Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, Yangon, Myanmar
Name: Ayu Kartikasari Period: 4 December 2017 – 21 January 2018 Student No.: S2932687 Placement Spv.: Drs. Baastian. L. Aardema Position: Political Affairs Intern Placement Host Spv.: Mr. Bonifatius Herindra
MA PLACEMENT FINAL REPORT
DEPARTMENT OF IRIO
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ______________________________________________ 3
Pre-Internship ___________________________________________________________ 3 Expectations ____________________________________________________________ 4 Pre-Departure Preparations ________________________________________________ 5 2. THE EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA TO MYANMAR ____ 6
3. TASKS & RESPONSIBILITIES ___________________________________ 8
3.1 Office-Related Task ____________________________________________________ 8 3.2 Research ____________________________________________________________ 9 3.3 Assisting Delegations _________________________________________________ 10 3.4 Involvement in Diplomatic Agenda _______________________________________ 14 3.5 Event Participation ____________________________________________________ 16
4. EVALUATION _______________________________________________ 19
4.1 Personal Development ________________________________________________ 19 4.2 Future Plan _________________________________________________________ 20 5. CONCLUSION ______________________________________________ 22
3
1. INTRODUCTION
In the period of December 4th 2017 to January 21st 2018, I did my internship program at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Yangon, Myanmar. I worked there as an intern in Political Affairs division under direct supervision of Mr. Bonifatius (Boni) Agung Herindra, the Minister Counsellor at the Embassy. I also received guidance from Ms. Rosie Anjani, the Second Secretary of the Embassy as I was assigned to work with her on several occasions.
In this chapter, I would like to explain proportionally about the reason why I took Master’s Placement along with my initial expectations regarding this internship and also the preparation before the commencement day of my internship.
Pre-Internship
My decision to do an internship was driven by my impression about the field that I have been studying, not only in the current Master program but also during my Bachelor degree. I still somehow think that the study regarding international relations and politics in the Eastern world, especially Southeast Asia region is somehow still inadequately represented in classes I attended. By this, I mean, the theories taught in classes were mostly tested on the cases or issues occurred in the Western world. Meanwhile, in my perspective, there are many interesting events happened in the Eastern world that are challenging to be analysed with those theories I have learned so far. Although, I really understand that some theories may not entirely compatible to analyse problems occurred in the Eastern regions.
This idea has led me to feel the urge to directly observe and learn through living in one of the Southeast Asian countries. It somehow gave me a challenge to see if all the theories learnt in classes were proper enough for analysing issues happened within SEA region. Despite, I personally realized that I have not explored and enriched my knowledge about a part of the world where I really belong to. In relation to this, I acknowledged that University of Groningen encourages the student to gain experience in professional world by putting the Master’s Placement as one of the offered courses. I found it interesting and beneficial, as the students will likely gain experience that could really help to improve themselves both academically and professionally.
I spent months looking for internship opportunity at some institutions—mostly NGOs, start-up companies and Indonesian Embassy in several countries. It resulted that I finally got three internship offers. The very first offer was from a start-up company based in Jakarta focuses their work more on the education field, of which they practically offer short-term study tour
4
programs for High School students from Indonesia to three big cities in three countries: Sydney (Australia), London (UK) and Tokyo (Japan). While the other two were offered by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Copenhagen, Denmark; and the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Yangon, Myanmar.
Through these great options, I personally preferred doing internship at the Embassy as it is highly related to my current study, International Relations. Therefore, I finally chose Indonesian Embassy in Yangon as a place to do my placement as it really suits my expectation to directly and deeply learn about international relations, politics and security in Southeast Asian’s perspective. Additionally, Myanmar has been the world’s current centre of attention through its unstable government transition to democracy and the accusation of ethnic violence towards Rohingya. I would have the privilege to observe the real situation regarding this issue right in the country. It would enable me to analyse the situation with a neutral perspective and dig more about other possible difficulties that Myanmar might have both internally and externally. I might also be able to apply the theories I have learned in classes into some more practical tasks of which I found this very advantageous and relevant to give myself illustrations of my career pathway in the future.
Expectations
I had such positive expectations before starting my internship program at the Indonesian Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar. I was excited to work there as I strongly believe that this internship will not merely be done as a requirement to finish my Master degree, but it will also be one of great life experiences of mine. This is really intriguing to me, as I never experienced to see how diplomats work in real life.
