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Business Focus ASEAN Report

Study Trip to Indonesia and Malaysia 26th June 12th July 2010

Export-oriented Management
Hospitality kindly provided by:

Many thanks to our Sponsors:

Thank you all for your kind support!

DISCLAIMER
The information delivered in this study report is based on minutes taken by the IMC Export and Tourism fellows. It can be seen as a summary of what has been presented and discussed during the meetings in Indonesia and Malaysia. Due to misunderstandings or misperceptions on the part of the participants, these minutes may be subject of errors. Therefore, any quotation from this text is discouraged.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At this point, we would like to acknowledge all the people who made this unique study trip, which no other university in Austria has ever conducted, possible. First and foremost, we would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, Chairperson for International Law and Global Political Studies at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems. Besides many in-house visits of speakers from all over the world, and years of consecutive visits to all relevant organisations in Vienna (UN, OSCE, OPEC, EC), Geneva (WTO, ECE, UNCTAD, ILO, IRC, WIPO, ITU) and Paris (WB, UNESCO, OECD, ICC), he initiated, developed and organized this special project for the second consecutive time. We do deeply appreciate all the time, passion and effort Prof. Bajrektarevic invested throughout the past months. Without his personal reputation and contacts, none of us would have had the chance to benefit from such a diverse, informative and highly inspiring programme. Secondly, we would like to thank to our sponsors, especially to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, but also to our own fellows who worked on sponsorship. We send our compliments to Ms. Mag. Busarin Lertchavalitsakul our special guest from Thailand for entrusting us and joining the group as our special guest. Due tribute goes likewise to each and every organizer, participant and speaker of all visited Indonesian and Malaysian (business, governmental, international or cultural) entities. We convey our special thanks to the ASEAN Deputy Secretary General and the Secretariat officials for hosting us at the headquarters of the organization. Let us also state gratefully the support given by both EU Delegations, in Jakarta and in Kuala Lumpur. We would also like to emphasize our gratitude to our fellows from the Diplomatic Academies in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur for preparing such unique events and exchanging opinions and views also outside of the premises and lectures. We are expressing deepest signs of appreciation for hosting our group on the side of Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry within the premises of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) in Kuala Lumpur. To conclude with, we thank to our Austrian hosts and guests; H.E. Ambassador Ms. Andrea Wicke in Kuala Lumpur and H.E. Ambassador Dr. Klaus Wlfer in Jakarta as well as Dr. Franz Schrder, trade delegate for Malaysia and Brunei and Mag. Herwig Neuper, deputy trade delegate for Indonesia.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 2 3 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 12 Timetable .......................................................................................................................... 15 Destinations ...................................................................................................................... 22 3.1 3.2 4 Indonesia .................................................................................................................... 22 Malaysia..................................................................................................................... 24

Monday, 28th June 2010 ................................................................................................... 26 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Day-long excursion to Bandung ................................................................................ 26 Bandung and the Tangkuban Perahu Volcano .......................................................... 26 Visit to the UNPAR (Universitas Katolik Parahyangan) .......................................... 28 Dinner at the Consuls residence ............................................................................... 29

Tuesday, 29th June 2010 ................................................................................................... 29 5.1 Secretary of Policy Planning and Development Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 29 Austrian Consul to Indonesia .................................................................................... 31 Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia ............................................................................. 31 Director Deputy of the ASEAN Directorate, MFA of the Republic of Indonesia .... 32 Director for ASEAN Political and Security Cooperation .......................................... 35 Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation ............................................................ 37

5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 6

Wednesday, 30th July 2010 .............................................................................................. 40 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Commercial Attach, Chamber of Commerce of Austria ......................................... 40 KADIN, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Indonesia ..................................... 42 Business and Foreign Trade Briefing, Ministry of Trade of Indonesia ..................... 44 Interactive Dialogue with Junior Diplomats, Diplomatic Academy ......................... 46 Habibie Center ........................................................................................................... 48 4

6.6

Jakarta Cultural Center Get-together with Artists and Young Diplomats .............. 50

7. Thursday, 1st July 2010 ........................................................................................................ 51 7.1 ASEAN Briefings, the EU Delegation Head and Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia . 51 7.2 Sightseeing in Jakarta, Indonesias National Monument and Masjid Istiqlal ............... 54 7.3 Reception at the Residence of the Austrian Ambassador H.E. Klaus Wlfer ............... 54 7 Saturday, 3rd July 2010 .................................................................................................... 56 7.1 8 Excursion to the National Museum and Taman Mini................................................ 56

Monday, 5th July 2010 ..................................................................................................... 60 8.1 Trip to Pelegong home stay and Kuala Lumpur City Tour ....................................... 60

Tuesday, July 6th 2010.............................................................................................................. 64 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 9 Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) .............................................. 64 Intercultural essentials in Thailand, Burma and Laos ............................................... 69 EU trade and economic relations with Malaysia/ASEAN......................................... 70 Doing business in Malaysia (WK) .......................................................................... 74 Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) ......................... 75 Barbecue-Reception with IDFR Members ................................................................ 77

Wednesday, 7th July 2010 ................................................................................................ 78 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Malaysias Ministry of Foreign Affairs ..................................................................... 78 Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations Rio + 20......................................... 79 Malaysian Tourism Centre - Mak Yung Theatre....................................................... 81 Dinner at the Residence of the Austrian Ambassador ............................................... 82

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Thursday, 8th July 2010 .................................................................................................... 83 10.1 10.2 10.3 Meeting with Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir at the IDFR premises ....... 83 Ministry of Tourism ............................................................................................... 87 Malaysian Federal Parliament................................................................................ 90 5

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Friday, 9th July 2010 ......................................................................................................... 95 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Day-long excursion to Melaka ............................................................................... 95 Graveyard in Bukit China ...................................................................................... 95 Stadhuys Christ Church ......................................................................................... 97 Eva Moser old fort ................................................................................................. 97 City Council of Melaka .......................................................................................... 98 River Cruise ......................................................................................................... 101 Melaka Tower ...................................................................................................... 101

12 13 14 15 16

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 102 Personal Comments ........................................................................................................ 104 ASEAN related events organized at the IMC by prof. Anis ....................................... 108 Contact information........................................................................................................ 110 Credits ............................................................................................................................ 115

Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic addressing the BFA audience in the ASEAN HQ Plenary Room 01.07.2010 1

FOREWORD BFA 2010


For the past two decades, I have successfully organized some 120 round-tables and events, by which I was the honored host of close to 100 ambassadors, dozens of ministers and state secretaries, three EU commissioners, notable authors (including Pulitzer winners), thinkers and researchers to sum up: probably over 8,000 persons took part in these events. Additionally, for years I have been developing and conducting some 25 study trips to relevant international FORA in Vienna, Geneva, Paris and SEA (in total, close to 2,000 participants taking part in these trips). One may say, ready and equal to any challenge. Well, yes, up to BFA 2 in 2010. Those versed in astrology would describe 2010 to the year of Metal or White Tiger, characterized by ups and downs; soaring heights and traumatic downfalls. Indeed, the unique concept of BFA, which is by its vision and passion linking the best of public diplomacy and business networking, aiming to horizontalize the vision and idea, institutions and instruments of the great EU and ASEAN model of life, was tested and challenged this year. Firstly, our already tight budget was further constrained by unfortunate events in the euro zone. In the first semester of 2010, Euro was constantly losing value against all major (including all relevant Asian) currencies which, at point of our departure, made our trip 2025% more expensive in real terms. Secondly, the original plan was to situate the BFA in the Thai and Malaysian capitals. The tragic events that engulfed streets of Bangkok in the spring were particularly emotional to us - dear faces in suffering confrontation. On the operative level, this meant a severe setback: our already finalized 7-day program in Bangkok, elaborated up to the smallest detail, had to be abandoned overnight. Months of tedious preparations seemed in vane: by mid May (only 6 weeks before departure), I didnt know whether we could afford the trip and if so, where it would take us. And, here is the final result: In late June-early July of 2010, the next group of 32 EXP senior students and recent graduates (of 8 nationalities) have experienced 15 memorable days in two ASEAN countries: Indonesia and Malaysia. The score of BFA2 is impressive: over 50 hours of in-class presentations and discussions have been conducted at the Diplomatic Academies of Indonesia and of Malaysia as well as at the HQ of ASEAN, with the hospitality provided by the EU Delegations as well as the Austrian ambassadors in both countries (not to forget the courtesy visits and talks at the national Trade and Foreign ministries as well as national think-tanks and local universities). All together some 250 persons took part (including the young diplomats of both countries along the EXP fellows). The BFA II have been addressed by as many as 40 speakers of 15

nationalities (among which 25 field experts of senior level), including the ASEANs Deputy Secretary General, 4 Ministers and 6 ambassadors. The EXP fellows additionally experienced 40 hours of study/cultural outdoor visits in Jakarta, Bandung, KL and Melaka which included memorable theatrical performances (and also back-stage talks with artists) as well as visits to the country side, museums, exhibitions, cultural sites and the so-called home-stay. It can be safely claimed that the BFA by its content, magnitude, number of participants as well as by its symbolism of envisioning and inspiring effects, represents one of the biggest and most unique academic exchanges between Austria/EU and ASEAN region of the last two decades. Thus, before closing my foreword to this years report, I feel very much obliged to thank all persons who shared our passion and vision, and whose far-sighted understanding and generous assistance made the BFA 2 possible at last: First of all, Id like to thank to H.E. Ms. Nongnuth Phetcharatana, Ambassador of Thailand to Austria and Vienna-based IOs and her team (including Ms. Soonthriya Kanchana) for giving us her full support and understanding, even at the moment when we fearing for the safety of the participants officially cancelled the Thai part of BFA 2, and decided to divert it to Jakarta. Her continuous trust in our project deserves a due note. Secondly, I would like to express a special thanks to H.E. Mr. I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, Ambassador of Indonesia to Austria and Vienna-based IOs, Mr. Muhammad Takdir and the missions team for the encouragement and great support at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry; Ambassador Puja and Austrian Ambassador in Jakarta, Dr. Klaus Wlfer who literally saved the BFA 2, by accepting to host us at such a short notice, 5-6 weeks before our planned departure. Further on, a due tribute goes to our friends from the Malaysian embassy in Vienna, the former Ambassador, H.E. Dato M.H. Arshad, Charge-de-affairs Mr. Ismail Salam (a person of little words but great deeds), and newly appointed ambassador H.E. Ikram Bin Yaakob for continued support, sharing vision and liaisoning details of our program with the authorities in KL. My thanks also goes to Ambassador Peterlik and his team for willingness to take a part in our program this year again (although in the end we didnt manage to come to Bangkok). Austrian Ambassador to Malaysia, H.E. Ms. Andrea Wicke and her team gave us a full support and we are particularly thankful for it. H.E. Wicke encouraged and helped us to divert to Jakarta, and repeatedly entrusted my graduates to obtain their internship at her mission deeds that we read as a big compliment. The Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia, H.E. Klaus Wlfer, his deputy Ms. Romana Knigsbrun and the entire mission-team gave us a decisive and full support although we have turned to them literally at the last minute. We are very grateful for 8

their trust, commitment and time spent on BFA2, but also for offering an internship at the mission to our graduate. The same tribute goes to the Austrian Honorary Consul in Bandung, Mr. Eduard E. Sugiri so instrumental and helpful in the Bandung segment. Regrettably, this year we didnt enjoy the great hospitality given to us in 2009 by the EU Delegation in Bangkok and UN ESCAP. However, we express our thanks for the renewed invitation to H.E. Amb. David Lipman, Delegation Head and his team as well as to our friends at the UN Bangkok. We would also like to thank to H.E. Amb. Julian Wilson, the EU Delegation Head and his deputy Mr. Jan-Willem Blankert in Jakarta as well as to H.E. Amb.Vincent Piket, the EU Delegation Head and his deputy Mr. Alessandro Paolicchi in Kuala Lumpur for their support and expertise shared. I may proudly say that their support to the BFA project goes well beyond this summer event. Both missions will host our senior students for 6 months work within the Delegations premises. The personal encouragement to come to the ASEAN premises by the Secretary General H.E. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, and the hospitality given by his deputy H.E. Misran Karmain and the ASEAN Secretariat Senior Experts was indeed a rare and great honour to all of us. We are very grateful and thankful for this. I would also like to thank the Indonesian Foreign and Trade Ministry officials for their great collaboration and impressive speakers. Due tribute goes to the Director of Diplomatic Academy and his team our principal Jakarta host, to the Habibie centre Think-tank as well as the Catholic University Bandung for the warm welcome, hospitality and expertise shared. We shouldnt forget the memorable get-together events with the Indonesian junior diplomats whose eloquence, hospitality and charm deeply impressed all of the BFA 2 participants. Due tribute goes to H.E. Ms. Aurora Bernndez, Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia whose presentation on the Spanish EU Presidency priorities engaged us in a session of sharing deep thoughts. Also, we feel obliged to thank to Mr. David Parsons and his charming team of the Kadin/Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as to the Austrian Trade Representative Dr. Hermann Ortner and his alternate Mag. Herwig Neuper for the expertise they generously shared with us. Finally, we thank the media (especially Ms. Icha) for expressing their interest in our project and providing the local news coverage. Turning to Malaysia, I feel obliged to express our sincere thanks, first of all, to the former Head of IDFR (Malaysian Diplomatic Academy), H.E. Amb. Tan Sri Hasmy Agam as well as to the current IDFR Head, Senior Director H.E. Amb. Abdullah Faiz Mohd Zain, Deputy Director Mr. Vasudiwan Narayanan and the entire IDFR team for having faith in us, and offering the historic Treaty Room as the venue place. The IDFR assistance was enormous, 9

substantively and technically warm and timely, and we can hardly find the appropriate words to give all the thanks to Senior Director Amb. Faiz and his team. Hereby, we should also note the memorable get-together barbecue with the participants of the IDFR Diplomatic course which has been enjoyed deeply by the young European and Asian fellows (and probably marked the beginning of many lasting friendships). Surely one of the most memorable moments of the BFA 2 was the address of H.E. Dato Mukhriz Mahathir, Minister Deputy of Intl. Trade and Industry at the IDFR. His speech Business for the new century made a deep impact on the participants. But this was not all; H.E. Mahathir generously and quite spontaneously appeared at the Federal Parliament and spent more than an additional hour in a warm and frank conversation with our fellows. We thank to H.E. Minister Deputy (to his advisors Mr. Hafeez Basri and Mr. Isa Farhin Abdullah too) for this great honour, but also for kindly opening us a door to the MITIs MATRADE. Due tribute goes to the Foreign Affairs officials for the courtesy-call to Wisma Putra Putrajaya, the warm welcome and valuable presentations. We are very grateful to H.E. Mohd Halimi Ibrahim, MOTOURs Undersecretary-General and his team for the great hospitality. We can hardly find the appropriate words of appreciation and thanks for the Ministry briefings, and especially for the restaging of Mak Yong show at the MATIC exclusively for the BFA 2 group. We shouldnt forget to sincerely thank Mr. Zaidi Kassim, Director Deputy TM Frankfurt and Ms. Noor Aine Ismail, MOTOUR IMD Director Deputy for being so instrumental in the program outcomes (especially on the Home-stay and MATIC segment). Many thanks go to Senator Mr. Ahmad Bin Hussin, the Federal Parliaments Senate House member for welcoming my idea to pay a visit to the Federal Parliament, and for arranging the breathtaking Senate plenary room for our briefings with the MPs. The Parliament staff was very kind and highly professional, and I want to thank them for their hospitality and expertise. We are particularly grateful to H.E. DatoSaifuddin Abdullah, Minister Deputy of Higher Education, to H.E. Datuk Rosnah Shirlin, Minister Deputy of Health, and Ms. Fong Po Kuan, House speaker of the DAP, for finding the time and giving us great briefings in the Senate Room. We are also thankful to the officials of the Melaka City Council for their contribution to our visit to the historic city of Melaka. Their warm welcome and kind hospitality deeply impressed all the participants. Let us also note H.E. Amb. Datuk Ting Weng Lien, Mag. Busarin Lertchavalitsakul, notable author and professor Murray Hunter as well as the Austrian Trade Representative Dr. Franz Schrder with many thanks for their valuable contributions.Together with young diplomats from Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, over two

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hundred people gave their direct contribution to this excellent outcome of the BFA 2. As a token of our deep appreciation and sincere thanks, we dedicate this report to them. Finally, due thanks go to all our sponsors in Austria. The BFA is predominantly financed by participants themselves, and any contribution meant a lot for it; reduced the final costs and improved the program outreach. We are particularly grateful for the lasting support of the Austrian Trade Chamber (WK) as well as the Austrian Foreign and Science Ministry who tacitly supported most of my GenevaParis study trips, but also recognized the uniqueness of the model of horizontal (academic and practical) exchange between Austria/EU and ASEAN in the Business Focus ASEAN concept. The vision to mobilize, expose and sensitize young fellows, to link two distant regions of the world for the lasting benefit of both, to make new friendships and reaffirm old; to inspire, envision, encourage, boost and employ generations of young Europeans and Asians have become reality in September 20091 and continued in early summer of 2010. It is fair to say that the BFA 2009 and BFA 2010 participants are the young professionals who developed affiliation and strong personal and professional bonds within the three countries of the ASEAN growth triangle they visited, and these precious links are here to live and prosper for many decades to come. To effectively challenge the exceptionalism, ignorance and anti-intellectualism necessitates these constant efforts: A unique BFA voyage, with all of its practical and symbolic meanings, therefore must continue. The grand concepts of the EU and of ASEAN may live only if their vision and idea, institutions and instruments are horizontalized. This is our contribution to the societies and business, and the way we want to see our youth in the near future.

Vienna/Krems 10 NOV 10 Prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic

In September of 2009, some 30 EXP senior students and recent graduates (of 7 nationalities) have experienced 15 remarkable days in two Asian countries residing in the heart of SEA; over 60 hours of in-house lectures and 30 hours of study/cultural outdoor visits, 40 speakers of 19 nationalities (among which 15 field experts of senior level), also 4 ambassadors, one minister, one senator, H.M. Sultan of Perlis and late Malaysian king, as well as the Kings brother - the State Secretary of Perlis in short, was an outcome of the BFA 2009 (for detailed overview, images, impressions and the particularities of the last year program, please refer to 160 page report).

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Introduction

Ones destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things2 - this is what 32 students understood in June this year. Let us however, start at the beginning, and as it is the case with all great undertakings everything commences with a vision. It was the vision to mobilize, expose and sensitize young fellows, to link two distant regions of the world for the good of both, to broaden horizons, to make new friendships and reaffirm old; all together to inspire, encourage, mobilize and boost young generations. Indeed a very ambitious idea which nevertheless materialized in summer 2010 when for the second consecutive time, a group of enthusiastic students and graduates of the IMC University of Applied Sciences, Krems undertook a truly unique journey.

