choice of nominees, and none are likely to be forthcoming since he was exercising his constitutional prerogative.

Several names with impeccable track records and not just in diplomacy had been touted as strong candidates for the Washington post, including former foreign minister Marty Natalegawa, former deputy foreign minister Dino Pati Djalal and former trade minister Gita Wirjawan.

Indroyono’s limited exposure to diplomacy raises questions about the future of Indonesia’s relations with the US now at a particularly precarious juncture.

In the context of big-power rivalry, Indonesia is seen veering away from the US and shifting closer to the China and Russia camp. Prabowo’s decision for Indonesia to join BRICS and to attend the group’s summit in Brazil last week further reinforces that perception, even as Jakarta continues to profess to be non-aligned.

The absence of an Indonesian ambassador in Washington has also made it difficult for Indonesia to negotiate with the Trump administration to reduce the stiff import tariffs he has imposed on almost all countries.

Last week, Trump wrote to Prabowo that the previously announced 32 percent tariff would begin on Aug. 1. Things may have turned out differently had there been a strong envoy who knew their way around the lobby corridors of Washington. In comparison, Vietnam managed to bring down its tariff to 20 percent after tough negotiations.

But since the post has been vacant for two years now, Indroyono’s presence will still be a welcome development in the relations between the two countries.

And we can almost be sure that Indroyono will be allowed to serve the full term of his job.

The last three ambassadors Jokowi dispatched to Washington saw their terms cut short as they were recalled home for “more important” jobs. This inevitably disrupted US-Indonesia relations.

When all things are taken into considerations, Indroyono may just turn out to be Indonesia’s best man in Washington.