Essentially, I personally intended this internship program as way to help me improve my interpersonal skills and also to get used to work in group with people with various background and interests. I imagined that I will work closely and professionally with the ambassador, diplomats and also the locally-employed (Burmese) staffs at the Embassy. It certainly made me feel challenged since I will have to adjust myself to be teamed up with them during my internship period. Through the tasks which will be assigned to me, I expected to get involved in some important diplomatic events and establish networking that might be useful for my future career that I really wish it could be related to this field. I also envisaged myself to get a chance to learn directly about how strong is the relationship between Indonesia and Myanmar and also with the other ASEAN member states through this internship program.
In addition, I also would like to make this internship useful for my thesis writing progress, as coincidentally I am writing about the application of Societal Security concept in the case of Rakhine conflict. Therefore, doing placement at Indonesian Embassy in Yangon would likely give me the opportunity to conduct interviews with the experts related to this need.
5
Pre-Departure Preparations
It took approximately two months for me to prepare the entire requirements before beginning my internship program in Yangon. I initiated to send my internship proposal through e-mail and it took less than a week to receive such positive response from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Yangon. I began to communicate intensively with Miss Nitya Amalia as one of the staffs working in Political Affairs division. I secured a confirmation of approval right after I sent the letter of recommendation from the university along with my CV and internship plan. I mentioned in my proposal regarding my preference to conduct the internship for seven weeks, however they would not mind if I wanted to extend my internship duration while the program is still running.
I was lucky that the process in obtaining Myanmar visa was not complicated and that the Embassy also gave me full assistance during my visa application. Although my internship should begin officially on 4th December, I decided to leave for Yangon two days earlier as I acknowledged that Political Affairs would be having a big agenda on within the first 5 days of my internship. Therefore, I could help Ms. Nitya and all the committees for the preparation of the agenda.
6
2. THE EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA TO MYANMAR
Indonesia has a very close relationship with Myanmar ever since both states struggled for their independences. Since both states were closely tied by the historical and emotional connections, Myanmar and Indonesia have established special and strong bilateral relation. In this chapter, I would like to give brief information regarding the Embassy.
View of main office of Indonesian Embassy, accessorised with the National symbol of Indonesia, Garuda Pancasila (the building on the left side) and the residence of the Ambassador (the building on the right side).
Initially, the diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Myanmar has officially been established through the opening of Indonesian Officein Rangoon (former name for Yangon) in 1950. Myanmar was one among the great supporters for Indonesia’s independence at that time.
The Indonesian Office in Yangon was very important for Indonesia, as it could help Indonesia to gain international recognition as an independent state.
Since then both states have been continuously developing their relations not only in diplomatic matters but also through economic cooperation. In addition, both Myanmar and Indonesia are also member states of ASEAN. The regional cooperation scheme has enabled more facilities for Myanmar and Indonesia to tighten their relations not only bilaterally, but also regionally.
7
The Ambassadorial Residence, which is just next to the main office of Indonesian Embassy.
During my internship program, the Embassy was led by H.E. Dr. Ito Sumardi with the help of the rest home staffs and also local staffs. The organisation’s structure is divided into four divisions of political affairs, economic affairs, information and socio-cultural affairs and also protocol and consular affairs. Additionally, the embassy also has administrative section, attachés of communication and defence, as well as a headmaster for Indonesia International School in Yangon (IISY). Officials assigned to each division are also assisted by Indonesian local staffs and locally-employed staffs (employees with Myanmar nationality) in carrying out every responsibility of the embassy. The Embassy provides consular, visa and other administrative services to both foreigners and more than 500 Indonesian citizens who live in Myanmar. Many Indonesians in Myanmar live in some cities outside Yangon. Generally, they reside in Myanmar for business or working purposes.
As aforementioned previously, Indonesian Embassy in Yangon is also managing the Indonesian International School. The initial purpose of the establishment of his school was to facilitate the necessity and demand of primary and secondary education for the children of the staffs of the Embassy as well as the Indonesian expats in Myanmar. However, IISY was opened for public in 2004, which then allowed students with Myanmar nationality to enrol as student. I found this very impressive as IISY is not only having professional teachers from Indonesia to work there, but also hiring several teachers are from Australia and Myanmar.
8
3. TASKS & RESPONSIBILITIES
I was doing internship in the political affairs, under direct supervision from Mr. Bonifatius Agung Herindra who is also the Minister Counsellor to the Embassy. I also received guidance from Ms. Rosie Anjani and Ms. Yasfitha Febriani Murthias—who are respectively the Second and First Secretaries to the Embassy—in doing several tasks. Normally, I worked five days a week (Monday to Friday) from 8.30 to 17.00 that results in 40 hours of working each week. Although, in several events I also had to work overtime, especially those which required me to work outside the office.