MITIs Minister Deputy, Dr. Mukhriz Mahathir and prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, Kuala Lumpur IDFR Treaty Room 2

Henry Miller

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In the framework of the Export-oriented Management Program a project was put into life which intends to link the best of public diplomacy with business networking. It is supposed to contrast and compare two selected countries of a particular region which senior students and recent graduates explore over two weeks. Under the project name Business Focus Study Trip this years journey was dedicated to the ASEAN, more precisely to the vibrant and dynamic countries of Indonesia and Malaysia. Being one of the fastest growing regions in the world, demonstrating impressive economic power and seemingly incomparable development, Asia is said to be of particular interest to aspiring international business professionals and we soon understood why. By dint of over 50 hours of in-class lectures at the Diplomatic Academies of Indonesia and Malaysia as well as at the HQ of ASEAN, through the contributions of 40 speakers from 15 nationalities including ASEANs Deputy Secretary General, 4 Ministers and 6 Ambassadors and by means of a variety of cultural events and undertakings, we had the chance to experience the inspiring, ongoing dynamics of this region.

from r. to l. prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, EU Delegation Head Amb. Julian Wilson, Austrian Amb. Klaus Woelfer, ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General Misran Karmain, Jakarta 01.07.2010 3

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Yet, economic growth and promising business opportunities are characteristics of the region we could have learned about by other means as well. And although these aspects form important parts of the impressions we have gained during our journey, this was not what made the trip a unique venture. In June this year, some 30 students most of them for the very first time were confronted with the warm heartedness, the generosity and the cultural versatility of people with a completely different background who through their open minded and welcoming attitude have found a distinct place in our memories. By immersing into a different way of life, definition of values, perception of time and approach to the own environment we did not only get to know another culture, we started understanding, partially appreciating, partially scrutinizing, our own roots. And while some of us might have experienced a cultural shock when entering the two amazing countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, others experienced it when coming back home. Still, it does not matter in which way the trip influenced us, the important thing is that it did and hence, BFA 2010 enriched the lives of every participant and for every single one in its own way. Before inviting you to share with us, through this report, the unforgettable impressions we have made during a journey which has enhanced our understanding of cultural diversity, regional cooperation and business prospects we would like to express our deepest gratitude to the person who made this experience possible - Prof. Dr. Anis Bajrektarevic. As Chairperson of the International Law and Global Political Studies Division at our university he might give us hard times during exams and briefings but he constantly forces us to think outside the box and tries to make us believe that as Mahatma Gandhi would say we should be the change we want to see in the world. In this spirit, we wish you enjoyable reading.

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Timetable

Itinerary, Indonesia Malaysia 27 June 12 July 2010

Place

Programme

Saturday, June 26th 2010 Sunday, June 27th 2010


Vienna 13:30: (CET) meeting of the group in front of the Emirates desk 14:00: check-in 15:30-22:55: Flight Vienna Dubai EK 128 22:55-03:15: (CET -3) Meeting of the EXP Alumni / Shopping / Rest 04:15-15:55: Flight Dubai Jakarta EK 356 15:55 (CET -5) Meeting at the Exit Gate, Organized escort to the hotel 17:15-17:30: Hotel Check-In 17:45-open: Afternoon and Evening Free, Rest and exploring the city lights 18:00-18.20: Welcome word by Prof. Anis & speed orientation meeting 20:30-open: Optionally joint dinner, city downtown

Dubai Jakarta

Monday, June 28th 2010


Jakarta Central Indonesia 07:30: breakfast at hotel 08:0022:00: Day-long excursion Visiting the Tanbkuban Perahu Volcanoo Visit of the UNPAR (Universitas Katolik Parahyangan) in Bandung Dinner at the Consuls residence

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Tuesday, June 29th 2010


Jakarta 07:30: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel 08:00: Departure for Pusdiklat 09:00 BFA First session day/IDA 09:00-10:00: Introduction and welcome by Mr. Yusra Khan, Secretary for Policy Planning and Development Agency, Republic of Indonesia 10:00 11:00 : Keynote speech Mr. Michael-Jan Swoboda, Consul in absentia of H.E. Klaus Wlfer, Austrian Amb. to Indonesia 11:00-12:00: H.E. Aurora Bernndez, Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia 12:0013:00: Lunch/Coffee Break 13:00-14:00: Mr. Sugeng Wahono, Deputy Director, Directorate of ASEAN, Dialogue Partner and Inter-regional Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 14:00-15:00: Mr. Ade Padmo Sarwono, Director for ASEAN Political and Security Cooperation, Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia 15:00-16:00: Mr. Benyamin Carnadi, Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia 17:00-open: Joint Networking dinner with the Diplomatic Academy attendees and members of the Alumni

Wednesday, June 30th 2010


Jakarta 07:30: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel 08:00: Departure for Pusdiklat 09:00- 10:00: Austro-briefing (Tour-de-Table), Mag. Herwig Neuper, Commercial Attach 10:00-11:00: Kadin, Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry 11:00-12:00: Business and Foreign Trade Briefing, Ministry of Trade of Indonesia 12:00-13:00: Lunch/Coffee break 13:00-14:00: Interactive Dialogue, Junior Diplomats from the Diplomatic Academy 15:00-17:00: Habibie Center, Interactive Dialogue, Ms. Rahimah Abdulrahim Prof. Dr. Dewi Fortuna Anwar, The Associate Director for Research 18:00-open: Joint Networking Buffet

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Thursday, July 1st 2010


Jakarta 07:30: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel 08:00: Departure for ASEAN Secretariat 09:00 09:20: Introduction, Prof. Dr. Anis Bajrektarevic 09:20 09:30: Welcome note, H.E. Amb. Julian Wilson, The EU Delegation Head 09:30 09:40: Welcome note , H.E. Klaus Wlfer, Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia 09:4009:50: Coffee Break 09:50 10:30: Tour de Table, Introduction of BFA participants (Q&A) 10:30 12:00: Speed dating ASEAN briefings (Economy, trade, FDI, telecommunication, energy, environment, political cooperation within the ASEAN, ASEAN + 3+3, EU-ASEAN, ASEAN APEC, ASEAN and the world) 12:0013:00: Lunch/Coffee Break 14:00 17:00: Sightseeing in Jakarta Indonesia National Monument, Masjid Istiqal 18:00-22:00: Joint Networking buffet Ambassador call Klaus Wlfer

Friday, July 2nd 2010


Jakarta 08:30: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel Free Entire Day Sightseeing: Monas, Presidential Palace, Museum Nasional, Taman Mini Shopping: Plaza Indonesia, Plaza Senayan, Pasaraya Grande or Blok M Plaza all close to hotel, Markets/Antique shops: Javanese

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Saturday, July 3rd 2010


Jakarta City Suburbia 08:00: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel 09:00-12:00: Museum National Jakarta 12:0013:00: Lunch Break 13:00 16:30: Taman Mini 18:00-18:30: return to hotel

Sunday, July 4th 2010


Jakarta 09:00: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel 10:00-10:30: Check Out & Meeting in the lobby 11:00: joint transfer to the airport 14:50: Flight AK 385 JKT (CKG) KL (LCC) 17:50: Arrival to KLs LCCT (CET -6; Jakarta time 1) 18:00-19:15: Organized transfer 19:30-20:00: Hotel Check in & free time 20:30-20.45: Welcome word by Prof. Anis & speed orientation meeting

Malaysia KL

Monday, July 5th 2010


KL Malaysia 07:30: (CET -6) Breakfast at hotel 09:0017:00: KL City Tour Home Stay afternoon with supper/late lunch Bus tour through KL 19:00-19:30: return to hotel & free time

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Tuesday, July 6th 2010


KL 09:00: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel 09:30: transfer to the IDFR, registration 10:00-11:30: Opening /Treaty Room, Welcome speech/note H.E. Andrea Wicke, Ambassador to Malaysia H.E. Ambassador Abdullah Faiz Zaim, Senior Director of IDFR 11:30-12:00: Welcome note, H.E. Amb. Tan Sri Hasmy Agam, Executive Chairman of IDFR, Foreign Ministry Malaysia 12:00-13:30: Tour de Table, Introduction of participants and BFA-BKK 13:30-14:00: Light snack & coffee break 14:00-15:00: Intercultural essentials In Thailand, Burma and Laos, Mag. Busarin Lertchavalitsakul, Thailand 15:15 16:00 Experts view, EU trade and economic relations with Malaysia/ASEAN, Mr Alessandro Paolicchi, Head of the Trade& Econ. Section, EU Delegation to Malaysia 16:00-16:30: Country Report of Malaysia by the WKO, Dr. Franz Schrder, Austrian Trade Commissioner for Malaysia 17:00-18:00: Visit at Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) 19:00 22:30: Joint Networking dinner with the IDFR participants, speakers & Austrian Embassy members (garden cocktail & barbecue)

Malaysia

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Wednesday, July 7th 2010


KL 09:00: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel 09:30 transfer to the IDFR, registration 10:00-12:00: Malaysias Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohd. Aznor Mahat 12:15-13:30: Economy, Development and Environment Rio +20 Ms. Datuk Ting Weng Lien, Malaysian Ambassador of Environmental Issues on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 13:30-14:30 Light snack & coffee break 15:00-17:00: Performance at the Malaysian Tourism Centre (MATIC) 18:30-22:00: Networking Dinner, Residence of the Austrian Ambassador H.E. Wicke

Malaysia

Thursday, July 8th 2010


KL Malaysia 09:00: (CET -5) breakfast at hotel 09:30: transfer to the KLCC, registration 10:00-12:00: Malaysias path to political and economic stability, Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Deputy Minister, Ministry of International Trade and Industry 13:30-15:30: Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Mohd Halimi Ibrahim, Under Secretary of International Affairs Divison 16:00-18:30: Malaysian Houses of Parliament

Friday, July 9th 2010


KL Melaka 08:00: (CET -6) breakfast at hotel 08:3019:30: Day-long excursion to Melaka Graveyard in Bukit China Stadhuys Christ Church Eva Moser old fort City Council of Melaka River Cruise Melaka Tower

Malaysia

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Saturday, July 10th 2010


KL Malaysia 09:00: (CET -6) breakfast at hotel 09:00-open: Free day, e.g. Bukit Bintang (opt. little India, little Nepal, etc.)

Sunday, July 11th 2010 Monday, July 12th 2010


KL Dubai 12:30: (CET - 6) Hotel Check-out 22:30: Departure time, joint transfer to the airport 02:00-04:50: Flight KL Dubai EK 343 04:30-09:55: (CET -3) Shopping / Rest 09:55-13:45: Flight Dubai Vienna EK 127

Vienna

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3
3.1

Destinations
Indonesia

Unity in Diversity, the national motto of Indonesia, is a term that strikes deep into the heart of this dynamic Southeast Asian nation. Few places offer such cultural variety and geographical complexity as Indonesia.

The worlds largest archipelago is spread across a chain of more than 17,000 islands between Asia and Australia. As a result, the islands offer a stunning variety of topographies and ecologies, volcanoes and mountains, as well as unexplored rain forests. The country has a total dimension of 1,912,988 km with approximately 234 million inhabitants. Indonesia is the forth most populated country in the world after China, India and the United States. More than half of the population lives on the main island Java, where Indonesias capital Jakarta is located. About 88 per cent of the population is Muslim, eight per cent Christian, two per cent Hindu, one per cent Buddhist and about one per cent of the population believes in natural religions. Indonesia is divided into 30 provinces and two special regions and the capital district of Jakarta. The foundation of new provinces is currently being planned (CIA The World Factbook). Almost half of Indonesian's population works in the agricultural sector. Among the agricultural products are palm oil, rice, coffee, cacao and peanuts. A lot of major companies in Indonesia belong to the state despite the fact that the economic system has free market structures. The global financial crisis of 2008 - 2009 did not hit Indonesia as badly as some of its neighbors, however, millions of Indonesian citizens still live under the poverty line. 22

Indonesias GDP of 2009 counts 969.2 billion US dollars, which puts it in the 16th place worldwide. However, the industry in Indonesia only grew at an average rate of 3.9 per cent in comparison to the average GDP growth of 5.6 per cent (Globe Asia). The country has a lot of natural resources and a lot of multinational companies make use of them. For example gold, liquefied natural gas, copper, wood, textiles and minerals are being exported. Total exports in 2009 amounted to 119.5 billion US dollars. Tourism is also an important income sector, whereby most tourists come from Australia, the USA and Europe. Indonesia has seen great commotion in recent years, having faced the Asian financial crisis, the fall of President Suharto after 32 years in office, the first free elections in 2004 since the 1960s, the loss of East Timor, democracy and decentralization calls from restive provinces, a devastating tsunami, volcanic eruptions. Moreover, the country has to improve its infrastructure and the ease of doing business in order to be able to compete on the international market. Indonesia has a high potential to ride the wave of Asian and ASEAN rise. Along with Thailand and Malaysia, Indonesia as a vibrant and dynamic ASEAN axis belongs to the so-called growth triangle an engine of the SEA economic miracle.

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3.2

Malaysia

Malaysia offers a truly Asian experience as its motto states. Malaysia is a pulsating and upcoming nation situated close to the equator in the heart of South-East Asia.

The total land mass of Malaysia amounts to 330,434 km and is separated into two territories Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo which are 640 km apart, separated by the South China Sea. Malaysia shares land borders with Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei and has maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. It comprises of 14 states including the three Federal Territories Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan which collectively form the 14th state. The states in Peninsular Malaysia are Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya; while Sabah and Sarawak compose the two remaining states. The state of Sabah consists of five segments, namely Tawau, Sandakan, Kudat, West Coast and Interior. Sarawak comprises 11 divisions, namely Kuching, Sri Aman, Sibu, Miri, Sarikei, Limbang, Kapit, Bintulu, Kota Samarahan, Mukah and Betong. The capital city of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the domicile of the Federal Government. Both Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are centrically situated alongside the west coast of the peninsula. Malaysia has plenty of natural attractions and is covered about four-fifths by tropical rainforests, forming part of the Indo-Malayan rainforests which are the oldest in the world. They form one of the most complex and richest ecosystems in the world, home to over 15,000 species of flowering plants and trees (9% of the world's total), and 185,000 animal species (16% of the world's total).

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The population accounts for over 28 million inhabitants in 2009. The Bumiputras which comprise the Malays, the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak, and the aboriginal groups of Peninsular Malaysia (the Orang Asli) form the majority (65.1%), with the Chinese at 26.0%, the Indians at 7.7%, and other ethnic groups (Eurasians, Europeans, etc) accounting for the rest. In Sarawak, the predominant ethnic group is the Ibans, who account for 30.1% of the state's total Malaysian citizens, followed by the Chinese (26.7%) and Malays (23.0%). In Sabah, the predominant ethnic group is the Kadazan Dusun (18.4%), followed by the Bajau (17.3%) and Malays (15.3%). About 58% of the population of Malaysia are Muslim while 27% of the people are followers of Buddhism and another 8% of the population are Hindu. Other religions like Christianity, Daoism, Confucianism and Sikhism account for approximately 9% of the entire population. Christianity has made a larger impact upon East Malaysia in comparison to Peninsular Malaysia. Many indigenous people in East Malaysia have adapted Christianity as their religion. Malaysia is a growing market economy, well-provided with natural resources in sectors such as agriculture, forestry and minerals. It is one of the most developed countries in the ASEAN region. Its economy is largely dependent on manufacturing products such as electrical and electronic products, textiles, as well as rubber-based products, followed by mining sectors. Malaysia is also one of the world's largest exporters of palm oil, tropical timber, cocoa beans and pepper. Tourism, science, commerce and medical tourism are the leading revenue earners. Since Malaysias independence in 1957, it has diversified its economy by attracting investment, both foreign and domestic. In 2009, the nominal GDP was USD 207,400 billion, and the nominal per capital GDP was USD 8,100.

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4
4.1

Monday, 28th June 2010


Day-long excursion to Bandung Monday, 28th June 2010 8:00 23:30 Visit to the Tangkuban Perahu Volcano, Visit of the UNPAR (Universitas Katolik Parahyangan) in Bandung, Dinner at the Consuls residence Dr. Elizabeth Tiur Manurung, Dean of the UNPAR Faculty of Economics, and Y. Purwadi Hermawan, Head of International Programs, the Parahyangan Catholic University

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: HC Consul Mr. Eduard E. Sugiri and Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

Our first day in marvelous Indonesia was dedicated to cultural exposure. An organized guided tour was supposed to give the BFA 2010 participants an insight into the countrys natural, cultural and societal richness outside of the borders of its capital city, Jakarta. In fact, the first cultural lesson we learned, was that people around the world perceive time and in particular punctuality differently. Hence, considerably delayed but not less motivated we started our adventure tour to Bandung. 4.2 Bandung and the Tangkuban Perahu Volcano During the bus ride from Jakarta to Bandung, which took us more than two hours, our enthusiastic guide eagerly provided us with interesting and partially astonishing information about the city we were about to pay a visit to. Bandung, apart from being the capital of West Java province, is the countrys third largest city, extending over an area of around 170.00 km2 and being inhabited by approximately 2 million people. Due to its high elevation (768 m), Bandung is characterized by cooler temperatures than most Indonesian cities and thanks to its advantageous topographic features lying on a river basin and being surrounded by volcanic mountains Bandung provides for an impressive natural 26

defense system which was the main reason for the Dutch East Indies governments plan to move the colony capital to that area. Yet, in historic terms Bandung does not solely play a decisive role within Indonesian state borders. In 1955, it attracted international attention as the host-city of the Asian-African Conference (often also referred to as the Bandung Conference). Dedicated to the promotion of world peace and the struggle against colonialism, the conference brought about the Declaration of Bandung and has gone down in history as the first international conference of people of color. From a societal and cultural perspective it has to be noted that after Indonesian independence in 1945, Bandung developed from an idyllic resort city of plantation owners to a metropolitan area which, despite its high density, refuse disposal issues and a traffic system one needs to get used to, still attracts the attention of many national and international visitors, who are captivated by its unique flair also the BFA 2010 participants. The first stop on our Bandung-tour took us to a tea plantation surrounding the city. The fertile area of the Parahyangan Mountains supports productive tea cultivation. Hence, in Bandung agriculture still represents an important economic pillar similar to tourism, manufacturing or the textile industry. The regions economic performance is also strongly shaped by its approximately 50 higher educational institutions which attract students from all over Indonesia. We took a walk through the tea plantation and our guide provided some instructive information with regards to the harvesting of tea and the labor conditions of plantation workers. Our next stop was finally aimed to be the Tangkuban Perahu volcano. Being a major tourist attraction, Tangkuban Parahu (which means upturned boat in Sundanese) is located some 30 km north of the city. Despite the fact that the volcano is considered to be active (it last erupted in 1983), visitors can walk around the crater and enjoy the hot water springs at close range. Although it took us some time and energy to reach the hot water springs as this required a considerable march through the humid forest the effort was surely worth it.

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4.3

Visit to the UNPAR (Universitas Katolik Parahyangan) At about 5 pm we continued our excursion with a visit to the UNPAR (Universitas Katolik Parahyangan) University of Bandung where all of us had the opportunity to introduce themselves and find out more about the other participants of the BFA 2010. Professor Bajrektarevic introduced our university and explained the importance of strengthening the horizontal relationship between the EU and ASEAN, especially at the level of intercultural exposure and personal relationships between young people.

