Japan supports Indonesia to provide aids to other countries

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) pushes Indonesia to provide assistance to other countries as currently the country should reposition itself in the international level, an official told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. Dinur Krismasari, senior representative of JICA's Indonesian Office, said that now is the time for Indonesia as it is emerging as one of middle-income countries and a member of the Group 20. "Indonesia must reposition itself in the international arena. If not, Indonesia will be only 'carried out by MoUs'. At least, Indonesia could share its knowledge and experience, for example in democracy and successful general elections. The most important thing is how to share as these are needed for development in other countries," said Krismasari. "For years, Indonesia has been aids recipient from the JICA. Now, we want Indonesia to give something to other countries and we will be Indonesia's partner," she said. However, it does not mean that the JICA will stop its aids to Indonesia. "The aids keep going but now we position Indonesia as our partner, too. So, it is a step ahead (for Indonesia)," she said. Krismasari said that the thought to encourage Indonesia to give more for other countries emerged several years ago. "Actually, Indonesia has been making such foreign contributions since the 1980s. But, the country only regarded the activities as 'snapshot ones'. At that time, the JICA thought that Indonesia could give more to other countries. The time has come in the mid-1990s. But, when Indonesia started to rise in 1997, the Asian financial crisis hit. So, we have to postpone the plan," she said. She said that now, as Indonesia emerges as a middle income country, its foreign ministry asks JICA's experience in providing assistance. "Yes, we are here now to propose several options on how Indonesia could make contributions, on how the mechanism works," she said. According to Krismasari, each cooperation and assistance should carry mutual benefits. "When we help other countries, for example in economic and technical fields, there should be missions as we use public money taken from the state budget. There should be national interest to gain support from the state budget," said Krismasari. She added that to realize the goal, Indonesia should make a better coordination between its ministries and institutions. "Currently, each ministry has its own foreign cooperation. This is confusing for other foreign parties that want to cooperate with Indonesia in providing assistance to other countries," she said. Therefore, she said, the JICA has proposed that at least for the near term, there should be an independent umbrella institution to coordinate foreign cooperation in terms of economy, technique, education and others. "The point is how we build a one-stop window," she concluded.