In general, my main assignment during the internship was to assist any activities carried out within Political Affairs division. I was either lucky or unlucky as I did my internship in off-peak season, the embassy was not very busy at that moment. Mr. Bonifatius Agung Herindra appointed me to do several assignments which were also co-supervised by Ms. Nitya Amalia as his staff. There were also several Burmese staffs who also worked with me at that time, they were Ma Thandar who is the Burmese local staff for Political Affairs division, Mimi who helped me whenever I had to do every task I was given under the Economic Affairs, and Aung Su Moe who worked with me while I was appointed to assist within the Protocol and Consular Affairs.
In this chapter I would like to describe in detail about several tasks I was appointed during the placement program.
3.1 Office-Related Task
In the Embassy, each division is obliged to submit a weekly report regarding the actual situation which affects the bilateral relations between Myanmar and Indonesia. Furthermore, each division should also report the internal conditions in Myanmar that also would influence the Myanmar’s relations with the neighbouring states within the region and also its international relations with the rest of the world. In relation to this task, I was asked to do media observation and then compile all necessary information then hand them in to Ms. Nitya Amalia to be sorted and submitted to the office In Jakarta. I was assigned to observe more focused on the development of Rakhine conflict at that time. I personally feel grateful while doing this as I could gain more knowledge about the conflict in Rakhine. Since the local media in Myanmar is still controlled by the government, therefore I think it was really interesting to read articles regarding the Rakhine conflict in Myanmar’s perspective.
Apart from this regular I was also appointed to assist other officials for office-related activities outside the office, and most of the time it was also happened after the office hours. Such as, assisting Ms. Rosie several times for doing survey for venue which we will use for the upcoming ASEAN HOMs event on the end of January 2018. It was Indonesia’s turn to host the event, and
9
our Ambassador expected us to find a representative venue to conduct this event. There were also days when I was appointed as the Liaison Officer of Embassy’s guest upon their arrival at Yangon International Airport, and then later to escort them to our office to meet the Ambassador. I was also in charge to assist them during their free time to visit some main attractions in Yangon.
3.2 Research
During my internship program, I was also requested to conduct several researches and provide my analysis regarding recent issues in Myanmar. My main focus on this task was about Indonesia’s role in building peace in Rakhine State, by constantly monitoring the efforts which Indonesia has done to Myanmar related to this issue.
Besides that, I also wrote several essays with some interesting actual or trending topics in Myanmar and its neighbouring countries. One of the essays I wrote was about the importance of refugee camps as a heterotopia. I was really inspired by one of the research seminars (Geopolitics and Connectivity) I took before doing my internship, where I learned about the concept of heterotopia. I found this topic really interesting that I took Rohingya’s refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar as the case study.
In my point of view, the presence of refugee camps should be one of the world’s major concern these days. Why? Because it can actually create security dilemma between the refugees, their origins, and also the receiving countries—which in this case was Bangladesh. The conflict in Rakhine is mainly related to human security issue, in which we have to pay attention to the life- being of Rohingya refugees. On the other hand, this issue is a very complex matter to deal with, as I think it would certainly be very inconvenient for Bangladesh to accept thousands of people who dispatched from Rakhine and occupied some villages within the Cox’s Bazar district.
Due to the urgent situation and also for the sake of humanity, it is necessary for Bangladesh that has no option but to let them temporarily stay there. However, Bangladesh cannot facilitate them further as they are not citizens of the country and of course still think that Myanmar is responsible of the lives of these people. Hence, the existence of the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar can be considered as a heterotopia where the Rohingya refugees are eventually imprisoned in an uncertainty. They are unable to access public facilities as easy as the citizens of Bangladesh, they cannot work, and at some point, they cannot return to Myanmar as well, considering their own safety if they would do so. This really matters as it is related to stability on security and good relationship between the two countries which will also likely to affect other neighbouring states, if it is not being taken care of very well.
10
3.3 Assisting Delegations
To be frank, this was actually the task which I love the most during my internship program in Myanmar. I was not only able to learn many things directly by assisting these visiting delegations, but also to build a very great network with the people I met on these events. There were several visitations which I had to assist, and I would like to explain them further according to the concerns of their visits that are related to political issues, and economic and trade matters.