Furthermore, Dean of the UNPAR Economic Faculty, Dr. Elizabeth Tiur Manurung, and the Head of International Programs, Y. Purwadi Hermawan gave us an insight into the educational system of Indonesia with a special focus on tertiary education. The professors, of course, also provided an overview of the UNPAR. The language of instruction at the university is Bahasa but it also offers some courses which are taught in English in order to attract more exchange students. The university offers a wide range of study programs including for instance company management studies, economic development studies, accountancy, law, public and business administration, architecture, philosophy, mathematics and information technology and it also focuses on research. The tuition costs at the UNPAR include a registration fee of about 1.000 Euros and another fee of 400 Euros per semester. There also exists a scholarship system to support students. The location of the university is excellent, as it is situated in the heart of the industrial region of Java. Many graduates of the university are employed directly in the region or are setting up their own businesses there as the faculty of economics of the university fosters entrepreneurship. An astonishing fact we got to know at the UNPAR was that although the university was founded by the Catholic Church, more than two thirds of the students there were Muslims. There even exists a mosque at the campus which signifies that the university is rather a secular institution even though it is founded and supported by the Catholics. 28

4.4

Dinner at the Consuls residence

This first day of our trip was concluded with a nice dinner at the fabulous residence of the Austrian Honorary Consul in Bandung where we first had the chance to try delicious and diverse Indonesian food. This proved to be the perfect closure of the exiting day; a speed dating/tour-de-table with Mr. and Mrs. Consul, the UNIPAR officials, regional dignitaries and media representatives. (Earlier that day, Consul has kindly brokered a special police escort for us as to make sure that on a way from Volcano to the Bandung downtown, we do not get stuck in the traffic like it was on our way from Jakarta. Morning congestions that we faced, finally caused heavy delays to the famous Museum of the Bandung Africa-Asia conference in 1955.) The evening at the residence was atmospheric and cordial. H.E. Consul himself took a lot of time to talk to the students, and he was proudly showing us his art gallery since the family is very enthusiastic about arts and culture.
Contact Information

Christian C. Henry, SE., MBA. Lecturer of Accounting Department at the Parahyangan Catholic University Faculty of Economics Jl. Ciumbuleuit 94, Bandung 40141 Jawa Barat, INDONESIA

www.unpar.ac.id Tel.: 022 2041964 628 Fax: 022 - 2042571 Email: christian.henry@home.unpar.ac.id

5
5.1

Tuesday, 29th June 2010


Secretary of Policy Planning and Development Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tuesday, 29th June 2010 9:00 10:00 The Establishment of ASEAN Community 2015 Mr. Yusra Khan, Secretary of Policy Planning and Development Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia 29

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Mr. Khan welcomed all participants to the opening session of the tutorial class on The Establishment of ASEAN Community 2015 which was the official title for the part of our program in Jakarta. Mr. Khan provided us with an overview of the process of the development of ASEAN, which was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. At that time it was still a loose organization without a legal basis. Today its member states have come up with a commitment to set a common standard in form of the ASEAN Charter which serves as a basis for establishing an integrated ASEAN Community. The time target to accomplish this goal was set by the Bali Concord II to the year 2020 and was further accelerated to be 2015. The three pillars of the integration process which shall lead to an ASEAN Community living in peace, stability and prosperity include the Political Security Community, Economic Community and Socio-Cultural Community. The aim of the political security community framework is to form a peaceful ASEAN with a rules-based community of shared values and norms, a cohesive, peaceful, stable and resilient region with shared responsibility for comprehensive security and a dynamic and outward looking region in an increasingly integrated and interdependent world. Economic cooperation with a view to create a single market, a competitive economic region and integration to the global economy is another essential aspect of cooperation in ASEAN. Developing and ensuring competition policy, customer protection, intellectual property rights, infrastructure, taxation and business effectiveness are objectives that were mentioned by Mr. Kahn. Besides that, he also stressed the importance of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements with external partners. A sustained development in a harmonious and people-centered ASEAN is the objective of the socio-cultural cooperation, which includes human development, social welfare and protection,

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social justice and rights, ensuring environmental sustainability, building an ASEAN identity and narrowing development gaps. The last part of Mr. Kahns speech was dedicated to the importance of the ASEAN EU dialogue which was institutionalized with the signing of the ASEAN-EEC Cooperation Agreement on 7 March 1980. He emphasized that this study trip promoted the objectives of this dialogue which enables interaction among members of civil societies and promotes mutual understanding among them. 5.2 Austrian Consul to Indonesia Tuesday, 29th June 2010 10:00 11:00 Relations between Austria and Indonesia Consul Mr. Michael-Jan Swoboda, Austrian Embassy to Indonesia

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic In absence of the Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia, H.E. Klaus Wlfer (who was still at duty-trip in Singapore at the time of our arrival to Jakarta), Consul Mr. Michael-Jan Swoboda welcomed the participants of the BFA 2010 study trip to Indonesia and Malaysia. Mr. Swoboda, who has already been assigned to this post for three years, gave Austrian Consul, BFA participants and prof. Bajrektarevic 4 us a brief overview of the importance of ASEAN in general and Indonesia in particular. He also stressed the relationship between Austria and Indonesia in diplomatic as well as economic terms. 5.3 Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia Tuesday, 29th June 2010 11:00 12:00 The ASEAN Integration process and the EUASEAN relations H.E. Ambassador Aurora Bernndez, Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia 31

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

H.E.

Ambassador

Bernndez

described ASEAN as a multipolar organization which has to enforce new instruments in order to guarantee a strongly functioning ASEAN, being able to compete with China and the US. There are several possibilities how to diminish the dominance of China (ASEAN+3, ASEAN+6, ASEAN+8). ASEAN pursues the following priorities: Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN, Ms. Aurora Bernldez & prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, Diplomatic Academy of Indonesia, Jakarta 5 Independence, cooperation and integration. It will be difficult to reach the full integration of ASEAN by 2015 since the systems in particular countries are too different. APEC is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and it was created in 1989. APEC very much hopes that there will be no need to decide for the U.S. or China. China has a huge power and might diminish the power of the U.S. immensely.

5.4

Director Deputy of the ASEAN Directorate, MFA of the Republic of Indonesia Tuesday, 29th June 2010 13:00 14:00 The ASEAN Community and its three pillars Mr. Sugeng Wahono, Deputy Director of the Directorate of ASEAN Dialogue Partner and Inter-regional Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic Currently, the total population of ASEAN countries is 584 million with a GDP of 1,507 billion US dollars and a GDP per capita of 2,582 US dollars. The total volume of trade is 1,710 billion US dollars. The establishment of the ASEAN Community is based on three main initiatives and pillars:

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ASEAN Political Community tries to enhance peace, stability, democracy and prosperity in the region with the help of the comprehensive political and security community. ASEAN Economic Community sets such goals as the enhancement of competitiveness. The economic growth and development is only possible through a very close economic integration. ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community focuses on the nurturing of human, cultural and natural resources for sustained development in a harmonious and people-centered ASEAN. The main principles of ASEAN are to be the primary driving force in regional arrangements that it initiates and to maintain its centrality in regional cooperation and community-building. Further, the strategic policy directions of ASEANs external relations shall be set by the ASEAN Summit upon the recommendation of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting. Member states that act as Country Coordinators shall take the overall responsibility in coordinating and promoting the interests of ASEAN in its relations with the relevant Dialogue Partners, regional and international organizations and institutions. They shall represent ASEAN and enhance relations on the basis of mutual respect and equality. All this shall happen in conformity with ASEANs principles. Another role of the member states is to co-chair relevant meetings between ASEAN and external partners. They shall be supported by the relevant ASEAN Committees in Third Countries and International Organizations.

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ASEANs main goals with regards to external relations are to gain technical support for the regional cooperation-based projects, enhancement of trade and economic relations, as well as the strengthening of socio-cultural and political security with the other countries and regional groups. ASEANs dialogue partners are Australia (1974), Canada (1977), China (1996), South Korea (1991), Japan (1977), India (1995), Russia (1996), USA (1977), New Zealand (1975), the European Union (1977) and the UNDP (1977). There is also one sectoral dialogue Partner which is Pakistan. ASEAN cooperates with other regional and international organizations such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Mercado Del Sur (MERCOSUR), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), the Rio Group and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). ASEAN has been an UN observer since 2006. The ASEAN PLUS THREE consists of ASEAN + Japan, China and the Republic of Korea. APT Cooperation began in December 1997 (the development of APT has a relation to the Asian economic crisis in 1997/98). In terms of financial cooperation, the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation Agreement was signed on 28 December 2008 and has been effective since 24 March 2010. The multilateral financial support program provides financial support through currency swap transactions to CMIM member countries facing balance of payments and short-term liquidity difficulties. The East Asia Summit (EAS) was established in Kuala Lumpur in 2005. The format of EAS was a leaders-led summit for strategic discussions on key issues affecting the region and the evolving regional architecture. Its aim was to enable discussions in a frank, spontaneous and free-flowing manner. ASEAN shall be the primary driving force in the process of the EAS. The main areas of cooperation are education, disaster management, energy, environment, finance and health. The participating countries of EAS are ASEAN + 3 (Japan, China, South Korea), Australia, India and New Zealand. ASEAN has initiated FTA negotiations with its dialogue partners. Australia and New Zealand were included as well.

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5.5

Director for ASEAN Political and Security Cooperation Tuesday, 29th July 2010 14:00 15:00 Political and Security Cooperation within ASEAN Mr. Ade Padmo Sarwono, Director for ASEAN Political and Security Cooperation, Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic Mr. Ade Padmo Sarwono presented the Political and Security Cooperation within ASEAN. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam then joined on 8 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN. The main aims and purposes that were set in the ASEAN Declaration are: To accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region in the spirit of equality and partnership. To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries. To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields. To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in the educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres. To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilization of their agriculture and industries, trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities. 35

To promote Southeast Asian studies and to maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes.

Fundamental principles of the ASEAN Member States in their relations with one another were set in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) of 1976. Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations. The right of every State to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion. Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another. Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner. Renunciation of the threat or use of force and effective cooperation among themselves.

ASEAN Charter
The ASEAN Charter serves as a firm foundation in achieving the ASEAN Community by providing legal status and institutional framework for ASEAN. It also codifies ASEAN norms, rules and values; sets clear targets for ASEAN; and presents accountability and compliance. ASEANs population accounts for almost 580 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers, a combined gross domestic product of almost US$ 1,100 billion, and a total trade of about US$ 1,400 billion. It follows its trend towards unity and integration by adapting to its new motto: One Vision, One Identity, One Community. It brings ASEAN to the people (people-centered organization). The ASEAN Charter entered into force on 15 December 2008. Indonesias prospective in ASEAN can be seen as:

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As a Corner Stone; As a collective force to sustain peace and stability in such a dynamic region and be able to cope with the challenges and opportunities; As an organization intended to intensified economic and development cooperation including social and culture cooperation; Achieving supports for domestic interest (border issues, extradition, recovery of the proceeds of corruption, interfaith dialogue, etc) Escalating Indonesias bargaining power collectively in various international forums (UN, IMF, World Bank, etc)

5.6

Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation Tuesday, 29th July 2010 15:00 16:00 ASEAN Economic Community Mr. Benyamin Carnadi, Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

Mr. Carnadi gave us a brief overview of the goals with respect to the ASEAN as an economic community. It is imperative to make sure that there will be a free flow of goods and services. The following objectives have to be achieved: Elimination of tariff-barriers (100% IL in 2010); Elimination of non-tariff barriers Rules of origin (AFTA Councils guideline: adopt rules that are liberal if not more liberal than the rules in ASEAN FTAs)

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Trade Facilitation should happen through the Custom Integration, Modernization of customs techniques (customs procedures, ASEAN customs transit system, modernize classifications, HRD, e-customs, mutual assistance).

With regards to the free flow of services the following has to be achieved: 4 priority sectors (air transport, e-ASEAN, health care, and tourism) Logistic services Other services

Another important step is the free flow of investment that should be established as follows: Finalization of the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA), which not only focuses on the liberalization of investment but also other aspects namely: protection, facilitation; promotion and awareness. Indonesia has yet to submit its reservation list for ACIA, pending domestic/internal consultation of its negative list (DNI). Liberalization (08-09): Phase I, remove restrictions on investment (2008) Facilitation (08-09): best practices for investment measures, publication, investment opportunities for development of infrastructures in CLMV, FDI database, enhance networking among ASEAN Investment Promotion Agencies, consultation with businesses, and database on industrial clusters.

ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community


The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) was officially adopted by the signing of Cha-Am HuaHin Declaration on the Roadmap for An ASEAN Community (2009-2015) in Thailand, 1 March 2009. The primary goal of ASCC is to contribute to realizing an ASEAN Community that is people-oriented and social responsible with a view to achieving enduring solidarity and unity among the 38

nations and people of ASEAN. Further, it should lift the quality of life of its peoples through cooperative activities that are people-oriented and environmentally friendly geared towards the promotion of sustainable development. The main characteristics of ASCC are: the culture of regional resilience, adherence to agreed principles, spirit of co-operation, collective responsibility, promote human and social development, respect fundamental freedoms, gender equality, promote and protect human rights, promote social justice. With regards to human development it is imperative to provide an equitable access to human development, promoting education, human resources training, encourage innovation and entrepreneurship and promote English language. Another issue is social welfare and protection. In this respect ASEAN is committed to enhancing the well-being and the livelihood of the peoples of ASEAN through alleviating poverty, ensuring social welfare and protection, building a safe, secure and drug free environment, enhancing disaster resilience and addressing health development concerns. Social Justice and Right are concerned as well. The main goals are: the promotion of the social justice and mainstreaming peoples rights into its policies and all spheres of life, including the rights and welfare of disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalized groups such as women, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities and migrant workers. Further, it is crucial to ensure environmental stability by achieving sustainable development as well as promoting clean and green environment and actively participate in dealing with global environmental challenges. An important step is also to build the ASEAN identity mainstream and promote greater awareness and common values in the spirit of unity in diversity at all level of society. Strengthening the cooperation in order to reduce the development gap in particular the social dimensions of development between the ASEAN-6 can do the narrowing of the development gap. All speakers briefed the whole group on ASEAN. Nonetheless, each and everyone tried to provide a personal view based on their own specialty. Speakers gave an opportunity to ask questions, which they then answered, and a very fruitful discussion developed.

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Wednesday, 30th July 2010

All of us were very much looking forward to our second session day in Jakarta. It was a day fully packed with exciting presentations and interesting personalities. It was great to hear how the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce, Kadin, works and to get further insight into ASEAN. We were especially happy about meeting the young and dynamic students of the Diplomatic Academy of Indonesia in order to exchange experiences and point of views with people of the same age. It was a great opportunity to socialize and we really enjoyed networking. The day definitely fulfilled our expectations and we made great friends during the course of the day. 6.1 Commercial Attach, Chamber of Commerce of Austria

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Wednesday, 30th June 2010 9:00 10:00 Doing Business in Indonesia and ASEAN Mag. Herwig Neuper, Commercial Attach

Moderator: Erwin Ulreich (on behalf of Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic) On our second session day we again were located in the premises of the Indonesian Diplomatic Academy. The first speaker of the day was Mag. Herwig Neuper, Commercial Attach from the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, working in the commercial section as a part of the Embassy as a kind of Outsource of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO). This office with two Delegates has been existing in Jakarta since 1960. Mag. Neupers main job is to give advice to Austrian companies that do business in Indonesia and to convince Austrian companies to come to South East Asia. At the beginning Mag. Herwig Neuper as well as Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic both welcomed us very warmly and gave an opening statement. Afterwards Mr. Ulreich started to moderate the interactive dialogue. The main points we discussed were: job situation and working conditions in Indonesia, setting up a business in Indonesia, investment climate and ecology of the region. It was a lively discussion because all of us enjoyed the rather informal atmosphere, which made it very interesting. 40

The answers Mag. Neuper gave us, were very valuable. We learned that there can occur diverse kinds of problems while setting up a business in Indonesia. It is still a developing country and everything in this country works more slowly and most of the things can be very time consuming: for example the internet connection, the traffic and the bureaucracy. So far not a lot of Austrian businesses are represented in Indonesia but the few that do are very successful, to name a few: Lenzing AG, Andritz Hydro, Bhler Welding Group, South Pacific Viscose. Concerning the job conditions Mag. Herwig Neuper stated that Lenzing AG is setting a great example: they employ 2000 workers and provide for instance a kindergarten for their children and also a mosque, which indicates a very social attitude towards its employees. Generally Austrian businesses are working in the technical field since Indonesia has to catch up in infrastructure and can exchange information and technology with its Austrian partners. Furthermore, he gave us an insight in ecology where we learned that energy is the topic number one. It is a quite sensitive issue since on the one hand the government is pushing coal energy and on the other hand they are trying to promote and engage in renewable energy in order to be able to reach the Kyoto Protocol requirements. Generally the willingness of the government to change something exists but nevertheless the energy lobbies have a strong say. The Indonesian government has to struggle with the collection of taxes enterprises pay a corporate tax of 26 % but the problem lies within the private Indonesians because 80 % of them do not pay any tax. Contact Information Mag. Herwig Neuper T: +62 21 2550 0186 Der Stellvertretende Handelsdelegierte F: +62 21 527 4707 fr Indonesien E: Jakarta@wko.at Auenhandelsstelle Jakarta W: wko.at/awo/id Austrian Embassy Commercial Section Menara Kadin, 19th Fl., Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Blok X-5, Kav. 2 & 3 Jakarta 12950 Indonesia

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6.2

KADIN, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Indonesia Wednesday, 30th June 2010 10:00 11:00 KADIN (Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry) scope & work Mr. David Parsons, KADIN Head of Policy and Research and the Kadin members (Ria, Lena, Gusti, Lucky, Zita, Dani and Ibad)

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Mr. JanWillem Blankert, EU Delegation Deputy Head and Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

At the beginning Mr. Parsons introduced his young and dynamic team, which consists of the members stated above. Afterwards Ibad gave us a short introduction and announced that every member will hold a short presentation on a topic related to Kadin. Kadin is the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and consists of the Kadin President, 27 Vice Presidents, 746 Kadin board members and the Kadin Business Support Desk (BSD). Since all speakers are members of the BSD, they presented the main areas of the BSD, which are Policy and Research, Market Assessments, Business Matching and Promotion and Communication for Indonesia. Then they continued with describing the challenges of Kadin like high responsibility, a big reform agenda, providing democracy for the high number of provinces and tight cooperation with the government. Indonesia has to go through big reforms and so Kadin has to be partner of this process. Furthermore, there are enormous requirements in infrastructure and there is too much concentration of population on Java. It would be important to also explore opportunities outside of Java. Another challenge is to combine self-interest (for example of businesses) with the common interests represented by the government. Zita and Lucky discussed the physical challenges, for instance the high diversity in culture, religion and languages. In this

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country you can find churches, mosques and temples next to each other. There are 300 languages out of which Bahasa Indonesia is the official language. Afterwards, they provided us with some information about the geographical background and we learned that Indonesia consists of 6000 islands and a population of 240 million and it is still growing. The main island is Java, since 60% of people live there. Natural resources are mainly pineapple, oil, gold, coal and gas. Indonesia is also very important when it comes to producing palm oil. Moreover, Kadin presented the priorities in order to foster growth: a stable macro-economy, an independent investment climate, building up infrastructure and providing more services, revitalizing the industries and regions and connecting international and domestic markets. Afterwards Mr. Parsons asked each team member to talk about his or her personal main priority. Gusti thinks that better cooperation with the government should be realized and for Lena the main priorities are to build up a stronger competitive environment, to increase investment in human capital and to decrease poverty. Dani would focus on communication, especially in the SME-sector. Zita believes that SMEs are most important for employability and growth. Lucky thinks that technology has to move forward in order to reach the goal of being more competitive. His colleague Ibad wants the world to know about Indonesias richness and would therefore promote the country more intensively. Ria strongly suggests more cooperation with Japan and stresses the program one village one product, which was established in cooperation with Japan. For Mr. Parsons the most important issue is education. Later on the speakers deepened the topic of how to improve human capital development. Lena told us that the government was aware of the problem and that programs had already been designed. However, the main problem is that many rural areas cannot be reached by these programs. Also the system itself faces major obstacles such as the lack of teachers and equipment (i.e. computers and electricity). Mr. Parsons concluded that the primary and secondary education sectors were already developed. However, tertiary education should be further extended. The goal is to have good tertiary education in Indonesia in order encourage young Indonesians to study in their own country instead of going abroad. Contact Information Tel. +62 21 527 4503 ext. 102 HP. +62 812 1068 166 E-mail: david@parsons-asia.com

