Ex-Diplomat Says Indonesia's Prabowo Should Learn From China, Mexico

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former diplomat and the founder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI), Dino Patti Djalal, suggested that President Prabowo Subianto should learn from President China Xi Jinping and President Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum in saving foreign official trips.

In a video posted on his Instagram, @dinopattidjalal, Dino gave five suggestions to President Prabowo after many Indonesians requested that Prabowo reduce his foreign trips. One of them is that in the next year, President Prabowo is asked to host more state guests on home soil than to travel abroad.

Dino mentioned the strategy used by President China Xi Jinping, who hosts far more state guests in Beijing than traveling abroad. Recently, Prabowo was criticized for his fourth visit to France.

"In our calculation, among all world leaders, President Prabowo has become the head of state who most frequently travels abroad," Dino said in his post.

The former Deputy Foreign Minister said that state visits abroad incur significant costs. The expenses include the entourage's advance team, aircraft expenses, hotel expenses, logistical expenses, consumption expenses, protocol and security expenses, daily allowances for all delegations and accompanying personnel, and various other expenses.

Dino mentioned that one foreign trip could cost tens or even hundreds of billions. To maintain communication with other world leaders, Dino suggested that Prabowo rely more on video calls or Zoom calls, or phone calls.

"In my experience, a bilateral visit usually revolves around one discussion lasting for an hour or at most two, and the rest is small talk, banquets, and ceremonial events that are usually unnecessary," he said.

According to Dino, with a zero-cost video call, the country can practically save hundreds of billions from foreign trips, and the substantive results are more or less the same. The cost-saving action through Zoom calls can address the perception of the public that the President's foreign trips tend to be lavish and resemble leisure activities.

Dino cited President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, who has called President Donald Trump of the United States 17 times and has never held a bilateral meeting with Trump. Despite the fact that the United States is Mexico's largest trading partner.

"And during a working visit to Spain, President Sheinbaum even flew economy class on a commercial flight to set an example for her people, showing that the savings she advocated for her entire government also applies to the president," he said.

Read: Former Indonesian Diplomat Urges Prabowo to Reduce Overseas Visits

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