BILATERAL VISIT ON POLITICAL AND HUMANITARIAN ISSUES
Although it seems that my involvement within this agenda is more of a technical assistance, yet it was considerably vital too. I was really grateful that Mr. Boni assigned me to participate in the preparation as well as to assist the visitation of Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs. It was such a huge and important first task I had to do since my day one as an intern. The Minister has arranged few formal meetings with the National Security Advisor, Minister of Home Affairs, and Minister of Security and Defence of Myanmar. The intention of the whole meetings was to promote a stronger bilateral relation between Indonesia and Myanmar, specifically related to the security issues. Through these meetings, I learned that Indonesia would like to offer assistance to Myanmar in countering terrorism issue which has been currently flourishing as one of consequences of the Rakhine conflict. It was such a great opportunity for me to meet and work with many great figures and officials from Indonesia and also from Myanmar.
Last group photo with the main Ministerial entourage before returning back to Indonesia.
11
As a country that has more experience in counter-terrorism, Indonesia would like to give advices to Myanmar in developing its countermeasures to terrorism. Therefore, this visitation was such a very big event to take care of, as there were 15 delegations coming from Jakarta to Yangon. Several officials from various sectors were attached along this agenda including:
former Indonesian Ambassador to Thailand, Mr. Lutfi Rauf who currently serves as the Coordinating Deputy for Foreign Policy along with Dr. Pribadi Sutiono as the Coordinating Assistant Deputy for Bilateral Relations in Asia, Pacific and Africa; Police Inspector General Carlo Brix Tewu as Coordinating Deputy for Public Security and Order; and Head of Public Bureau were engaged in this visitation to represent the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs. As this meeting was also related to terrorism issues, thus Police Inspector General Hamidin as the Deputy of International Affairs of the National Agency for Counter- Terrorism (BNPT); Dr. Desra Percaya as Directorate General for Asia, Pacific and Africa Region represented Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Indoneisa; Chief of State Intelligence Agency of Indonesia; Deputy Chief of Staff of Indonesia’s Army; and Governor of National Resilience Institute of Indonesia (Lemhanas). Not tom mention, our Indonesian Ambassador to Myanmar H.E. Dr. Ito Sumardi and Mr. Bonifatius Agung Herindra as the Minister Counsellor of the Embassy who also participated in this agenda.
The series of meeting went very well as the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs was able to meet Ambassador U Thaun Tung as the Chief of National Security Advisor of Myanmar, Lieutenant General Kyaw Swe as the Minister of Home Affairs of Myanmar, and Lieutenant General Sein Win as the Minister of Security and Defence of Myanmar. Although, it was quite unfortunate that I could not join in any of these meetings with Burmese officials. That was certainly due to the confidential matters between the two states, including the security issue in Rakhine, which has been considered as sensitive topic to Myanmar. Therefore, only the aforementioned delegates who were allowed to join the meetings.
However, I managed to have small talks with some delegations while working with them in this agenda. Based on these short conversations, I acknowledged that the whole visitation programme was actually to follow up the referrals given by the UN Secretary General that suggested Indonesia to assist the settlement on Rakhine crisis. This is due to the fact that Indonesia has a close relation with Myanmar. Therefore, the UN Secretary General hoped that Myanmar would like to ‘listen’ to advices which Indonesia would give.
In this meeting, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister conveyed the message from President Joko Widodo that we will continue giving humanitarian aids to help the recovery in Rakhine, providing advices regarding the countermeasures on terrorism, and keep respecting Myanmar’s sovereignty. I have learned that actually Indonesia has such a positive attitude in response to what Myanmar has been facing recently. It contradicts most countries in the world that somehow criticise Myanmar, and only view the conflict In Rakhine through human rights perspective. Meanwhile, radicalisation and terrorism can flourish in anywhere, including Indonesia and Myanmar. In my opinion, Indonesia really understand the current situation which
12
Myanmar has to battle with and also fully respect the value of integrity and sovereignty of one State. As an archipelagic state, Indonesia knows it very well that protecting the integrity and sovereignty is definitely not an easy thing to do. Therefore, instead of judging Myanmar without clear evidence, Indonesia prefers implementing the soft diplomacy by giving Myanmar some kind of advisory on how to handle such threats with early counter measures along with the aids.