KADIN Business Support Desk Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry David Parsons Policy & Research

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6.3

Business and Foreign Trade Briefing, Ministry of Trade of Indonesia Wednesday, 30th June 2010 11:00 12:00 Business and Foreign Trade Briefing Mr. Gusmardi Bustami, Director General for International Trade, Ministry of Trade of Indonesia

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic After the interactive dialogue with the young members of Kadin, we continued our session day with a comprehensive presentation about the structures of ASEAN held by Mr. Bustami, who also highlighted the following basic figures: ASEAN land area: 4,435,830 km ASEAN GDP: $1.507 billion EU GDP: $18.142 billion US GDP: $14.265 billion

ASEAN has 10 member countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand) and is characterized by the fact that its membership is binding but does not replace national politics. Director-General of the Indonesian Ministry of Trade Mr. G. ASEAN has the potential to compete Bustami and prof. Anis Bajrektarevic 6 globally it is one of the most important global economies (each single national economy is very small but in sum the countries have significant power). The ASEAN community relies on implementing its three pillars: the ASEAN Security Community (ASC), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). ASEAN is taking shape in two dimensions: Enlargement (time) Deepening (agreements, charters, blueprints)

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ASEAN members try to concentrate on regional economic growth, the reduction of poverty and the improvement of living standards by adopting various agreements such as the Industrial Project Plans (1976), Preferential Trading Agreement (PTA 1977), Industrial Complementation Scheme (1981) and the Industrial Joint-Venture Scheme. Furthermore, ASEAN tries to foster economic integration through the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area (CEPT-AFTA), which was signed in 1992. It is aimed at lowering, or better eliminating, tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers among the member states. Mr. Bustami also provided us with information about the building blocks for better economic integration within ASEAN. These include the provision of training ground; having a more stable macro-economy, more global integration, further development of institutions, reaching higher growth rates and making investors perceive ASEAN as an export-platform to nonASEAN markets. Currently, twelve priority integration sectors have been selected: agro-based products, air travel, the automotive industry, E-ASEAN, the electronic industry, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based products, logistic services, wood-based products, tourism, textiles and apparels. Concluding, the speaker stated that ASEAN was developing quickly and that it played an increasingly important role for regional economic integration. Furthermore, he stated that the implementation of the ASEAN Community 2015 could be a big challenge, because time was short. The ASEAN states are aware of the challenge they are facing and some countries have not yet fulfilled their commitments. This includes Indonesia. The speaker suggested that it was important to evaluate why the implementation process was not successful in some of the member countries. There should be room and time to talk about these problems, so that they can be solved in due time. Contact Information Tel. +62 21 2352 8600 pes. 36200, 36900 Fax. +62 21 2352 8610 Email. djkpi@depdag.go.id, gusmardi.bustami@depdag.go.id gusmardi.bustami@ties.itu.int Web. www.depdag.go.id www.ditjenkpi.depdag.go.id

Gusmardi Bustami Director Jenderai Kerjasama Perdagangan Internasional Gedung Utami, Lantai 8 Jalan M.I. Ridwan Rais No. 5 Jakarta Pusat 110

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6.4

Interactive Dialogue with Junior Diplomats, Diplomatic Academy Wednesday, 30th June 2010 13:00 14:00 Interactive Dialogue EUASEAN Junior Diplomats from the Indonesian Diplomatic Academy

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Mr. Ben Perkasa Drajat, Director of the JDTC and Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic After the networking lunch with the Kadin members, which provided us with the opportunity to get to know some of them and to get a closer insight in their work, we continued our session day with an interactive dialogue with junior diplomats of the Diplomatic Academy of Jakarta. After Mr. Drajat, Director of The Junior Diplomatic Training Course, had warmly welcomed the BFA participants, he passed the word to his students. This session provided us with the opportunity to exchange ideas and thoughts with Indonesians of the same age. All students mingled right away and started lively conversations. The session also included a comprehensive presentation about ASEAN. The speaker, a young diplomat, addressed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, which was signed in 1976 in Indonesia and deals with the matters of sovereignty, independence, equality and territorial integrity. He shortly mentioned the ninth ASEAN Summit in Bali in October 2003 and the eleventh ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005. He also stressed that the vision of the ASEAN Community provided lot of opportunities to Indonesia. Regional stability will support the development processes in Indonesia and ASEAN will help to solve some of Indonesias problems.

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The speech was followed by a Q&A session, which allowed us to express our point of views and to go into detail in specific areas. The BFA participants very much enjoyed and took this chance to get a deeper insight into the some matters through receiving answers from people of the same age and with similar concerns and interests. Since the presenter had mentioned the proliferation of actors in his speech, the question was raised as to what exactly was being done on that issue. Each question was elaborated by a nominated junior diplomat. The answer was that there was a general lack of understanding concerning ASEAN among the majority of Indonesians and that in order to solve that problem ASEAN awareness was promoted. This idea can be realized with the help of national and international exchanges, projects and such programs as ASEAN goes to school. Furthermore, Indonesia will try to not only involve the government but to be more people-centered. Womens rights within the ASEAN region constituted another point for discussion. The junior diplomats stated that Indonesia was eager to improve womens rights and child protection and that there were more female leaders in South East Asia than in the US. The Philippines have even had a female president. With concerns to gender-based discrimination, Indonesia tries to eliminate patriarchy in order to achieve equality. One of the BFA participants was particularly interested whether there were Indonesian nationalist parties which were opposed to ASEAN. The junior diplomats explained that no nationalist parties existed and that the country had not witnessed any general disagreement in this regard. Contact Information Phone: 7250008-129, 3441508-8810, 7243752 Fax: (62-21) 7395746 Mobile: 081905223390 E-mail: bendrajat_1990@yahoo.com

Ben Perkasa Drajat Director of the Junior Diplomatic Training Course Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia Main Building, 2nd floor 73, Jl Sisingamangaraja Jakarta Seletan 12120 Indonesia

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6.5

Habibie Center

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Wednesday, 30th June 2010 15:30 17:30 Interactive dialogue Ms. Rahimah Abdulrahim, Dean Yulindra Affandi, Dr. Fuad Rasyid

Moderator: Prof. Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Associate Director for Research and Prof. Anis

After having spent about two thirds of our day in the Indonesian Diplomatic Academy Pusdiklat, we left for the Habibie Center to answer their kind courtesy call, where we also received a very warm welcome. The session started with an introduction round of each of the present Centers members as well as Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic. Intercultural academic exchanges, the formation of international friendships and networking are in line with the Habibie Centers ideas it is important to learn from each other. In order to achieve this, various projects have been implemented. The program Young Leaders Dialogue was of particular interest to the BFA participants. The project was conducted in cooperation with Australia and Taiwan. It is about young leaders from different countries who meet in order to exchange their ideas and views. ASEAN is new, but becoming more relevant to the member countries as well as to outsiders. This is why it is important that ASEAN members and other countries are well informed. It was mentioned by the speakers that the EU could learn from ASEAN and vice versa. One of the speakers elaborated on the differences and similarities between ASEAN and the EU. The BFA participants were informed that there was an EU fund which supported research on trade
Ms. Dr. Ima (Rahimah), welcoming participants 7

barriers between these two organizations. ASEAN and EU integration differ from each other. While the EU continually accepts new member countries, ASEAN has not managed to fully integrate yet.

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Indonesias domestic barriers include such issues as weak export promotion, technical barriers and the domination of SMEs with a low level of competitiveness. Indonesias trade comprises only 27 per cent of exports (GDP ratio), which is low when compared to other ASEAN countries. Ms. Rahimah Abdulrahim mentioned some key challenges including that the capacity building priorities should be directed to farmers. Additionally, promoting awareness is not an easy task to accomplish. Practical exchanges on how to mitigate the possible negative effects of economic integration are also considered very important. There are different levels of integration, whereby the first level is always economic integration. The second stage of integration again includes different levels (i.e. the level of democracy). ASEAN is characterized by big differences, for instance, in the levels of democracy, spanning from communism to democracy. It is aimed to have closed this gap by 2015. Research is currently very much focused on political matters and not on culture at all. This constitutes a problem and there needs to be more communication between the different members. ASEAN needs to be preserved to make progress. AICHR (ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights) has the task to promote, not to protect human rights. Although sometimes portrayed as a toothless tiger, since it does not apply any mechanism or measures in case of HR violations, this body is considered to be a milestone, norm setting entity. Contact Information Phone: (62-21) 7817211 Fax: (62-21) 7817212 E-mail: ima@habibiecenter.co.id imaabdul@gmail.com URL: http://www.habibiecenter.or.id Phone: (62-21) 7817211 Fax: (62-21) 7817212 E-mail: daffandi@habibiecenter.co.id imaabdul@gmail.com URL: http://www.habibiecenter.or.id Phone: (62-21) 7817211 Fax: (62-21) 7817212 E-mail: fuadi@habibiecenter.or.id URL: http://www.habibiecenter.or.id

Rahimah Abdulrahim Program I& Public Relations Manager The Habibie Center Building Jl. Kemang Selatan No. 98 Jakarta 12560 Indonesia Dean Yulindra Affandi ASEAN Study Program Coordinator The Habibie Center Building Jl. Kemang Selatan No. 98 Jakarta 12560 Indonesia Dr. Ir. Fuad Rasyid, MSc Director For Administrative Affairs The Habibie Center Building Jl. Kemang Selatan No. 98 Jakarta 12560 Indonesia

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6.6

Jakarta Cultural Center Get-together with Artists and Young Diplomats Wednesday, 30th June 2010 19:30 23:00 (Get-together with the Indonesian MFA Young Diplomats) Sapu di Tangan, Theatrical Play Jakarta Cultural Center Gedung Kesenian Jakarta Theatrical Play, followed by the Back-stage meeting and talks with the theatre actors, group photo & join gig-performance

Date: Time: Topic: 21.45-22.30

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

Back-stage group photo, BFA participants Junior Diplomats and actors 8

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7. Thursday, 1st July 2010


Our 3rd session day was located at the ASEAN Secretariat. We were warmly welcomed by the ASEAN Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Misran Karmain, Senior Experts of the Secretariat and other ASEAN staff member. After the short introduction given by prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, the welcome notes were delivered by the Deputy Secretary General, followed the Ambassador Julian Wilson, EU Delegation Head and Austrian Ambassador Dr. Klaus Wlfer. Second morning session was addressed by the senior experts of the ASEAN Secretariat Mr. Alexandar A. Lim, Head of Science and Technology Division, Nguyen Son Ngoc, External Relations Divison.

7.1 ASEAN Briefings, the EU Delegation Head and Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia
Date: Time: Topic: Topic: Topic: Thursday, 1st July 2010 9:00 10:30 Horizontalization of the EU and ASEAN ideas, Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, BFA Developer and Coordinator Welcome note, H.E. Misran Karmain, Deputy Secretary General (on behalf of Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, the ASEAN Secretary General) Welcome note and Tour de Table with H.E. Amb. Julian Wilson, The EU Delegation Head and H.E. Dr. Klaus Wlfer, Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia 10.30 12.30 Speed dating ASEAN Economic Community briefings
(Economy, trade, FDI, telecommunication, energy, environment, political cooperation within the ASEAN, ASEAN+3+3, EUASEAN, ASEAN and the world)

Time: Topic:

Moderator:

Mr. JanWillem Blankert, EU Delegation Deputy Head and Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

In general, the ASEAN Economic Community is a natural progression towards the next level of economic integration as ASEAN matures and needs a comprehensive strategy to upgrade its competitiveness.

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Group photo at the ASEAN HQ, BFA participants, H.E. Deputy Sec-General, Amb. Wilson, Amb. Wlfer and prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, Jakarta 01 JUL 2010 9

The rise of China, India and other emerging economies underscores the importance of creating a stronger, more united and cohesive ASEAN. The path towards an ASEAN Economic Community is regulated by the AEC Blueprint which is a strategic plan for the short to medium-term towards 2015. It includes key milestones for a comprehensive and deeper economic integration by 2015. There exist regional guidelines on competition policies and a Handbook on Competition and Law in ASEAN for Businesses. Four ASEAN member states have national competition laws: Singapore Competition Act, Thailand Competition Act, Viet Nam Competition Law, and Indonesia Law No. 5. Concerning Intellectual Property Rights, the ASEAN IPR Action Plan 2004-2010 and the Work Plan for ASEAN Cooperation on Copyrights are being implemented. Another point is to improve connectivity in which the Maritime Transport Services adopts the roadmap towards an Integrated and Competitive Maritime Transport in ASEAN. In the Air Freight Service section ASEAN decided on the Multilateral Agreement on the Full Liberalization of Air Freight Services and the Multilateral Agreement on Air Services. The aim is to connect both physical and institutional infrastructure, to enhance information and communication technology and to promote people-topeople exchange. The speaker mentioned the challenges for AEC 2015. ASEAN needs to strengthen resilience to future shocks
EU Delegation Head, Amb. J. Wilson, addressing the BFA participants 10

and enhance competitiveness. The ongoing vertical integration of production networks and processes across borders highlights the importance for ASEAN to enhance the progress in regional integration. In the starting phase, regional integration can create short-term adjustment costs, however, in the longer term these costs should be more than offset by the benefits generated by well-targeted reforms. All in all, the key to the community is timely implementation. After this very interesting presentation we had a very fruitful question-and-answer-round. In general the EU considers ASEAN to be very important. What are the reasons?

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Mr.

Julian

Wilson:

Regarding

Ambassador Dr. Klaus Wlfer addressing participants 11

international initiatives, ASEAN and the EU are the two most serious integrations in the world. Moreover, the ASEAN Charter is developing in the same way as the European Union. ASEAN leads to political stability. Therefore, ASEAN is a good business partner. The reason why the EU considers ASEAN to be so important is to build a good

relationship. The future will show in which direction ASEAN will develop, however, ASEAN and the EU are culturally close and have shared values, meaning that both should be treated equally. What is the current economic situation in Singapore in an international context? H.E. Klaus Wlfer: First of all, Singapore is characterized by sustainable trade and fulfilled major investments, whereas the trend in the EU shows that trade is not increasing. Mr. Julian Wilson (comment): Besides that, Asia will be the principle owner of globalization, meaning that it is ready to invest. As a result, the network of FTAs will increase and other Asian countries, such as Korea, will follow. What about the climate issue? Does ASEAN care about the environment and climate change? H.E. Klaus Wlfer: The reason why Asia is not so much interested in the climate issue is that when considering the level of poverty, one needs to invest in more urgent issues. Why should ASEAN care about the EU and Austria? Mr. Julian Wilson: Because it is about mutual exchange in geopolitical terms and transregional exchange. Another fact is that ASEAN and the EU can be important partners, if they deepen their relations. After the lively dialogue between the speakers and BFA participants the session was closed and the group departed on a spontaneous sightseeing tour of Jakarta.

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7.2 Sightseeing in Jakarta, Indonesias National Monument and Masjid Istiqlal

Date: Thursday, 1st July 2010 Time: 15:00 -17:30 Topic: Sightseeing: Indonesias National Monument and Masjid Istiqlal Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic It was a 10-minute bus ride to Indonesias National Monument which is also called Monas. The National Monument is a tower of 422 feet. It is situated in the center of Merdeka Square, Central Jakarta, and symbolizes the fight for Indonesia's independence. Its construction began in 1961 under the direction of President Sukarno and the monument was opened to the public in 1975. It is topped by a flame which is covered with gold foil. Unfortunately we did not enter it, because of the long queue at the entrance. We decided to take a family picture and returned to the bus.

Our next stop was Masjid Istiqlal which is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia in terms of its capacity to accommodate people. The national mosque of Indonesia was built to commemorate Indonesian independence, as the nation's gratitude for God's blessings and the independence of Indonesia. Hence, the national mosque of Indonesia was named Istiqlal, the Arabic word for Independence.

7.3 Reception at the Residence of the Austrian Ambassador H.E. Klaus Wlfer Date: Time: Topic: Thursday, 1st July 2010 18:00 h 22:00 Joint Networking buffet Ambassador call by H.E. Klaus Wlfer Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic 54

At 6 pm we were warmly welcomed by H.E. Klaus Wlfer and his wife at their residence. The reception started with a welcome speech in the backyard. The BFA participants expressed their gratefulness with a little present. The impressing performance of two Indonesian dancers was certainly one of the highlights of the evening. The performance showed a traditional dance, which Indonesian couples used to dance when both families agreed to their marriage. The evening reception was a perfect setting to exchange views with Embassy members, Indonesian, ASEAN and EU Delegation speakers as well as the representatives of national media who were present at the Ambassadors residence.

Mrs. And Mr. Ambassador Klaus Wlfer, Embassy team, BFA participants and media 12

Association of Southeast Asian Nation Retno Astrini Technical Officer Security Cooperation Division Political & Security Directorate ASEAN Political & Security Community Department Jan-Willem Blankert Special Adviser ASEAN Delegation of the European Union to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Intiland Tower, 16th Floor, Jl. Jend. Sudirman 32, Jakarta 10220

Contact Information Tel: +62 21 726 2991 Ext. 426 Fax: +62 21 739 8234, 724 3504 Email: retno.astrini@asean.org

Tel: (62 21) 2554 6208 HP: 08118000475 Fax: (62 21) 2554 6201 e-mail: janwillem.blankert@ec.europa.eu http://www.delidn.ec.europa.eu

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7
7.1

Saturday, 3rd July 2010


Excursion to the National Museum and Taman Mini Saturday, July 3th 2010 09:00 17:00 Excursion to the National Museum and Taman Mini Mr. Ranjid(tour guide) Just like every morning, we woke up very early and hopped onto the bus. After the last days of embassy visits and seminars, this day was entirely devoted to cultural activities. The first part of the day included a visit to the Museum National Jakarta. The museum is located in Lapangan Merdeka and it was built in 1778 by the Dutch. The museum was beautiful and we learned a lot.

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Mr. Ranjid

The museum is well known among Indonesians, especially among Jakartas residents. It is also known as the Elephant House or Elephant Museum because of the statue of a bronze elephant which is situated in front of the museum and which was a gift from King Chulalongkorn from Thailand who visited the museum in 1871. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to see the whole museum, but we saw several highlights. What was very impressive was the huge map of Indonesia on a big tablet. The islands, mountains and volcanoes were clearly elevated and got a very good idea of Indonesias topography.

