Met the Ambassador

I might not need to talk too much about what happened this afternoon. This picture should be able to tell you the story more than I would do verbally. A picture worths thousands of words, I believe.

I Met, Pak Marty Natalegawa, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to the United Nations (PTRI). See also my previous posting. He was also glad when I presented to him my book about Maritime Boundaries and collection of my articles in newspapers.

The discussion was productive. I had a chance to explain what the fellowship is all about as well as my academic background. In addition, I asserted that the fellowship is a great chance that Indonesia should not miss. It is unfortunate that no one from Indonesia applying for the fellowship this year. A great chance next year will be missed. Pak Marty agreed that Indonesia should not ignore this opportunity and asked Pak Adam, one of his staffs to put this as one of the regular agendas. However, regularizing the program does not mean to put more complicated rules that will prevent people from applying. Pak Marty emphasized that one of our expertises is to make something more complicated. We should not do this :)

Pak Marty, as I expected, is a nice person. He is far form being formal and is really friendly. He showed his respect to other people, even though the person is much younger and less-experienced compared to him. The meeting with the Ambassador this afternoon was a great experience.