BILATERAL MEETING ON ECONOMIC AND TRADE ISSUES
Despite of the close bilateral relations in political issues, Myanmar and Indonesia are also very active in maintaining their economic cooperation and trade. During my internship program, I was also requested to assist the arrangement of meeting between Phapros and Medi Myanmar Group. Phapros is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Indonesia, the company itself has already expanded their business with several countries in Central Asia, Africa and several Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines. This time, Phapros would like to establish joint venture collaboration with Medi Myanmar Group, one of the top pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in Myanmar.
During my internship program, Phapros visited Yangon two times in December 2017 and January 2018. Prior to the visitation in December, I had to help the preparation as the staff of the Economic Affairs at the Embassy was taking her leave for several weeks. I did not have to make the whole arrangement for this visit, as the contact person from Phapros had already prepared everything including their accommodations and places they will need to go to. The things I had to do at that time was only making sure that everything they have arranged was ready without any mistake. This was actually not an agenda which should be taken care of staffs or an intern of Political Affairs division. However, Mr. Boni appointed me to help Mr.
Vinsky Garcia, the Third Secretary of the Embassy who was responsible for the economic and trade issues, to handle this agenda due to the absence of his staff.
During their trip on 19-23 December 2017, Phapros was represented by its President Director Ms. Sri Barokah Utami (Ms. Emmy), Mr. Yana Aditya as the President Commissioner of the company, and also Mr. Adhitya Dhanwantara as the Commissioner of Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (a subsidiary company under Phapros which focuses more into business in agro- industry, pharmacy and medical devices). One important highlight of this visitation was when the representatives from Phapros visited the headquarter office of Medi Myanmar Group to finally sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of their cooperation on 22 December 2017. Dr. Win Si Thu, the founder of Medi Myanmar Group also joined us in the meeting. It was such a great opportunity for me to meet the CEO and the Board of Directors of both companies.
13
MoU Signing Ceremony between Phapros and Medi Myanmar Group, which was also attended by H.E. Dr. Ito Sumardi.
Then, on their visit to Yangon on 10-13 January 2018, Phapros was represented only by Ms.
Emmy, and 5 other staffs who were in charge to conduct a field survey of the industrial site which they will soon build their first manufactory in Myanmar. I did not have to assist the whole schedules they had at that time, since Ms. Dwi, the local staff for Economic Affairs at the Embassy has returned to the office. I was only appointed to accompany delegations from Phapros to visit Medi Myanmar Group headquarter office and also to assist them to visit several main attractions in Yangon. Although this was not considered as substantial task, I still enjoyed accompanying their schedule, as I could gain some novel knowledge about pharmaceutical business and most importantly, I was able to broaden my professional network that will absolutely give me advantages in the future.
Through assisting these agendas of Phapros, I have as well, learned that approximately 80%
of drug supplies in Myanmar rely on imports from its neighbouring countries with India takes the lead for having 40% of the drug market share. The rest is shared between UK, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Phapros has seen the strategic value of expanding their business in Myanmar by establishing a factory within the industrial area in Yangon. I personally think that this cooperation will likely be advantageous for both Phapros and Medi Myanmar Group, moreover this joint-venture collaboration will certainly strengthen the bilateral relation between Myanmar and Indonesia, especially in economic and trade sectors.
14
3.4 Involvement in Diplomatic Agenda
Before my departure to Yangon, Myanmar, I was actually expecting that I could take part in any diplomatic agendas, such as diplomatic reception or any other activities that may allow me to contribute in. But, unexpectedly, I got more than what I expected. I was feeling more than grateful when Mr. Boni kindly assigned me to be his companion while attending several formal meetings which involved Ambassadors and diplomats from ASEAN countries, as well as important figures of some NGOs.
My very first experience attending an important meeting was when there were two Indonesian doctors representing MER-C. It is a Non-Governmental Organisation based in Indonesia that generally offers humanitarian assistance for the people in Rakhine state, but it is rather focused on medical-related issues. These doctors came to the Embassy and was welcomed by Mr. Boni to discuss about flag installation at the newly-built office in Rakhine. During this meeting, I was in charge of taking notes to be included in the minutes of meeting. The doctors were giving us some updates on current situation in Rakhine and they also talked about several other possible things to do to help the recovery in Rakhine state. Through this meeting I gained actual information regarding the people in Rakhine from these volunteering doctors’ perspectives. It was actually heart-breaking to hear that the conflict in Rakhine state has given affects towards its people, not only physically but also psychologically which I believe the later issue could be more difficult to recover.