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Behind each item there was a very interesting story to be told. We all enjoyed listening to stories about romance, brave warriors and ghost puppets, as well as to myths and legends. Our tour guide was a young woman with a broad and detailed knowledge of her country. Her enthusiasm for her country was very impressive. The treasure room was very beautiful, especially the gold room. The museum also has a bronze collection, a stone sculpture collection, a ceramic collection and not to forget the old fossils, bones and skulls we were able to admire. The most interesting fact about the museum is how different it is. It informs about historical aspects of so many different Asian countries, reaching from the far western Arabian Peninsula to the far east of Japan. No matter if it is of Arabian Muslim or Asian Buddhist origin, you can differentiate everything you see in the museum and this is remarkable. Hence, we enjoyed a short but very enjoyable visit to the Museum National Jakarta. Afterwards the group headed to Taman Mini, the second part of todays program. Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) literally translated to English means Beautiful Indonesian Miniature Park. In its essence it is a recreational area which is entirely devoted to culture. It shows the richness and cultural plurality of Indonesia. Taman Mini displays the different characteristics of the Indonesian environment with its diverse landscapes. It occupies an area of roughly 250 acres. The idea to build a small-scale Indonesia goes back to the former first lady of Indonesia, Siti Hartinah and was publicly presented at a convention in 1970. Two years later, in 1972, the Harapan Kita Foundation started the Indonesian Miniature Project. The park depicts all aspects of daily life in the Indonesian provinces, whereby one pavilion is devoted to each province. Due to the fact that the number of provinces in Indonesia has changed from 26 to 33, new pavilions are under construction. Furthermore, in 2000, Indonesian-Chinese culture was recognized as an integral part of

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Indonesian culture. Thus, one pavilion is entirely devoted to this aspect and includes a Confucian temple. In 1975, after the secession of East Timor from Indonesia, the status of the East Timor pavilion was changed to Museum of East Timor. Each pavilion features traditional houses with different regional architectural styles. Each pavilion exhibits a minimum of three typical houses. Whereby these traditional houses are usually recreated, in case of the Cut Meutia house which pertains to the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, the original house was taken and relocated to the park. It is said that visiting the pavilions is like traveling around the different provinces of Indonesia, because each pavilion shows the traditional customs, art, instruments, historic relics, handicraft and other culturally relevant objects. Taman Mini also provides information about the various ethnic groups and the differences in lifestyles.

Parts of TMII
In addition to the pavilions which represent the Indonesian provinces, the park includes religious buildings, gardens, museums, theatres, monuments, halls and recreational facilities. In total the TMII comprises 14 museums: PurmaBhakti Pertiwi Museum, Soldier Museum, Indonesian stamps Museum, Pusaka Museum, Transportation Museum, Electricity & New Energy Museum, Telecommunication Museum, Penerangan Museum, Sports Museum, Asmat Museum, Komodo Zoological Museum and Reptile Park, Insects Museum, Research & Technology Information Center, Oil & Gas Museum, East Timor Museum and finally the Indonesia Museum. Before the cable car and the exploration of the pavilions, the group enjoyed a visit to the Indonesia Museum. The latter has three floors and refers back to the philosophy tri hitakarana which explains the three sources of happiness of human beings: the relationship with the Almighty, the relationship with fellow human beings and the relationship with the natural environment. The theme of the first floor is called Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. It presents the different traditional wedding costumes which are typical of the different regions. Man and the environment is the theme of the second floor, where cultural objects from the surrounding environment are exhibited. The exhibition on the third floor carries the theme Art and skill. It presents products of applied and newly created art. Amongst others, clothes, woven products and batik can be found here. It also shows a variety of artworks made of silver, brass and copper. Furthermore, 58

the art of wood carving in Jepara style, Balinese style, Toraja style and Asmat style is exhibited. Also the tree of life as a symbol of the universe containing the elements of air, water, wind, land and fire is situated on this floor. Along with the museums, the park also accommodates three theatres: KeongEmasImax Theater, TanahAirku Theater and the 4D Theater. Moreover, a great number of monuments, halls and other exhibits can be found in the park, including the APEC Memorial Monument, the Flower clock and the Cokot Sculpture, which is a display of wooden sculptures by the famous Balinese artist Cokot.

Getting around in TMII


There are a number of possibilities to move around the park, including the Skylift Indonesia cable car, the Aeromovil Indonesia, which is a wind-powered monorail, and the Mini train. We all took a ride on the cable car and enjoyed the nice view. We also spent some time walking around Taman Mini and got back late at night due to traffic jams as usual. Nevertheless, we had a very memorable day and discovered a lot about the country.

Taman Mini, from a cable-car 13

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Monday, 5th July 2010

Date: Time: Topic:

Monday, 5th July 2010 09:00 17:00 Trip to the Pelegong home stay + short bus tour in Kuala Lumpur

Speaker: Mr. Ranjid(tour guide) 8.1 Trip to Pelegong home stay and Kuala Lumpur City Tour Moderator: Mr. Ranjid On July 5th, the students participating in the BFA trip to Asia finally had the chance to explore Malaysias capital city Kuala Lumpur. At 9 am the utterly friendly tour guide Ranjid welcomed the group in the hotel lobby and told the students to board the bus where they received a detailed introduction to both Malaysia and its capital.

Information on Malaysia

The island of Borneo, which is shared with Indonesia, is of vital importance for the Malayan petroleum industry. The territory of Malaysia comprises approximately 340.000 square kilometers. The population is approximately 28 million. The three main ethnic groups are Chinese, Indian and Malayan. Malaysias capital city is legally seen as a federal territory. The population not including the agglomeration is approximately two million people.

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Education has been gaining tremendously in importance in Malaysia and young people are going to different countries in order to acquire good education. Among the popular destinations are Great Britain (relevant for Law Studies) and India (relevant for Medical Studies). Russia and Australia have been receiving more and more Malayan students too. Malaysia is a country which has been barely affected by the economic crisis. The annual GDP growth is between five and six per cent and the unemployment rate is among the lowest in the region. The most important exporting goods are rubber and palm oil.

Agenda for the day


The group went on a bus trip to a home stay called Pelegong which was located two hours south of Kuala Lumpur. The bus did not go all the way and the students were picked up by locals of Pelegong who took them to the home stay. The group was given a warm welcome with traditional music. Four people played typical Malayan instruments and the students shook hands with the inhabitants. First of all, the BFA participants were
Home-stay in Malaysia, welcome for the BFA participants 14

informed about the upcoming activities. The following short gettogether with the inhabitants of the home stay enabled the group to become familiar with the traditions, habits and customs of the locals while enjoying a cup of black tea, vegetarian spring rolls and fried banana danish. The first activity was the preparation of a Malayan rice dish called Lemang. This dish is prepared as follows: take a piece of bamboo and put a rolled banana leaf into the bamboo. Then pour a mixture of rice and coconut milk into the banana leaf. Afterwards the Lemang is placed near an open fire for three to four hours.

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Apart from Lemang the students also learned to make small biscuits made from eggs, sugar and flour. These little biscuits are called Bahulu. As the students were traveling during the harvesting season, they could try different fruit, including rambutans, mangostane and the notorious durian. The latter is well-known for its sulfur-like odor. The BFA participants engaged in conversations with locals and the atmosphere was very nice. Despite the language differences the students were very much enjoying themselves with the locals. For lunch, a buffet of traditional home-made Malayan food was served. It comprised fish with chili paste and yellow curry with chicken and coconut milk. This was also the time when the students were able to taste the Lemang which they had made.
Home-stay, and cooking together 15

Lunch was followed by a short handicraft course during which each student made a little basket. The students were very much enjoying this relaxing activity. The closing ceremony was the last event of the visit to the home stay. Gifts were distributed to the students and each participant of signed the guest book of Pelegong.

City Tour
The National Palace of Malaysia was the first stop of the city tour. The National Palace is the official residence of His Majesty Seri Paduka Baginan Yan di-Pertuan Agong and Her Majesty Seri Paduka Baginda Raja Permaisuri Agong. Nestled within an area of 11.34 hectares, the palace is serenely enveloped in stunning gardens with a vibrant assortment of beautiful trees and plants. Malaysia comprises 13 states out of which 9 are ruled by Sultans and 4 by Chief Ministers. The sultans gather every 4 years and elect the king. The latter, after he steps down, again becomes a Sultan in his region of origin.

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The king is only a representative figure. He has no power except that of over the military. Furthermore, he is the head of Islamic Law (non-Muslims have to follow Civil Law). In Malaysia, only the Prime Minister is responsible for policy-making. This is why the latter is at the same time the advisor to the king. These are the main characteristics that emphasize the Malayan Constitutional Monarchy.

World War II Memorial


Due to Malaysias relevance in WW II as a site for various battles, a memorial was erected in remembrance of those soldiers who could not be identified (ibid.). The BFA participants experienced Malaysia as a safe and multicultural country with an amazing cultural heritage and surroundings. Kuala Lumpur is a modern, clean and dynamic city which carries the nickname The Garden City of Lights due to the lit areas at night. Kuala Lumpur is considered to be a safe city and will definitely remain in the students memories for a very long time.

KL city tour and city monuments 16

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Tuesday, July 6th 2010


Our group had the great pleasure to be warmly welcomed at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, also known as IDFR. The venues of the IDFR hosted us also for the upcoming BFA session days. We were given very informative speeches, briefings, discussions over the course of our three days on the premises, which we are very thankful for. On our first day we were visited by the Austrian Ambassador to Malaysia H.E. Andrea Wicke, the Malaysian Ambassador H.E. Abdullah Faiz Zain, who is also Senior Director of the IDFR, Mr. Alessandro Paolicchi, Head of the Trade & Economic Section at the EU Delegation to Malaysia, and Dr. Franz Schrder, Austrian Trade Commissioner to Malaysia and Brunei. Furthermore our group visited the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation MATRADE, and in the evening we got an invitation to a very nice barbecue at the IDFR, where we enjoyed the networking possibilities with all the speakers and the IDFR master students. 8.2 Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR)

Date: Time: Topic:

Tuesday, July 6th 2010 10:00 13:00 Welcoming speech & introduction to the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, Personal views and experiences of the speakers in Malaysia, Tour de Table: Introduction of participants

Speaker:

H.E. Ambassador Abdullah Faiz Zain, Senior Director of IDFR H.E. Ambassador Andrea Wicke, Ambassador of Austria to Malaysia

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

In the very impressive and historically rich Treaty Room where a lot of significant treaties like the Declaration of Independence of the Federation of Malaysia in 1957 were signed in the past we had the opportunity to get to know H.E. Andrea Wicke, former Austrian Ambassador to Lithuania and now to Malaysia, and H.E. Ambassador Abdullah Faiz Zain, who is also the senior director of the IDFR.

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The first speaker of the day was H.E. Faiz. In his opening remarks he stated that he was honored to host us the Austrian Business Focus ASEAN 2010 delegation. He mentioned that it is very important in order to understand the functioning of Malaysia to get a deep understanding of the culture and an insight into the official opening of the Historic Treaty Room of country, which has now been TheIDFR, Kuala Lumpur Malaysian part of the BFA, prof. Anis Bajrektarevic the Amb. Wicke, Amb. Faiz, independent for more than 50 and the BFA participants 17 years. H.E. Faiz called Malaysia a country in a hurry due to the fact that it lacks 200 years of development as they have not been part of the Industrialization age. But furthermore he indicated that his country is now very present on the world screen, as it is one of the most developed developing countries. Malaysia is business-friendly, has a good infrastructure, and is truly Asian. The interesting, refreshing speech of H.E. Abdullah Faiz Zain was followed by an insightful speech of H.E. Wicke, who underlined what was said before and added that for her especially the coming together is one of the most important things for networking and doing business successfully in Asia. For the European countries it is important to outreach to South-East Asia, as it has a lot of development potential. In her opinion, Malaysia is particularly unique, as three peoples (Malays, Chinese and Indians), as well as the Orang-asli (the indigenous people of Malaysia) live peacefully together. The history of the diplomatic relations between Austria and Malaysia reaches back to the 60s, which means Ambassadors were dispatched to each country. In 1973, embassies in Austria and Malaysia where established respectively, and in 1976 the first commercial office was opened. H.E. Wicke emphasized that the relationships between the two countries have always been very solid, friendly and excellent. The first state visit of Malaysia to Austria took place in 1992 when Raja Azlan Sha (king of Malaysia) visited our beautiful country. Currently Her Excellency is eager to arrange a high ranking Austrian state visit to Malaysia. The purpose of such visits and exchanges of cultures is to strengthen the relationship between countries, and with the help of the EU framework the representation of Austria really succeeded in doing this within the last years. A further important step when it comes to 65

nurturing relations is to organize exhibitions, festivals and balls (e.g. the Viennese ball) to present the Austrian culture not only to Malaysia, but to make the country known throughout the world. Excellency Wicke also highlighted the advantages that the EU brings to small countries concerning the increased visibility and that through the Lisbon treaty there is now an own body called the Common Foreign Service that is in charge of the representation of the whole Union. Ambassador Wicke explained us that the individual trade is still in the hands of the national services, but there is a common trade framework which should be the starting point to get a common foreign policy (meaning also FTAs with Malaysia) and create a better understanding among each other. With the end of the welcome notes, the BFA participants had the chance to introduce themselves in a Tour de Table, to give our hosts an idea of our studies and personalities. Next, we were shown a video and presentation about the IDFR to get more information about the institute and its facilities. The Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR), was established in 1991 under the Prime Ministers Department following a Cabinet decision in March 1991. It was officially launched the same year on 12 August by the Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. In 2004 the IDFR officially became part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia. Located in the heart of South East Asia, Kuala Lumpur, IDFR is housed in the former building of the Foreign Ministry. Its new campus was opened in 2006.
IDFRs Senior Director, Amb. Faiz our principal host 18

IDFR was set up with the primary aim of providing formal basic, mid-career and higher level training to Malaysian Foreign Service officers. As the Ministry's training arm, IDFR conducts training programmes for Malaysian diplomatic officers as well as officers from other government ministries and agencies. Apart from the main diplomatic training courses, IDFR provides mid-career and follow up professional skills training to help enhance the professionalism of serving officers. In collaboration with the National University of Malaysia (UKM), IDFR offers a thirteen month postgraduate programme for a Master of Social Science in Strategy and Diplomacy. The training programmes are practitioner-oriented and are aimed at equipping officers with the skills and knowledge to meet the challenges they face in the 66

conduct of their professional duties. The Institute provides training in two broad areas diplomacy and foreign relations, as well as foreign languages. IDFR training courses are offered to more than 136 countries worldwide, in particular to participants from the developing countries or from ASEAN. The high quality seminars, but also lectures of prominent speakers guarantee a proper education and networking possibilities. Prominent speakers under IDFR's Public Lecture Series have included Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the late Benazir Bhutto and the late Yasser Arafat just to name a few. IDFRs campus has a lot of facilities, for example a fully-equipped library complete with selfaccess learning resources, a new auditorium which can accommodate up to 250 people, a prayer room capable of holding 100 people, a VIP waiting room, a gallery, several meeting rooms including the famous Treaty Room with a maximum capacity of 50 people, fullyequipped language labs, training or lecture rooms equipped with built-in whiteboards and projectors, a dining hall, 60 hostel rooms of international standard (inclusive of ten suites), a 500-person multipurpose hall, gymnasiums, badminton and squash courts, an outdoor tennis court and an outdoor swimming pool. After the very insightful presentation, H.E. Andrea Wicke started to tell us about her personal experiences in Malaysia, which was also very interesting for us, as some might consider doing their practical training semester in Kuala Lumpur. Ambassador underlined the friendliness, openness

Austrian Ambassador Ms Andrea Wicke, IDFR Senior Director Amb. Faiz and BFA participants 19

and hospitality of the citizens and she thinks that the main reason and secret for success in this region is that the people live peacefully with each other. Malaysia had lot of problems in the 60s but they learned from it and see their future like a marriage and a working progress. The economic success is stable at the moment and so they can better cope with their different races like for example the Swiss people do it. Malaysia tries its best to keep a good balance 67

and peace within the country. The citizens do not want to live beside each other, and the Malaysian program promotes the living together and the communication among each other. H.E. Faiz Zain explained that in Malaysia you can find about 50% Malays, 30% Chinese and 15% Indians. He highlighted that Kuala Lumpur was actually a little village in the past, but it turned out to be the number one producer for rubber, and through the economic success, everybody prospers and the communication between the different cultures improves. Still, he mentioned that it was not always easy for Malaysia to host different cultures without difficulties. Contact Information Tel.: + (603) 2149 1102 Fax.: + (603) 2144 9197 E-mail: faiz@idfr.gov.my URL. www.idfr.gov.my

Ambassador Abdullah Faiz Zain, Senior Director Institute of Diplomacy & Foreign Relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jalan Wisma Putra 50460 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Ambassador Andrea Wicke Austrian Embassy Wisma Goldhill Suite 10.01-02, Level 10 67, Jalan Raja Chulan 50200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel. : 03-20570020 Fax.: 03-23817768 E-mail: kualalumpur@bmeia.gv.at

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8.3

Intercultural essentials in Thailand, Burma and Laos

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Tuesday, July 6th 2010 14:00 15:00 Intercultural essentials in Thailand, Burma and Laos Mag. Busarin Lertchavalitsakul, Thailand

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic After the coffee break a less business oriented presentation was on our agenda. Ms. Busarin Lertchavalitsakul, who holds a Master degree in Sustainable Development of the Faculty of Social Sciences on the Chiang Mai University in Thailand was so kind as to give a talk on the cultural differences between Thailand, Burma and Laos. During her presentation she also tried to familiarize us with these beautiful countries. First of all, Ms. Lertchavalitsakul made clear that whenever looking at culture in general and cultural differences in particular one needs to differentiate between the structure of a countrys culture (the full range of learned human behavior patterns) and individuals (behavior patterns that are developed by individuals and diverge from the common patterns). Out of that reason, everyone who is interested in the culture of a country must study both, the society as a wholethe macro imageand individualsthe micro image. A particularly vital point is not to stereotype anybody just for his or her origin.

Thailand
Thailand is often referred to as the Land of Smiles that highlights the happy, friendly and open-minded attitude of the Thai people. However, the Thai society is highly hierarchically arranged. A patron-client relationship is commonly found in this country. There has always been a class system in Thailand. A particularly important aspect of Thai culture is the point of view towards seniority and status. It is of utmost importance to belong to the right class in order to count. Personal connections do matter a lot when it comes to business in Thailand. Recently, there has been an advent of middle-class in Thailand. By the time being this class has emerged and developed to the dominant societal group. Furthermore, Thailand is also 69

coined by the mixture of many different groups of people, including foreigners came to the country through international trade, tourism and inter-cultural marriages. In the 21st century, tradition has become a little more flexible. Thailand is more modernized and westernized today; however, this modernization and westernization must fit into the Thai style.

Burma
Burma the Golden Land, the Land of Pagodas was in former times colonized by the British. It gained independence in 1948. The following years free elections were held in order to guarantee democracy. Unfortunately, everything ended with the coup in 1962, from that time on Burma has been run by a Junta government that enforces military rule. This governmental form can simply be called a dictatorship. Even though Burma is a dictatorship it is an economically important country due to the fact that Burma is the worlds major rice exporter and a tourism region that is getting more important to contribute to Burmas national income.

Laos
The Lao Peoples Democratic Republic was colonized by France under the label of France Indochina (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam) in the late 19th century. Today, Laos depicts a buffer zone in-between the capitalistic Thailand and the communist China and Vietnam. The main export crop for Laos is rice, but also coffee (Dow coffee), beer (Lao Beer) and other national products. In the last couple of years, Laos became more attractive to foreign investors due to the liberalization of the economy which resulted in a higher level of FDIs.

