Cooperation between leaders and people made his diplomatic tasks in Malaysia easier - Indonesian envoy

For outgoing Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia, Herman Prayitno, his four-year stint in Malaysia has been a fairly smooth ride and felt like being in his home country.

"It's like being in my home country," said Herman when asked on his four-year term here as a 'middleman' between Malaysia and Indonesia and felt time did fly quickly when various issues were raised between the two countries in that particular period.

While he had no background on diplomatic missions previously, Herman said the continuous assistance and cooperation between the leaders and people in Malaysia made his task a lot easier and smoother.

"During my work here I felt that I was getting lot of help from friends from various ministries such as the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and the Home Ministry especially the Immigration Department which made my job a lot easier.

"This is due to the fact that the two countries have already built trust in solving various problems raised to achieve a win-win result. I respect the Malaysian law and yet at the same time I can still protect the rights of Indonesians here," he told Bernama when met at the Indonesian Embassy, here yesterday.

Herman, who would be completing his diplomatic mission here on Jan 31, said with continuous trust, some of the issues raised, including illegal immigrants from Indonesia, were brought under control.

He said discussions with the relevant parties enabled illegal workers employed here to obtain the Foreign Workers' Temporary card and this would attract more Indonesians to work legitimately here.

In addition, the Malaysian government had also shown compassion, via the amnesty programme, by allowing Indonesians to return to their villages for the Hari Raya Aidil Fitri celebration.

The Indonesian embassy here, according to Herman, had always cooperated with the Malaysian government to facilitate the registration of illegal immigrants via the foreign workers rehiring and replacement programme last year.

He added that due to the nature of the job, it had also seen him forging close working relationship with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, outside their official duties, apart from spending time with a number of cabinet ministers.

Among them were Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Asked on issues that need to be addressed by incoming ambassador Rusdi Kirana, Herman said he hoped the two countries could complete the ongoing land and maritime boundary agenda as well as the issue on illegal workers, as soon as possible.

Herman who had served in this country since November 2012 also said that the issue of the haze emanating from Indonesia would be solved this year as President Joko Widodo insisted that all parties to work together to control the forest fire so as not to jeopardise the neighbouring countries.

Saying that he felt sad to leave this country, Herman said he would miss his routines in Malaysia such as being invited by friends to attend celebrations, weddings and playing golf.

Herman said that after his return to Jakarta, he would also miss the Nasi Lemak, Char Kuey Teow, Nasi Kandar and Teh Tarik which had become his daily staple here.

"I am very happy here because the atmosphere has generally been pleasant, orderly, peaceful and nice. People are friendly and open that I can talk and get opinions on any issues raised.

"I have also been to all the states in Malaysia, its many beautiful islands, apart from the delicious food. All this will certainly make me long to be back here in the future," he said. - BERNAMA