Group photo of the Ambassadors of ASEAN member states to Myanmar with Myanmar Officials and also the representative of AHA Centre on the Handover Ceremony of the Humanitarian Assistance by Singapore.
15
On 14 December 2017, again, I felt enormously grateful for being invited by Mr. Boni to attend the Handover Ceremony of Humanitarian Assistance from Singapore to Myanmar, which was approximately worth US $75.000. The aim of this aid was to help the internally displaced persons in Rakhine. The Government of Singapore gave approximately 3800 kitchen sets and some food supplies with the assistance of ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Center). In this event, I was really happy to get in touch with young diplomats and the ambassadors as well as officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar. I personally felt really happy to witness all the ASEAN member states were actually working together in order to help Myanmar in overcoming the Rakhine conflict.
Later in the afternoon on the same day, I went to attend ASEAN Heads of Missions Meeting (ASEAN HOMs Meeting), still accompanying Mr. Boni who was representing the Ambassador of Indonesia. The ASEAN HOMs Meeting is a meeting held in a monthly basis between the representatives from the ASEAN member states to discuss the development of current and future cooperation as well as some urgent issues within the region.
I also felt really honoured to be given such great opportunity, as soon as I knew that actually it was the first time a diplomat attached an intern to get involved in such an important meeting with delegations from ASEAN member states. This meeting was hosted by Cambodia and taking place at SEEDS Restaurant. I actually found the meeting venue was not suitable to conduct such important meeting. The restaurant was fully booked to the point that no private room was available at that moment. Moreover, the manager of the restaurant has set two separated tables (within a significant distance) for Ambassadors and the Junior Diplomats. It really gave the Junior Diplomats a hard time to follow the whole discussion.
The Working Lunch during ASEAN HOMs, with Ambassadors and or representatives from 9 ASEAN Member States. Unfortunately, Myanmar could not participate in this meeting due to other important schedule.
However, I was lucky that I took a seat really close to the table for the Ambassadors. I was pretty much able to hear the Ambassadors and or representatives of the ASEAN member states were discussing about the urgency of providing assistance to Myanmar’s government as the post-conflict means to reshape the political and economic development in Rakhine. During this agenda, I could finally witness how diplomacy was actually being practiced by these delegations of ASEAN member states. Each delegation expressed their views, which of course,
16
represented how their own states saw what happened in Myanmar, and also tried to figure out ways to overcome the conflict in Rakhine, with their country’s perspective. There were two highlights that I found interesting during the discussion. First of all, based on what has been discussed by the delegates, I acknowledged that Myanmar was currently overwhelmed by many issues, not only Rakhine. The nascent democratic country was actually struggling with economic issues and also the effort to integrate their nation which is eventually still prone to ethnic conflict. Secondly, in response to the points that were faced by Myanmar, the rest delegates gave their recommendations regarding the conflict resolution and restoration in Rakhine State. Most of the ASEAN member states agreed that they will continue implementing soft diplomacy, instead of putting pressures to Myanmar by giving accusations. They have committed to continue delivering aids for Myanmar and also will provide security assistance whenever it is necessary.
3.5 Event Participation
During my internship program, I was not only doing or getting involved in office-related activities. Luckily, I also got chances to participate in several events held by the Embassy. Since I arrived in Yangon two days prior to the commencement day of my internship, I was already invited to participate in the Blood Donation event which was held by the Embassy of Indonesia in Yangon on Sunday, 3 December 2017.
The enthusiasm of the donors who participated in this event; on the right picture: Mr. Budhi, the Head of Chancery at the Indonesian Embassy in Yangon, also participated in this blood donation event.
I did not take part in the preparation prior to the event, however I was voluntarily joining myself with Mr. Armand (a local staff who works under Ms. Yasfitha’s supervision at Socio-Cultural Affairs) to capture some pictures and videos for the Embassy’s documentation. It was my very first time to attend such event and this one was even more interesting as it was taken place in National Blood Centre in Myanmar with Burmese staffs and nurses of the Blood Centre.