8.4 Date:

EU trade and economic relations with Malaysia/ASEAN Tuesday, July 6th 2010 15:15 16:00 EU trade and economic relations with Malaysia/ASEAN Mr. Alessandro Paolicchi, Counsellor Head of Section - Trade and Economic Relations, EU Delegation to Malaysia

Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

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The second speaker in the afternoon session was Mr. Alessandro Paolicchi, the Counsellor Head of Section for Trade and Economic Relations, who gave a speech on EU trade and economic relations with Malaysia and the ASEAN respectively. In the beginning of his talk, Counsellor Paolicchi indicated that he was going to bring forth some ideas that should later on lead to an active and vivid discussion on the topic. However, before he started with his inspiring remarks, Mr. Paolicchi talked briefly about his personal background. Mr. Paolicchi stated that even though he had worked in the European Commission in 1994 he could primarily be seen as a trade expert since he left politics and worked in the merger control area for about 5 years after his time in the Commission, and the fact that he holds an MBA, the highest degree in business. After some time in the private sector Alessandro went back to trade policy where he has been active for 8 months now as Counsellor Head of Section Trade and Economic Relations. Before that he was in Brussels dealing with EUASEAN negotiations. There he was participating in the EU-ASEAN FTA process, which unfortunately got stuck for the moment. Mr. Paolicchis speech focused primarily on the reasons why the negotiations interrupted and what the further steps to a fruitful outcome would be.

The EU-ASEAN FTA process


In the beginning of the process a group composed of 11 representatives was formed at EU level to conduct a feasibility study on liberalising trade and investment agreements with ASEAN. These analyses took a couple of years until they were finally completed. In principal a FTA between the EU and the ASEAN would be an economically prudent undertaking for Malaysia and ASEAN as it would result in an expected eight percent GDP growth experienced by Malaysia and a two to three percent extra gain in GDP growth experienced by the other ASEAN member states. However, as soon as the negotiation process started complications occurred and in March 2009 the FTA negotiations interrupted, but not officially cancelled. Why did the negotiations come to a standstill? It can be said that the FTA negotiations with the ASEAN failed for various reasons: The ASEAN is not yet a sufficiently integrated region. The EU had naively imagined negotiating with the ASEAN like with Western European countries. But the fact is that the ASEAN in not yet a customs union. The only integration so far is that there are FTAs in place among the member states and therefore a general FTA with the EU proofed not feasible. However, it must be mentioned that a blueprint for economic integration has already been

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compiled and this paper deals with the process and the necessary steps that would lead to a really integrated ASEAN. Contrary to negotiations in the European Union, the ASEAN countries speak all for themselves. They all have their own budgetary recourses and competencies, they have not yet assigned powers to a supranational body speaking for the ASEAN. And even though there are FTAs at the regional level, these agreements deal mostly with goods only and do not address non-tariff barriers to trade. That means it is still possible to hinder trade between member states. The political reason of Burma was an issue on the table, but certainly not the real reason for the collapse of the negotiations. The issue was set aside for some years because the EU thought that the ASEAN would step away from Burma, but that obviously did not happen as the ASEAN sticks to their maxim of non-interference. Fact is that the EU cannot sign a dial with an ASEAN including Burma, but the real reason for the negotiation moratorium was a lack of integration on the regional level within ASEAN.

Economic relations and the future


Even though the FTA negotiations have come to a standstill, it has to be mentioned that ASEAN represents the 5th or 6th largest trading partner of the EU, and for Malaysia the EU is the 3rd or 4th largest partner economically. Due to these facts the EU is eager to achieve closer cooperation between the two regions. Unfortunately, the list of ASEAN countries that are willing and able to negotiate on a level sufficient for the EU is not long. In order to help the willing countries the EU provides technical assistance and funds for capacity building to foster further integration. All of this is done because the EU strives for a region to region agreement with the ASEAN in the long run. For the time being there is one high quality FTA in place. The example would be the FTA with Singapore. Now, as Malaysia is run by a very efficient administration it might be the next country with an FTA with the EU. Malaysia has developed a really straightforward attitude (a yes is a yes, and a no is a no) and that makes it possible for the EU to do real business with Malaysia. The next step towards an FTA is to agree on the parameters for negotiation, to decide on what is in and out of scope. Such negotiations on the agenda are not easy, it can even be said that they are one of the most difficult, however, important parts. The standpoint of the EU-negotiators is clear. The EU knows exactly what it wants and there is a clear mandate from the European Counsellors what the negotiators need to achieve. For them it is probably the easiest way to remove customs, the same measures towards services is still problematic though. However, in order to continue and complete negotiations it is necessary to include investments, rules of IPRs, technical barriers to trade and competition policies. 72

When it comes to procurement of necessities it gets even more complicated. However, it is necessary to have procurement on the agenda to create an outstanding, good FTA. Malaysia is still reluctant to give in on this subject. In fall of the year 2010 the FTA negotiations between the EU and Malaysia are going to be officially re-launched. If everything runs well, Malaysia could be the second country with a free trade agreement with the EU. However, it is important to manage getting the framework ready within 18 months. Unfortunately, we ran short on time due to our busy schedule on this day but we would still like to express our appreciation to Mr. Alessandro Paolicchi, providing us with very valuable, inside information on past and current FTA negotiations. We would very much appreciate his participation during our next BFA trips and want to apologize for any inconveniences caused. Contact Information Tel: (+60-3) 2723 7373 Fax: (+60-3) 2723 7337 E-mail: alessandro.paolicchi@ec.europa.eu www.delmys.ec.europa.eu

Alessandro PAOLICCHI Counsellor Head of Section - Trade and Economic Relations European Union Delegation to Malaysia Menara Tan & Tan, Suite 10.01 , 207 Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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8.5

Doing business in Malaysia (WK) Tuesday, July 6th 2010 16:00 16:40 Doing business in Malaysia (WK) Dr. Franz Schrder, Austrian Trade Commissioner for Malaysia and Brunei

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Erwin Ulreich (on behalf of Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic)

The last person who spoke to us in the history-charged Treaty Room on this day was Dr. Franz Schrder, the Austrian trade commissioner for Malaysia and Brunei. In his speech he tried to give an insight in the ties between Austria and Malaysia as well as the impact of the financial crisis of 2007 on Malaysia. In the beginning Mr. Schrder stressed that over the last couple of years the volume of trade between Austria and Malaysia increased on a constant basis. An average 4-6% growth was experienced on a yearly basis. The financial crisis in 2007, however, had a disastrous impact on Austrian exports to Malaysia. The exports plummeted by 80% leaving Austria with only 20% of the export volume that was realized before the crisis. A ray of hope can already be seen in the development of the Austrian exports this year and according to the Austrian Camber of Commerce there are good chances that the exports to Malaysia will reach normal levels by the end of this year. Another interesting point mentioned by Mr. Schrder is that Malaysia did not experience any impacts of the international financial crisis at all. In his opinion this can be traced back to the fact that Malaysia and especially capital of Kuala Lumpur are involved in large international financial transactions and speculations only to a limited extent. Therefore the impact on the Malaysian banking sector was not severe; it actually was hardly felt by the country. A further topic of interest addressed by our designated speaker was the presence and involvement of Austrian companies in Malaysia. Mr. Schrder pointed out that there are approximately 40 Austrian firms doing business with and also in Malaysia, the latter meaning having a permanent office or subsidiary in Malaysia. Unfortunately, our meeting with Dr. Franz Schrder was shortened, as we quite unexpectedly got a courtesy call from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to visit its Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE). 74

Contact Information Franz Schrder sterreichischer Handelsdelegierter fr Malaysia und Brunei Suite 14.1, Level 14, Menara IMC, No. 8, Jalan Sultan Ismail 5020 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia T +60 3 20322830 F +60 3 20323130 E kualalumpur@wko.at W http://wko.at/awo

8.6

Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) Tuesday, July 6th 2010 17:00 18:00 Visit to the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), Trade Museum and the Tour de Table Ms. Anita Abdul Aziz, Manager of the MEEC/MATRADE

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

After the very informative BFA session day at the IDFR, we visited Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, also known as MATRADE, a one-stop-shop for businesses in Malaysia. The corporation was established in March 1993 as a statutory agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. As Malaysias national export promotion agency, MATRADE is responsible for assisting Malaysian companies succeed in the international market. MATRADEs vision of making Malaysia the premier exporting nation is paired with its mission to develop and promote Malaysias exports to the world. MATRADE service is to promote Malaysias external trade with particular emphasis on the exports of manufactured and semi-manufactured products and services. In addition, the corporation formulates and implements export-marketing strategies and trade promotion activities to increase Malaysias exports, undertakes market research, and creates a comprehensive database of information for the development and improvement of Malaysias trade. They organize training programmes to enhance the international marketing skills of Malaysian exporters, promote and assist in services related to trade and protect Malaysias international trade interest abroad.

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In addition, they disseminate timely and relevant information and market intelligence to help Malaysian companies to gain a competitive edge in foreign markets and they introduce Malaysian companies to foreign importers seeking Malaysian suppliers. MATRADE is also actively involved in assisting foreign companies to source for suppliers of Malaysian products and services, and is represented worldwide at 40 locations in major commercial cities. In Malaysia, MATRADE has five local branches in Penang, Terengganu, Johor, Sabah, and Sarawak. Beside the ultimate vision to position Malaysia as a globally competitive trading nation in the world, they represent Malaysia in any international forum in respect of any matter relating to trade, and they facilitate and assist in service areas related to trade. Moreover, they advise the Government in matters affecting or in any way connected with trade, and act as the agent of the Government or for any person, body or organisation on such matters. For them it is important to make sure that there are no barriers for export ready companies, and hence also the registration process with MATRADE is free. In addition they set up a Help Desk which serves as the first point of contact for visitors who have enquiries on MATRADEs services and programmes. The Help Desk also attends to phone-in enquiries from both the local and overseas business community, and where required, will forward the enquiry to relevant departments within or outside the organisation for follow-up action. Among the services provided by MATRADE are the MATRADE Business Library, electronic publications, market information, the organization of overseas trade missions, specialised marketing missions, international trade fairs, promotion booths, Malaysian product exhibitions and in-store promotions, business matching following trade enquiries, incoming buying missions, incoming trade delegations, and seminars and workshops. Furthermore, we were happy to visit the MATRADE Exhibition Centres, which included domestic and international exhibitions of export products, as well as the history of trade for Malaysia. The corporation shows its effectiveness by setting short term goals and analysing their achievements quarterly. They organise at least 30 trade promotion activities every three months, and they try to entertain, answer and distribute information on trade opportunities within 4 days from the date of acceptance. According to their figures of the first quarter in 76

2010, they received more than 6000 enquiries between January and March. Furthermore, to act also as a role model, they do care about updated publications, websites and information about market developments. As part of MATRADEs ongoing efforts to improve its delivery system and to reach out to companies outside the Klang Valley, a series of briefing and consultation sessions were organized. These sessions serves as a platform for the exporting community to provide feedback. A wide range of assistance programmes are provided by the Government to local companies in an effort to encourage companies to aggressively develop and market Malaysian products and services to the world. These programmes include tax incentives, financial assistance in the form of grants, loans and insurance as well as institutional support. Contact Information Anita Abdul Aziz Manager Malaysia Export Exhibition Center 2nd floor, Menara MATRADE Jalan Khidmet Usaha, Off Jalan Duta 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia T +60 3 6207 7077 F +60 3 6203 7259 E eta@matrade.gov.my W http://matrade.gov.my

8.7

Barbecue-Reception with IDFR Members Tuesday, July 6th 2010 19:00 22:30 Networking Opportunity with IDFR Members

Date: Time: Topic:

At the end of our first session day in Kuala Lumpur, our group was invited by the IDFR to a barbecue-reception and a garden cocktail. Together with the IDFR Master students and most of the speakers we were pleased to listen to during the day; we enjoyed an incredible dinner provided by the institute. It was a great pleasure to talk to all the speakers and IDFR 77

representatives also offside the official sessions and to exchange and share personal points of view on matters discussed during the day. Moreover, we had the possibility to talk to the IDFRs Master students about their personal experiences in Malaysia as well as asking questions about the study programme and other topics of interest. Of course, the students were also curious about our own experiences and backgrounds, and so our conversations were going on for the whole evening. Once more we had the chance to network, and lots of us were exchanging contact details to stay in touch also after our study trip. We would like to thank our hosts very much for this great opportunity and the delicious dinner, which we definitely cannot take for granted.

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9.1

Wednesday, 7th July 2010


Malaysias Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wednesday, July 7th 2010 10:00 12:00 Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs history/current affairs briefing, Tour-de-House and reception Mohd. Aznor Mahat, Secretary Ass. Information & Public Diplomacy, and Neermal A/L Shunmugam, Director Ass. Information & Public Diplomacy

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

At 10:00 we arrived at the ministry of foreign affairs where we were warmly welcomed by Mr. Aznor Mahat who held a very insightful and interesting speech about the history, vision and the function of Malaysias Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Apart from that Mr. Aznor Mahat provided us with the history of Wisma Putra, the building of the Ministry

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of Foreign Affairs from 1966, the date of establishment, until now. Furthermore, Mr. Aznor Mahat gave us an overview about Malaysias foreign policy, its criteria and characteristics, and its role within ASEAN. According to Mr. Aznor Mahat the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is per definition an agency which has been given the mandate and responsibility to conduct Malaysias foreign relations with other countries in protecting and developing Malaysias interest as well as to contribute to the creation of an international community that is just and equitable through proactive diplomatic practice. Wisma Putra, the Malay word for the ministry, was for the first time established in 1956, a year before Malaysias independence. Contact Information Tel: 603-8887 4214 Fax: 603-8889 2720 E-mail: mdaznor@kln.gov.my

MOHD. AZNOR MAHAT Principal Assistant Secretary Department of Info Public Diplomacy Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wisma Putra No.1, Jalan Wisma Putra Precint 2, 62602 Putrajaya Malaysia 9.2

Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations Rio + 20 Wednesday, July 7th 2010 12:15 13:30 Economy, Development and Environment Rio + 20 H.E. Ms. Datuk Ting Weng Lien, Malaysian Ambassador (retired) (former Malaysian MFA Chief negotiator on environmental issues, and head of national delegation to the Rio summit)

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

Closing the luncheon reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we rushed back to the IDFR, in order to listen to a very interesting and deeply emotional speech about economy, development and environment. This speech was given by Ms. Datuk Ting Weng Lien, Malaysian top diplomat (retired). After a short introduction by Prof. Bajrektarevic, Ms. Lien provided us with both general facts and personal experiences followed by assessments concerning the UN Conference of Environment and Development in 1992. The 1992s Earth Summit had been followed by the World Summit of Johannesburg in 2002 and was expected 79

to finally lead to the so-called Rio plus 20 round in New York in 2012. According to Ms. Lien the main issues which had been discussed in Rio and Johannesburg were:

Trade IPR (Intellectual Property Rights and Product Piracy) Funding Biosafety as a measure of protection GMFoods (genetically modified foods) Forests Indigenous communities Technology

Contact Information H.E. Ambassador Ms. Datuk Ting Weng Via MFA Lien, Malaysian top diplomat (retired)

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9.3

Malaysian Tourism Centre - Mak Yung Theatre

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Wednesday, July 7th 2010 15:00 17:30 Performance at the Malaysian Tourism Centre (MATIC) Welcome by a representative of the MATIC

Performances: Traditional Malaysian Dance Show, Mak Yung Theatre Performance (specially staged for the BFA2 participants)

After enjoying our lunch break together with Ms. Lien, we departed for the Malaysian Tourism Centre (MATIC) in order to watch both a traditional Malaysian Dance performance and the Mak Yung Cultural Show. After a short and warm welcome of the Centres representative we had the great pleasure to watch an exciting and extraordinary colorful dance-show, where we got to know the very different dancing styles of Malaysias various ethnic groups. The very amazing motility of the dancers highly flexible bodies, the stories that were told without words and the single performances choreographies turned out to be a breathtaking experience. The second part of this cultural event, the Mak Yung Theatre, represented an important part of Malaysias cultural history. We were informed that Makyung was a traditional dance drama that brought together the various artistic elements found in dance, dialogue, acting performance, comedy and music. In accordance with the conferment by the UNESCO, the Seri Nilm Makyung Group of Istana Budaya had been set up in November 2005 by the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage Malaysia. Accompanied by the very strong and obtrusive voices of the actors and the musicians, we were shown the ancient story of a young prince who revived a beautiful princess lying in a swoon, but who afterwards was forbidden

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to marry her, because his older and very dogmatic brother claimed the beauty to be his wife. As the younger prince resigned, the story finished with a happy ending. After a very efficient, small refreshment in the theatres caf we departed for a networking dinner at the Austrian Ambassadors residence.

9.4

Dinner at the Residence of the Austrian Ambassador

Date: Time: Topic:

Wednesday, July 7th 2010 18:30 22:00 Joint Networking buffet Ambassador call by H.E. Andrea Wicke

As a nice uprounding of the day we received an invitation by the Ambassador of Austria to Malaysia, H.E. Andrea Wicke. This evening was characterized by warm talks and open exchanges.

Residence of the Austrian Ambassador to Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 20

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10 Thursday, 8th July 2010


10.1 Meeting with Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir at the IDFR premises Date: Time: Topic: Speaker: Thursday, July 8th 2010 10:00 12:00 Business for the New century Malaysias path to political and economic stability, and Tour-de-table Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Minister Deputy, Ministry of International Trade and Industry

Moderator: H.E. Amb. Abdullah Faiz M. Zain, Senior Director of IDFR, MFA Malaysia and Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

First and foremost, Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry, expressed his pleasure to have us as guests in Malaysia, aiming at contributing to strengthen the Malaysian-Austrian bond and relations, followed by the close connection he felt with IDFR, as it was his father, his Excellency Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, who founded it during his time as Prime Minister in 1991. Since its independence from Britain in 1957, Malaysia has been growing rapidly. Through its population, characterized by three major ethnical groups (Malay, Chinese, Indian), Malaysia has seen certain challenges in the history to bring them together successfully and on equal footing in order to convince Britain that Malaysia was ready for independence. At that time Malaysia had been a small country with a population of approximately ten million people. Finally, Malaysia gained independence by a peaceful diplomatic agreement with Great Britain. On May, 13th 1969, a disastrous bloodshed shook the country, which will never be forgotten and rests engraved in the mind of every Malay. After general elections a discontentment was noticeable peaking in a fight between the three ethnical groups. Nonetheless, Mr. Y. P. Dato 83

Mukhriz Tun Mahathir pointed out that to some extent, as terrible as it was, it was valuable and out of a tragedy one must learn. Fights were also undermined by a growing discontent due to economic disparity between the different ethnicities, fostering conflict. Since then, equal distribution receives high priority in the
Senior Director of the IDFR Amb. Faiz, H.E. Mahathir and prof. Bajrektarevic, Treaty Room, Kuala Lumpur IDFR 21

government policy.

As the economy continued to grow, equal distribution has increased in importance. These new economic policies, according to Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, brought even more economic growth and contributed to stability and peace within the society. Opportunities in business as well as education have increased enormously and sectors of high productivity have received great attention for competition purposes. Although Malaysia is a rather small country in relation to the rest of the world it occupies the 27th rank as largest trading nation worldwide, after having been ranked 19th already once before. Over time, Malaysia succeeded in becoming a large upper middle income country. However, as a sealing blocks them to enhance further, this fact manifests a trap that represents great risk to fall back. Thus, a new economic model has been launched in order to strengthen the Malaysian economy and let it prosper even further. This new policy aims at increasing income from 7000 USD to 15000 USD by 2020, shifting from a labor intensive to a high yield, creative and technology intensive economy. This fosters the need of a strong and guiding government even further. In the course of that, the 10th Malaysian plan has been launched, which will be in place and valid until 2015. This plan provides the budget plan for the new economic model. Certain challenges raised by Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir that Malaysia has to tackle in the future are healthy and strong relations to the outside world, as its impact on Malaysia as a trading nation will grow. Moreover, Malaysia has to manage and reverse the trade slow down, the country experienced in 2009 with the U.S., representing one of Malaysias biggest trading partners. 84

However, with the countries unique strengths such as its multicultural population, a high savings rate combined with a low foreign debt rate, it will manage to overcome those challenges successfully. Furthermore, Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir stressed the dependence of Malaysia to China, due to close economic ties and a Chinese stimulus package which has been launched in times of financial crisis and that had helped Malaysia to recover quicker from the crisis than expected. Thereafter, he explained to us the concept of Islamic banking and its theory based on values based banking. Paradoxically, Islamic banking is mostly used in non-Islamic countries by non-Islamic people. After the crisis, when people in general lost their trust in institutions and government, Islamic banking experienced an upturn worldwide. Also in Europe, Islamic banking grew in interest in the past view years. Just recently, Christine Lagarde, the French Foreign Minister, came to Malaysia and asked for help to let Paris become the world center of Islamic banking, thus overtake Great Britain. When it comes to Malaysias economy, the countrys priority moved from food to pharmaceutics, logistics and cosmetics. Currently, Malaysia is undergoing certain changes in parliament. They lost the two third majority in parliament after the elections in 2008, as the opposition has taken over three additional states. According to Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, they are facing critical times at the moment, being confronted with a new scenario they had to adapt to. In the Q & A session issues such as apprenticeship in Malaysia, further steps in MalaysianEU and ASEAN-Malaysian cooperation as well as migration policy have been discussed. Concerning apprenticeship in Malaysia, they do not have anything comparable to Europe, putting their focus rather on the academic side. Nonetheless, Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir admits seeing certain potential for it in Malaysia in the future to come as he perceives practical based experience as extremely important. When it comes to Malaysian-EU and ASEAN-Malaysian cooperation, he expressed the immense 85

importance of the EU for Malaysia with a trading volume amounting to 11 percent. Also the investment mainly coming from Germany and Britain is extremely important. Malaysia is currently working on a FTA with the EU in order to further enhance these developments. As we already heard in former briefings, the EU is only designing FTAs with individual countries of this region, as the negotiations on an EU-ASEAN FTA would be too difficult to conclude, as there are, at the time being, still too many differences and incongruities on certain issues, as well as different stages of regional integration. Malaysias migration policy, according to Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir is a delicate issue that needs to be handled with the greatest care. However, he points out that this is not only an issue to Malaysia but to the rest of the world alike, as constellations of every country will change. Malaysia is hosting around 1.5 Mio low-skilled guest workers, mostly from Indonesia. Over the last couple of years, stricter migration policies have been developed but being aware of the necessity of foreign labor to develop and grow, migration will continue and grow. Thus, he sees the need to push Malay people to higher skilled jobs . In this concern he sees the social impact of delicate issue to tackle. Though major improvements have been achieved, he still sees room for improvement, presenting the example of Dubai as a pioneer. As a conclusion, it should be highlighted that Malaysia is a very multicultural and multiethnic country, which makes up for his greatest challenge, but for its greatest asset alike. In order to achieve an equilibrium, everyone may have to take certain sacrifices. But its Unity in diversity is something the country needs to protect, strengthen and uphold. Malaysia, truly Asia! Contact information DatoMukhriz Mahathir Deputy Minister Ministry of International Trade and Industry 15th Floor, Block 10 Government Offices Complex Jalan Duta 50622 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Tel: +6 03-6201 1317 Fax: +6 03-6201 7346 E-Mail: mukhrizm@miti.gov.my Web: www.miti.gov.my

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10.2 Ministry of Tourism

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Thursday, July 8th 2010 13:30 15:30 Tourism & Hospitality Industry in Malaysia: Future challenges Mr. Mohd Halimi Ibrahim, Under Secretary of International Affairs Division, Ministry of Tourism Malaysia

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic Our next stop was the Ministry of Tourism, where we had a warm welcome by Mr. Mohd Halimi Ibrahim and his colleagues, the officers of the four divisions in the Ministry. The presentation started with the Malaysian tourism performance in the world. By 2020 the number of tourists is expected to rise up to 1.6 billion with an increase in each particular region. As you can see in the graph below, Europe had the biggest share of incoming tourists in Malaysia which presents 53% of the total in 2008.

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Concerning the tourism performance in Malaysia in 2003 one can say that it decreased due to SARS and the Iraq War. From 1999 to 2009 an increase of almost 300% in arrivals could be seen. Most of tourists with Asian origin coming to Malaysia are from Singapore.

The Malaysian Tourism Policy, which was the last topic of the presentation, contributes to substantial economic activities and employment for Malaysians. The vision of the Ministry is to increase the level of awareness so that Malaysia will become a premier tourism country as well as tourism should be a major contributor to national economy.

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After the presentation we discussed topics such as the infrastructure in KL, which is as we had already experienced quite good, especially in comparison to Jakarta. Also important for the tourism sector are of course the airports and the existence of direct flights. Mr. Mohd Halimi Ibrahim mentioned that the existing ones are in good condition, a fact of which they can be proud of.

Marketing
The discussion was followed up by a short introduction video about Malaysia and the presentation of the Marketing department. There are four main objectives of this department, which include for example to increase foreign tourist arrivals and to extend the length of stays. In general, one can say, that the tourist expenditure is rising and that most European tourists come from the UK. A higher number of Austrian tourists travel to Thailand than to Malaysia, because at the moment Thailand is one of the most popular holiday destinations, but Malaysia also hopes to reach this status too. In order to reach their goal, the Ministry of Tourism elaborated on nine strategies to become a top tourist destination, which include for example increasing the demand for travel to Malaysia and generating new sources of growth as well as attracting more participants to MM2H (Malaysia My Second Home), homestays and last but not least encouraging repeat visitors.

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But before becoming a number one tourist destination, Malaysia has to overcome its challenges, to name a few: the lack of quality of foreign language speaking tourist guides. Others are the shortage of rooms during summer/winter season and limited airline seats as well as direct connectivity. When talking about the tourism coverage in ASEAN, we got to know that there is a forum and also working groups with the members of the ASEAN countries. There are regular meetings and discussions and they have a very good collaboration which also involves the government. In addition, funds are allocated to this forum. In order to promote Malaysia, media and tour operators are brought in to see the country and to write about it, not only what is told to them, but also what they could see and experience on their own because this is much more effective. Mohd Halimi Ibrahim Under Secretary of International Affair Division, Ministry of Tourism Malaysia Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putry (PWTC) 45, Jalan Tun Ismail, 50695 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Contact Information http://www.motour.gov.my/ Tel: +603-2696 3143 (DL) +603-2693 7111 Fax: +603-2691 5723 E-Mail: halimi@motour.gov.my

10.3 Malaysian Federal Parliament

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Thursday, July 8th 2010 16:00 18:30 Plenary Session observance and the Parliamentary briefings Mr. Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Higher Education Ms. Fong Po Kuan, Member of the Malaysian Parliament Ms. Rosnah Hj Abd Rashid Shirlin, Deputy Health Minister Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Deputy Minister, Ministry of International Trade and Industry

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

General Information
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Malaysia practices Parliamentary Democracy with a Constitutional Monarchy. The Parliamentary Democratic System is divided into three main branches: Legislative, Executive and Judiciary. The Parliament is the highest legislative authority in the country. It is made up of his Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong


His Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the Supreme Head of State. His Majesty is elected by the Conference of Rulers and holds office for five years. However, the King does not preside over both houses, Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat, but addresses the two Houses as and when necessary. By convention, this is only done at the beginning of each Parliamentary session, which starts each year.

Dewan Negara (The Senate)


Dewan Negara comprises 70 members of which two members are elected by each of the 13 State Legislative Assemblies and 44 are appointed by His Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong for their experience and wisdom, or represent ethnic minorities, professions, commerce and other groups. A full term of office of a Senator is three years and could be extended to two terms. Dewan Negara is not affected by the dissolution of the Parliament. Since 26th April 2010 the President of Dewan Negara is Abu Zahar Ujang from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the biggest party in Malaysia.

Dewan Rakyat (The House of Representatives)


Dewan Rakyat has 222 members, each representing one constituency. Election of members is held every five years. The number of members of the Barisan National Component Parties is 137. The opposition parties consist of 78 members and 7 independents. The speaker of Dewan Rakyat is Pandikar Amin Mulia, who is also from the UMNO and since 2008 in office. The new prime minister, who is in office for only one year is working very hard in trying to make improvements on many fronts. He wants to give, for example, more autonomy to public universities.

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UMNO = United Mays National Organisation MCA = Malaysian Chinese Association MIC = Malaysia Indian Congress PKR = Parti Keadilan Rakyat PAS = Pan Malaysia Islamic Party DAP = Democratic Action Party

Functions of the Parliament To pass law To make amendments to existing laws To approve new taxes To examine the governments policies To approve the governments expenditure/spending

We also got the chance to visit the Parliament during a discussion, which was very interesting. During this discussion Ms. Fong Po Kuan raised their voice to get attention concerning the problem, that when a draft of a bill is made, the parties are not consulted although this is necessary. We were all very impressed by her pushing temper and ability to fight for her right. She also mentioned the fact, that only if there is gender equality in the Parliament, the country can move forward and establish equality in the country. At the moment there is one elected female minister, four female senators and few female deputy ministers.

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After leaving the discussion in the Parliament we had the pleasure to meet Mr. Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Higher Education. He briefed us about the Ministry of Higher Education, which covers issues of universities, polytechnics, colleges and R&D (however fundamental research is done by universities). Although Malaysia increasingly put more importance on R&D, sciences and technology there is still a strong need to spend more on it. A first step was done by the current Prime Minister who gives more autonomy to public universities, which simply means that they can decide what happens to the money they raised on their own. He ended his briefing with a short introduction about Melaka, as we told him that we had planned to go there: Melaka is where everything begins in Malaysia. Followed by this briefing we had the honor to meet Ms. Rosnah Hj Abd Rashid Shirlin, Deputy Health Minister and Head of the womens wing. The members of the womens wing are aged between 18 and 35 years and they deal not only with medical issues, but also with public health. In Malaysia, women are given a lot of opportunities. This fact was very well displayed in the case of H1N1, where Malaysia lost 82 lives; women had the chance to show what they can. One could see that women manage it differently than men, because they are very open with the incidents, but on the other side strict in terms of measurement. There exists an own laboratory to get a better health system in the country and plans to build new hospitals, also in the rural area, already exist. The relationship between women in Parliament is fantastic and they want to see more women in government. Another positive thing mentioned by her was MM2H, which was introduced to expatriates and is very important for the country due to the reason that there is a need for them and therefore possibilities to live and work in Malaysia have to be established. Before leaving the Parliament we had once again the pleasure to meet Mr. Y. P. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry, who informed us about the father of Ms. Fong Po Kuan, former Prime Minister for 22 years. He was the longest time in office and the impact that he left is still there. Even nowadays he is brought up many times, although he had already retired in 2003. As we asked him why he did not participate in the discussion in the Parliament, he told us that during the discussions a Deputy Minister is 93

not allowed to stand up and raise his voice because he sits at the front desk, even though other Ministers say something wrong. Normally the Parliament consists of the government and the opposition, but some years ago some of the members of the government and the opposition began to declare independency, which resulted in seven independents in the Parliament at the moment.

Parliament Malaysia Parliament Malaysia, Bangunan Parlimen, 50680 Kuala Lumpur. Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Higher Education

Contact Information web: http://www.parlimen.gov.my/ Tel: 603-20721955

E-Mail: saifuddin61@yahoo.com

Fong Po Kuan, Member of the Malaysian E-Mail: pkfongz@yahoo.com Parliament Rosnah Hj Abd Rashid Shirlin, Deputy Minister of Health E-Mail: RosnahShirlin@yahoo.com

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11 Friday, 9th July 2010


11.1 Day-long excursion to Melaka

General Information
Present-day Melaka reflects its tumultuous history - a multi-racial population of Malays, Indians, and Chinese call this historic city home. Most notably, Peranakan and Portuguese communities still thrive in Melaka, a reminder of the state's long experience with trading and colonization. Once people were traders of spices and clothes, which was easily done over the sea. We were told by our guide that Melaka is known as Venice of the East because it has similarities with Venice in Italy, despite the fact that reconstruction is still ongoing with the purpose to attract more visitors in the future. By having a close look at the architecture, which is famous for its uniqueness, it becomes immediately clear to us that this place reflects all facets of former conquerors and their descendants and is therefore, inscribed as World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. Next to historical buildings near the river, tourism flourishes and attracts all kind of visitors by its colorful appearance such as extensive decorated trishaws. The State of Melaka is currently on the course of rapid economic growth and development. At the moment more than 500 factories from the US, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore are installed their offices at this historical place.

11.2 Graveyard in Bukit China

Date: Time: Place:

Friday, July 9th 2010 11:30 11:50 Graveyard in Bukit China

Our first stop was at a graveyard in Bukit China from where we had a good view over the delta where we could see where people in the past started to do business and made the city 95

renowned as a water trading point. Melaka's Chinese Cemetery is situated on a hill just outside the city centre. Chinese cemeteries are always built on higher grounds, so the deceased are closer to heaven. The graves are very much neglected. There are some 12,000 of them, and the oldest date back to the 17th century. At the foot of the hill, we decided together with our guide, to climb the hill, which was more a gentle slope than a true hill. There were graves all around, semi-circular in shape, or even shaped like the Greek letter omega. Many of them were overgrown by trees, grass, and weeds; and the Chinese characters were eroded. A few graves were still in remarkably good condition. Also very interesting from our point of view was the fact that one Chinese grave was already built but with future purpose, stating the name and the date of birth of the person but leaving the column of date of death, in this case named departure, empty. In the 15th century a Chinese Princess, Hang Li Poh, married the Sultan. The purpose of this marriage was to strengthen diplomatic relationship between China and the Melaka Sultanate. The princesss handmaidens married local Malay men. Their descendants are the Pernakans, which means "born locally." They are also known as Babas and Nyonyas. Soon more Chinese traders came to Melaka, all with high expectations of success in trade. Some were successful, but others died before achieving success. They were buried at Bukit China. Their families had not traveled with them, and there was no one to pray for their souls and look after their graves but the Chinese Kapitans took care them. Kapitans are appointed chiefs of Chinese societies or clans. The Chinese immigrants had language and cultural problems when they came to live in Melaka. Soon they formed clans that were self-governed. These clans took care of education, finance, and also had a social function. This system still works today. Today, Bukit China is not only a cemetery, but also a park where many Melakans go running and mountain biking in the evening. Others practice Tai Chi while enjoying the view.

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11.3 Stadhuys Christ Church

Date: Time: Place:

Friday, July 9th 2010 12:00 12:30 Stadhuys Christ Church

A few minutes later we were looking around in front of the redcoated Stadhuys and Christ Church which was erected in 1753 and believed to be oldest Protestant Church in the region including other buildings within the vicinity of St Pauls Hill. In front of the Church we saw highly decorated trishaws full of flowers. We walked up a few stairs to visit a museum where backdrops were showing traditional and daily pictures of activities in former times.

11.4 Eva Moser old fort Date: Time: Place: Friday, July 9th 2010 13:00 13:30 Eva Moser old fort

One of the first things the Portuguese did when they took over Melaka in 1511 was building a massive fortification which encircled the base of St Paul's Hill. Inside the A'Famosa were the governor's palace, bishop's palace, state halls, five churches and two hospitals. When the Dutch seized Melaka, they kept the fort, but moved most of the administrative functions for the growing city outside the walls. After the British took over, they separated the fortifications.

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11.5 City Council of Melaka

Date: Time: Topic: Speaker:

Friday, July 9th 2010 15:00 16:30 Action Plan of Melaka Mr. Hj. Mansor Sudin, Director of Urban Planning

Moderator: Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic

In the afternoon we reached the building of City Council of historic Melaka. After a warm welcome Mr. Hj. Mansor Sudin gave us an impressive overview about tourism and future plans for Melaka. At the beginning of Mr. Sudins presentation, he provided the audience with some historical background of the city itself. Melaka where all began. The Council is responsible for the image of the city as well as for promoting Melaka.

History of Melaka
The state of Melaka is one of the oldest states in Malaysia and has a colorful history to its existence. According to the legend, the name Melaka was coined when a Palembang prince from the island of Sumatra set foot in Melaka and was resting below a tree when he saw a mouse deer outwitting a dog. Seeing such an ominous event, the Palembang prince Parameswara asked his aides for the name of the tree that he was resting under - he was told that it is the Melaka Tree. 98

Melaka

grew

in

importance

throughout the 1400s and especially so considering that it had a strategic position in the Straits of Melaka. It was not surprising that it had a flourishing port which became an important meeting point for the traders from China and India. It later grew into being a cosmopolitan town with many Chinese and Indian traders setting foot and continuing their businesses in Melaka. The Chinese settlers who lived amongst the original Malay inhabitants soon found themselves assimilated into the latter's culture and lifestyle. These Chinese settlers became known as Babas and Nyonyas. As the town of Melaka became influential and wealthy, its empire expanded and the Malay language became important in that part of South East Asia. The religion of Islam also grew in tandem with the Sultans embracing the said religion. Being a thriving town both financially and strategically placed, it was no wonder that it later became coveted in the eyes of the Portuguese. In 1511, the Portuguese overthrew the Melaka royalty and government and ruled over Melaka until 1641 when it fell to the Dutch. During the Portuguese reign, Catholicism was introduced by the missionaries and many Portuguese also set foot to settle in Melaka, the descendents of which are still found today. In fact, the descendents of these early Portuguese settlers still speak the ancient Portuguese language. Meanwhile, the Dutch rule brought with it many fine buildings, churches and infrastructure, the most famous of which is probably the red-coloured buildings also known as the Stadthuys. After the Dutch came the British in 1795. The British continued to develop the town of Melaka and it later became known as part of the famous Straits Settlements together with Penang and Singapore. English became an important spoken and written language and it is not difficult to get around Melaka if you are English speaking. Due to the fact that on 7th July 2008 the UNESCO officially inscribed Melaka as World Heritage Site, the conservation of urban heritage resources, tangible and intangible, are a matter of utmost importance. Therefore, Mr. Sudin enlightened the Action Plan for Melaka over the next ten years, which presents the common vision of protecting the uniqueness of

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Melaka, by introducing collaboration among diverse stakeholders in the process of developing tourism industry.

Action Plan of Melaka


The Action Plan of Melaka deals with numerous points, all in all 14 different steps to implement the plan itself. The main issue, which was described to the audience, was the lack of legal documents to enhance proper control and monitoring of further development with special regard to the conservation area, due to the fact that existing documents are out of date. As a result of the Bhaktapur conference five actions form the Action Plan including for example Action Plan for Cultural Heritage Tourism in Melaka Historic City, or Action Plan for the Melaka Historic City Conservation Area. The latter one is the most important issue among the actions, including several proposals to protect the conservation area, for example, detailed inventory control of the buildings in this area to facilitate further protection by specific guidelines, or to develop a sustainable strategy to improve the current traffic situation including pedestrian matters. These steps could be realized by a comprehensive study of landscape, traffic and other factors and thus, yield to the desired result. Another factor, which was not stated in the Action Plan itself but assumes significant importance, is the Melaka River. The enormous magnitude of the Melaka River has been enduring for many centuries now, and is still of great importance. Therefore, one part of the rehabilitation program was and is still dedicated to the conservation and amendment of this very issue. Many different steps of development are worth considering, for example the most significant one is the improvement of the river conditions itself to make this marvelous port more attractive to future visitors. Therefore, the objective of development accompanies also include other ideas which were presented to the audience, for example integrating urban design elements, developing a magnificent riverside, which still reflects the citys cultural heritage and introducing a barrage tidal gate to easily control the water level, just to name a few.