17
Indonesian Ambassador to Myanmar, HE. Dr. Ito Sumardi delivering speech related to the Mawlid al-Nabi al-Sharif
Another event I participated during my internship days was the celebration of Mawlid al-Nabi al-Sharif (the Islamic celebration for the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad SAW). Internationally, the celebration took place on between 30 November and 1 December 2017. However, due to the important visitation of the Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs in the beginning of December, the Indonesian Embassy in Yangon had to postpone the official celebration for almost a week. The celebration of Mawlid al-Nabi al-Sharif on 7 December 2017 was conducted smoothly at Al-Muhajirin Mosque, which is owned by the Embassy of Indonesia in Yangon. As the Embassy has already formed a special committee to prepare this event, I was not asked to help in organising the event. However, again, I volunteered myself to join the documentation team. In spite of my willingness to contribute as much as I could during my internship here, I am actually pretty confident to take responsibility within this, as I do really have passion in photography and videography. That was why I offered myself to help them to be the photographer or videographer most of the time if it was needed. I was also the one who took part in designing tags for the Embassy’s Christmas and New Year’s hampers which were to be sent to all division of Governmental officials in Myanmar as well as the other Embassies of other countries in Myanmar.
My internship at the Embassy of Indonesia in Yangon has allowed me to gain more experiences by learning the working dynamic within the governmental office. Although, this was actually not my first time doing an internship at the governmental institutions. Previously, I also did my bachelor internship at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Indonesia back then in 2012.
However, being an intern at the Indonesian Embassy in Yangon really gave me many new experiences as well as challenges rather than being an intern at the MOFA of Indonesia. I could feel that my existence as the intern was really needed at the Embassy rather than at the MOFA.
During the internship, I could get the international exposure through the opportunities given by my internship supervisor, Mr. Boni in participating huge diplomatic event. This is when I could really learn to see international issues through the eye of the government, which was truly different from the perspectives as an academia and also as a citizen. I could also witness and take up on how the diplomat really works in representing the country, how to sort out and compare the things I read or get from the mass media versus the actual condition I have seen
18
and experienced myself. The series of experience I have gained through this internship will definitely be beneficial for my future career as I was not only acquiring administrative and office- related skills, but even more than that, I have obtained the ability to look everything happens in this world not only through academic perspective but also governmental perspective.
19
4. EVALUATION
In this chapter, I would like to explain proportionally about the reason why I took Master’s Placement along with my initial expectations regarding this internship and also the preparation before the commencement day of my internship.
In this section, I would like to illustrate my personal evaluation of my internship program at the Indonesian Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar. I will try my best to describe how much this internship experience has given me positive impacts both for my own self-improvement, and also how it would influence me to plan for my future career path.
4.1 Personal Development
I did really enjoy my internship program at the Embassy of Indonesia to Myanmar. As I have already mentioned briefly in the previous section, I even enjoyed working as an intern here more than at the MOFA of the Republic of Indonesia back then during my bachelor program.
The working atmosphere at Indonesian Embassy in Yangon was really convenient, I never felt awkward at all while working either alone or in group with the staffs at the Embassy. I felt really welcomed there not only as an intern, but also as their family. Either the home staffs, the local staffs, and or the Burmese staffs were very friendly. Most of the time, they tried their best to get me involved in various Embassy’s activities, as well as to enjoy some leisure time during our day-offs. Most importantly, I highly appreciate that they never complained whenever I had to ask about many things related to the office matters which I did not understand. They really appreciated every little contribution I did for the office.
At first, I was assigned as the intern for Political Affairs and mainly did tasks which I could handle by myself such as making reports and doing researches. However, this was not strictly applied to my internship program, because in practice, I was also appointed to work with other divisions at the Embassy. This was very beneficial for me, as I could learn a lot of things through this kind of working experience. One day I could gain knowledge in relation to political matters, the other day I would be learning about economic issues a little bit, and the other day I was also allowed to learn about the standard hospitality which was implemented on the Embassy level.
These are the things I might never be able to learn anywhere else. Unexpectedly, these tasks have helped me a lot in developing my personal and professional skills especially in research, managing good communication with other people, working within a team, and I could as well get better on how to work effectively and efficiently.
I also felt grateful and very appreciated that Mr. Boni as my internship supervisor, never restricted me to work within only one division. He even gave me trust to work with other divisions. Since day one, he already challenged me to get involved to handle such important
20
visitation, and the other day he even tagged me along to attend the diplomatic agenda which previously never been represented even by the local staffs. I felt honoured that he actually put his trust on me and how such encouragement had increased my confidence each day.
Finally, which I think this is very important, I was able to build a broader network with many great people that I have met during this internship. I was also getting valuable advices from the diplomats as well as the local staffs regarding to my career plan after finishing my study. Some of them even connected me to people that they think will be able to help me to prepare my career pathway not only in MOFA of Indonesia, but also to several Universities in Indonesia that has International Relations department.
In general, I think I have gained more benefits rather than disadvantages during my internship program here. I also really enjoyed working with the friendly and helpful staffs at the Embassy.
However, there were times when I had to sacrifice my main daily task as a consequence of the dynamic working culture that sometimes I would be appointed to be a liaison officer for the guests of the Embassy. I remember it was when the delegations from the Directorate General of Immigration from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Republic Indonesia visited Yangon for the installation of the latest online-based immigration system in the Embassy of Indonesia in Yangon. I had to leave my work on doing a weekly report to assist them during their short stay in Yangon. I was lucky that Ms. Nitya backed up my work at that time, so I did not have to miss the deadline for submitting my task to Mr. Boni.
4.2 Future Plan
I was never confident enough to pursue a career as a diplomat. Such idea even got stronger after I did my bachelor internship at the MOFA of Indonesia. I did not think my personality would suit this profession. Then, I began to think of working as a researcher at some NGOs. However, after finishing my 7-week internship at the Embassy of Indonesia in Yangon, I was somehow interested to work in this field. It was indeed challenging in practice, but at the same time it will provide much more knowledge which allow me to always learn about what is currently happening in the world. I was also motivated by seeing how diplomats work in real life, and it is very vital for the states. Therefore, in my opinion, this profession will enable me to contribute significantly to my country, as the representative of my country in other countries.
However, I know it so well that I need to prepare myself mentally and substantially to apply for this job. During the sharing sessions with the home staffs at our free time, I was told that it is pretty difficult related to personal matters, especially for women who decided to work as a diplomat. Apart from how the seniority culture which is highly implemented within this working field, being a female diplomat will also need me to sacrifice my family in the future, as I will have to be posted in several countries every three years. Such condition will not be easy especially for those who already has a family. Thus, I am still rethinking this career option.
21
Apart from my wish to be a diplomat, I was also interested to work as a local staff. In practice, I could see the local staffs work and learn the same as the diplomat do. However, the local staffs have no authority in decision making process, especially for important state matters.
Unlike the diplomats or home staffs who are mostly able to make a decision over some big and important issues related to the Embassy and the state. Moreover, a profession as a local staff will not give me a stable career path which then will only get me stuck in administrative works.
Although being a local staff will also give me the international exposure that I always wanted, and also will at least help me to have more working experiences within the International Relations field.
During the days when I assisted bilateral visitation on economic and trade field, I was offered to work at Phapros by the President Commissioner himself. He said that the company currently needs someone who experts in international relations to work especially for their manufactory and branch offices abroad. Therefore, he offered me that position as he thought I am capable enough to fill this position. This offer was really interesting, although I still have to reconsider it, because I think it will be really important to be carefully think, contemplate and convince ourselves about what we are going to do for our future. So that, we can avoid the unwanted things to happen in the future.
To conclude, I believe my experience doing internship program at the Embassy of Indonesia in Yangon really gave me significant knowledge for me to start planning about my future career, my dream profession. It really helped me to get some illustration of various profession in diplomatic field that I might have interests in. Apart from that, I was also able to dig in my potentials which are relevant and required to get into this work field. Although I will still be opened about any other working options, but the whole things I have gained during this internship program has given massive useful influences towards my future career scheme.
22
5. CONCLUSION
In general, despite of the brief duration I have spent during my internship, it did actually give me a very huge impact, especially for my personal improvement. I have learned so much valuable knowledge through the tasks that were given to me, in which those were the things that helped me to dig in my own potentials. I could also start planning on what I will do after finishing my study which I will likely be choosing to work since I recognize that I still need to gain more working experiences.
The network I have built during this internship program also gave me broader view on career options. One of them was the offer to work at Phapros, one of the big pharmaceutical companies in my country. It did really increase my self-esteem to the point that I could believe myself that I am actually capable enough to work. Also, the staffs at the Embassy who willingly to share and teach me not only about professional matters, but even more than, it was the life lesson they have shared and taught to me that I will never forget and how it actually shaped the way I see things right now.
Lastly, this internship has given an enormous contribution to the way I think and how I will decide about the next chapter in my life in relation to the future career. I knew very little about the ins and outs of working at the MOFA, I did not even know such position as Local Staff was available and offered within this institution. It has definitely broadened my knowledge about more possible job options I would be able to apply for. As well as, the means I should do in order to get accepted to the job I want. Accordingly, I strongly find this internship really beneficial for my personal development and also my future planning. It did really support me to recognize both my own potentials and my weaknesses, which I find it necessary.