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To relieve the rivers significance, which was explained to us before in detail, we relished the opportunity to receive great impressions at first hand at Sungai Melaka River Cruise, San Antonio. 11.6 River Cruise

Date: Time: Place:

Friday, July 9th 2010 17:30 18:30 River Cruise

We enjoyed a river cruise over the Melaka River from where we saw historic buildings, colorful front paintings telling the historical development of Melaka, replica of Portuguese ships, and had the impression of being in little east Venice with several cafs located at the promenade. Besides from that we recognized the grayish water, learned about their reptilian inhabitants, as well as, got an insight into the compelling architecture of Malayan houses including their complex structure and merit. 11.7 Melaka Tower Date: Friday, July 9th 2010 Time: 19:00 19:30 Place: Melaka Tower

After the relaxing river cruise we stopped at the Melaka Tower. Around the tower was a compact elevator surrounding the tower, which was moving upward, and turning on its own axis. Up there we had a spectacular view over the city with a fascinating sunset, where we had the feeling that history seems to become tangible. After a quick snack close by we returned to Kuala Lumpur. Director of Urban Planning Contact Information www.mbmb.gov.my 101

Mr. Hj. Mansor Sudin, Graha Makmur, No.1, Lebuh Ayer Keroh, 75450 Melaka, Malaysia

Tel.: +606 285 9848 Fax: +606-232-5716 E-Mail: mansor@mbmb.gov.my. Contact number 0196555561

12 Conclusion
Rushing from one event to another; Meeting different speakers; Hearing different views and opinions; Mingling with locals; Enjoying the food; Appreciating the hospitality; Feeling the dynamics and optimism of the region; Managing to sleep in awkward positions and places; Spending hours stuck in traffic; Getting to know a different culture Grasping and feeling Asia! First, we would like to emphasize the uniqueness of this trip. While going on holidays by oneself, one will never be able to understand and experience this region in a way we did. We not only learned new things, but also enjoyed conversations with our fellow colleagues, having the opportunity to exchange information with experts and feel the dynamics of SouthEast Asia. We had the pleasure to receive valuable information on and deal with intercultural business and geopolitical topics with experts from the region, sharing their experiences and their knowledge with us. Having our focus on Export-oriented Management as well as Tourism Management, this knowledge is of high value to us and will help us to conduct business with Asian partners. It might always seem easy to learn out of a book; however, travels will always remain the key to understand the culture and develop successful business relations. This trip not only made us grow professionally, but also personally: first, I would like to emphasize the atmosphere within the group. It was a great experience to share all these impressions with fellow students from different semesters, different programs and with different backgrounds. I was impressed by the dynamism and motivation within the group, exploring a different culture and grasp as many impressions as possible. It is also worth mentioning the professionalism and commitment of each of the colleagues, who decided to travel so far from home. While being back in school and continuing our studies at the FH IMC Krems, we are still in the process of digesting all impressions and information that made this study trip unique and 102

unforgettable. It might take weeks or months until we finally processed all perceptions; however, we can already say that this trip has changed the way we think and perceive our environment.

Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. Miriam Beard

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13 Personal Comments
Dear prof. Anis, thank you for your visit and the kind words. Your students impressed everyone and there was an impressive ASEAN-press-release on your visit already (see below). All the best for Malaysia and do come back to Indonesia before long. Klaus Wlfer
Klaus Wlfer Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia, Singapore and Timor-Leste Austrian Representative to ASEAN Jl. Terusan Denpasar Raya Kuningan, JAKARTA 12950 Tel.: +62 21 259 3037 Fax: +62 21 52920651 e-mail: klaus.woelfer@bmeia.gv.at www.austrian-embassy.or.id

Dear Anis, Great Times to be remembered and repeated soon :) Thanks a lot for your big spirit and enthusiasm. You have inspired the people in Bandung and Jakarta. Do keep in touch. See you soon. Eddy
SUGIRI Eduard Eddy Dipl.Ing. Honorary Consul Bandung Jalan Padasaluyu Utara II, No. 3 Postanschrift: Bandung 40154, Indonesia

Dear Prof Anis International Law and Global Political Studies University of Applied Sciences IMC-Krems THANK YOU AND HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN I took this opportunity to thank you and other Austrian students whom participated in the programme on your overall kindness and cooperation. The Ministry hopes that you would find your visit to Malaysia, especially to Putrajaya and Ministry of Foreign Affairs beneficial and fruitful. We are pleased to welcome you again to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia in near future. Regards,
NEERMAL SHUNMUGAM ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION & PUBLIC DIPLOMACY MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MALAYSIA

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Dear Professor Anis, I just wanted to express my gratitude for making the Business Focus ASEAN 2010 program happen and giving me the chance to participate in it. Actually this is a great program and I am not sure whether all of us realize what effort and determination you had to put behind in order to make it work smoothly for us. We should not take something like this for granted. I have participated in various so-called Summer Schools and Summer Study programs but this is by far the one with the highest return on investment ratio. Since it was a very condensed program and I think we still need some days, or weeks maybe to digest everything but I liked this study trip very much and I hope I can participate again next year, maybe at the Business Focus Central Asia. In addition I wanted to thank you again for the great internship and for introducing me to Excellency Wicke. During my talk to hear I also came to realize that state visit which is planned during the time of my internship is actually major and that it cannot be taken for granted that I being only an ordinary student of relatively young age to come into a position to take part that closely in such an event. Thanks again for making all this happen. All the best, Christoph Pfeifer, B.A. Export-oriented Management

Dear Anis, since this trip more and more turns out to be a highly "sustainable" experience which heavily impacts on both professional and every-day's life in a very positive manner, I would once more like to express my sincere gratefulness that you made it possible for me to join this journey. Having returned to Austria with this completely different Indonesian and Malaysian world in mind, many things now are much simpler and more interesting than they seemed to be before. Even my children are going to profit from this adventure by opening up their minds and planning prospective foreign education. One of my insights is that especially Austrians should start quitting their narrow minded approach towards the "rest of the world". Despite Austria being a very delightful spot, from my point of view most Austrians (and especially Austrian SME companies) still are too reluctant to establish prosperous foreign (SE-Asian) relationships, which obviously are going to result in an economic and human backwardness. Wherever I can, I will pronounce this sentence, in order to possibly wake up as many private and business people as possible. Bettina Pll Export-orientiertes Management

Dear Professor Anis, Id once again like to thank you so much for taking me on this once-in-a-lifetime trip and for everything else you did for me!! I have been telling everyone about the greatest professor I've ever met ;). I am so excited about my forthcoming internship in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta, and thank you for putting a trust on me. Katrin Wabro, M.A.

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Dear Prof. Anis, I have already recovered from the jet lag and a mild cold I caught in KL. Now it is time to say "Thank you" for your effort, time and enthusiasm. I would like to express my honest gratitude for the great 2 weeks in Jakarta and KL. I appreciate very much the fact that I had the opportunity to participate in the BFA 2010 trip. Thank you so much for the great speakers you invited and also many thanks for being so caring in terms of my ill leg in Jakarta. With gratitude and appreciation, All the best, Libor Havelka, Export 2007

Dear Professor, Now that I have had time to reflect and to digest about the BFA I really wanted to thank you to make it happen. It was an extraordinary experience for me and it took me quite a lot of time to really digest all the different impressions that we got during our trip. Because sometimes, during the trip, we had such a full program that it was quite difficult to think everything over and to think over everything properly. Having all these great speakers and memorable venues and premises in which all our conferences were taking place was very impressive. During this trip I realized ever than more that this is what I want to do in my future life working for an organization that actually is doing something important, that even can influence our whole environment , thus the world that we live in. Sometimes it was hard for me to catch it all and to actually realize how an important organization, like the ASEAN, is to practically all of us. I think that is also the reason why it took my so long to digest this whole experience which clearly imprints me inevitably and deeply. So again I wanted to thank you for this unique experience. Yours sincerely, Sarah Ashour EXP 2008

http://www.aseansec.org/24842.htm#Article-1 ; http://www.unpar.ac.id/berita.php?cmd=view&id=20100701143454 ; http://newspaper.pikiran-rakyat.com/prprint.php?mib=beritadetail&id=147235 ; http://www.pikiranrakyat.com/node/117225

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Austrians Learn About ASEAN ASEAN Secretariat, 1 July 2010


A group of over 30 students from the University of Krems in Austria, came to the ASEAN Secretariat today to find out more about the dynamic region. The notion that ASEAN is not presented and understood in the European Union inspired the group coordinator, Prof. Dr. Anis Bajrektarevic, to design the visit to close the knowledge gap. The students were welcomed by the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, Dato Misran Karmain, who delivered a briefing on the recent developments in ASEAN. Conveying his best wishes to the participants, Dato Misran said, I hope the study trip will enhance your knowledge on ASEAN and widen your network with the people in this region. The students were also briefed by Ambassador Julian Wilson, Delegation of the European Union to Indonesia and Timor-Leste and EU Ambassador to ASEAN, and Dr. Klaus Wlfer, Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia and to ASEAN. Among others, the Ambassadors spoke on ASEAN-EU relations and the importance of maintaining the close partnership. The group was also briefed by the ASEAN Secretariat officials on each of the pillars of the ASEAN Community before taking part in a lively Q&A session. The visit to the ASEAN Secretariat is part of an annual study trip where a group of students spend two weeks in two countries in a particular region and take part in academic lectures and study/cultural outdoor visits. They also meet experts, government officials and members of the royalty. The students will leave Indonesia for Malaysia on 4 July and spend another week there.

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14 ASEAN related events organized at the IMC by prof. Anis

1. ASEAN Currents Malaysian perspective H.E. G.H. Haniff, Ambassador of Malaysia to Austria and Deputy S.I. bin Yaakob Malaysian Embassy in Vienna (Tour de Table Seminar for the EXP VI sem. students) Vienna, 03 APR 03 * Concept and Chairing 3. Japan and current political and economic situation in Pacific Japanese Minister Mr. Kamiyama (Deputy Ambassador), Advisor Mr. Suzuki, First Secretary Mr. Iguchi and Director of Japans Info-Cultural Center Mr. Toda Japanese Embassy in Vienna http://www.at.emb-japan.go.jp/JHM022004/j_a2_022004.htm (Tour de Table Seminar for the EXP V sem. students) Krems, 05 DEC 03 * Co-Concept and Chairing 12. India at Glance H.E. Sheel Kant SHARMA, Ambassador of India to Austria IMC Baroque Hall (Speech & Tour de Table Seminar for the IMC faculty members) * Concept, principal host and Chairing 13. EU/Austria Australian view H.E. Ms. Deborah STOKES, Ambassador of Australia to Austria IMC Baroque Hall (Speech & Tour de Table Seminar for the IMC faculty members) * Concept, principal host and Chairing 32. Japan in Asia - The current and future position of Japan in the region H.E. Mr. Itaru UMEZU, Ambassador of Japan to Austria IMC Baroque Hall (Specially prepared speech for the EXP students &Tour de Table) * Concept, principal host and Chairing 33. Korea: The current and future position of S. Korea in the EA region H.E. Mr. KIM Sung-Hwan, Ambassador of Korea to Austria IMC Baroque Hall http://www.fachhochschulen.at/News/Detail/1397.htm (Specially prepared speech for the EXP students &Tour de Table) * Concept, principal host and Chairing

Krems, 04 APR 05

Krems, 20 MAY 05

Krems, 22 NOV 06

Krems, 17 JAN 07

52. The Chinas role and positions in the Universal Organization of UN/SA H.E. TANG Guoqiang, Ambassador Per-Rep. to the UN and other IOs in Vienna IMC Baroque Hall http://www.imc-krems.ac.at/news-presse/news/2008/ambassador-tang-guoqiang (Tour de Table Seminar for the IMC faculty members) Krems, 28 MAY 08 * Concept, principal host and Chairing 61. ASEAN/Asia series the ASEAN Crises of 990s and the Malaysias currents H.E. Mr. Mohd A.M. HUSSAIN, Ambassador of Malaysia to Austria and the Vienna-based IOs IMC U 2 http://www.fh-krems.ac.at/news-presse/news/2009/malaysia2019s-past-and-present-geopolitical-rolein-asia-with-h-e-ambassador-arshad ; http://www.fachhochschulen.ac.at/en/news?&page=2

(Tour de Table Seminar for the IMC faculty members) * Concept, principal host and Chairing

Krems, 19 MAR 09

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65. ASEAN/Asia series Booming Indochina: opportunities/obstacles seen from the Vietnam perspective H.E. Mr. Ba Than Nguyen, Amb. of the S.R. Viet Nam to Austria and the UN & Vienna IOs IMC Baroque Hall http://www.newstin.com/tag/us/119069127
http://www.fh-krems.ac.at/news-and-press/news/2009/the-history-of-vietnam-with-h-e-ambassador-nguyen-ba-than

(Tour de Table Seminar for the IMC faculty members) * Concept, principal host and Chairing

Krems, 22 APR 09

72. ASEAN/Asia series: Challenges and opportunities ahead the Philippines view H.E. Ms. Linglingay F. LACANLALE, Amb. of the Philippines to Austria and Vienna-based IOs IMC Baroque Hall (Tour de Table Seminar for the IMC faculty members) Krems, 24 NOV 09 * Concept, principal host and Chairing 75. ASEAN/Asia series: Challenges and opportunities ahead the Thailands view H.E. Ms. Nongnuth Phetcharatana, Ambassador of Thailand to Austria and Vienna-based IOs IMC Baroque Hall http://www.fh-krems.ac.at/news-presse/news/2010/ambassador-of-thailand-visited-fh-krems (Tour de Table Seminar for the IMC faculty members) Krems, 17 MAR 10 * Concept, principal host and Chairing 79. ASEAN/Asia series: Indonesian development quest H.E. Mr. Wesaka Puja, Ambassador of Indonesia to Austria and Vienna-based IOs IMC Baroque Hall
http://www.fh-krems.ac.at/news-and-press/news/2010/i-gusti-agung-wesaka-puja-ambassador-of-indonesia-to-austria-at-imc

(Tour de Table Seminar for the IMC faculty members) * Concept, principal host and Chairing

Krems, 13 OCT 10

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15 Contact information
Association of Southeast Asian Nation ASEAN Association of Southeast Retno Astrini Technical Officer Asian Nations Security Cooperation Division Political & Security Directorate ASEAN Political & Security Community Department Tel: +62 21 726 2991 Ext. 426 Fax: +62 21 739 8234, 724 3504 Email: retno.astrini@asean.org Mr. Jan-Willem Blankert Delegation of the European Union Special Adviser ASEAN Delegation of the European Union to Indonesia and to Indonesia and Brunei Brunei Darussalam Intiland Tower, 16th Floor, Jl. Jend. Sudirman 32, www.delidn.ec.europa.eu Jakarta 10220 Tel: (62 21) 2554 6208 HP: 08118000475 Fax: (62 21) 2554 6201 Email: jan-willem.blankert@ec.europa.eu Alessandro PAOLICCHI Delegation of the European Union Counsellor Head of Section - Trade and Economic Relations to Malaysia European Union Delegation to Malaysia www.delmys.ec.europa.eu Menara Tan & Tan, Suite 10.01 , 207 Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: (+60-3) 2723 7373 Fax: (+60-3) 2723 7337 E-mail: alessandro.paolicchi@ec.europa.eu Mr. Gusmardi Bustami Director Jenderai Kerjasama Perdagangan Internasional Gedung Utami, Lantai 8 Jalan M.I. Ridwan Rais No. 5 Jakarta Pusat 110 Tel: +62 21 2352 8600 pes. 36200, 36900 Fax:. +62 21 2352 8610 Email: djkpi@depdag.go.id, gusmardi.bustami@depdag.go.id gusmardi.bustami@ties.itu.int

Perdagangan Internasional
www.depdag.go.id www.ditjenkpi.depdag.go.id

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Mr. Ben Perkasa Drajat Director of the Junior Diplomatic Director of the Junior Diplomatic Training Course, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia Training Courses Main Building, 2nd floor 73, Jl Sisingamangaraja Jakarta Seletan 12120 Indonesia Tel: 7250008-129, 3441508-8810, 7243752 Fax: (62-21) 7395746 Mobile: 081905223390 Email: bendrajat_1990@yahoo.com Mr. Christian C. Henry, SE., MBA. Lecturer of Accounting Department at UNPAR, Faculty of Economics Jl. Ciumbuleuit 94, Bandung 40141 Jawa Barat, Indonesia Tel: 022-2041964 628 Fax: 022-2042571 Email: Christian.henry@home.unpar.ac.id Mohd Halimi Ibrahim Under Secretary of International Affair Division, Ministry of Tourism Malaysia Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putry (PWTC) 45, Jalan Tun Ismail, 50695 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: +603-2696 3143 (DL) +603-2693 7111 Fax: +603-2691 5723 E-Mail: halimi@motour.gov.my MOHD. AZNOR MAHAT Principal Assistant Secretary Department of Info Public Diplomacy Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wisma Putra No.1, Jalan Wisma Putra Precint 2, 62602 Putrajaya Malaysia Tel: 603-8887 4214 Fax: 603-8889 2720 Email: mdaznor@kln.gov.my

UNPAR Parahyangan Catholic University


www.unpar.ac.id

Ministry of Tourism
www.motour.gov.my/

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, KL

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DatoMukhriz Mahathir
Ministry of International Trade Deputy Minister and Industry
www.miti.gov.my

Ministry of International Trade and Industry 15th Floor, Block 10 Government Offices Complex Jalan Duta 50622 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Tel: +6 03-6201 1317 Fax: +6 03-6201 7346 Email: mukhrizm@miti.gov.my
Mag. Herwig Neuper Der Stellvertretende Handelsdelegierte fr Indonesien Auenhandelsstelle Jakarta Austrian Embassy Commercial Section Menara Kadin, 19th Fl., Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Blok X5, Kav. 2 & 3 Jakarta 12950 Indonesia Tel: +62 21 2550 0186 Fax: +62 21 527 4707 Email: Jakarta@wko.at Dr. Franz Schrder sterreichischer Handelsdelegierter fr Malaysia und Brunei Suite 14.1, Level 14, Menara IMC, No. 8, Jalan Sultan Ismail 5020 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Tel: +60 3 20322830 Fax: +60 3 20323130 Email: kualalumpur@wko.at Ms. Rahimah Abdulrahim Program I& Public Relations Manager The Habibie Center Building Jl. Kemang Selatan No. 98 Jakarta 12560 Indonesia Tel: (62-21) 7817211 Fax: (62-21) 7817212 Email: ima@habibiecenter.co.id imaabdul@gmail.com Dean Yulindra Affandi ASEAN Study Program Coordinator

Auenhandelsstelle Jakarta, WKO


www.wko.at/awo/id

Auenhandelsstelle KL, WKO


http://wko.at/awo

The Habibie Center


http://www.habibiecenter.or.id

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The Habibie Center Building Jl. Kemang Selatan No. 98 Jakarta 12560 Indonesia Phone: (62-21) 7817211 Fax: (62-21) 7817212 Email: daffandi@habibiecenter.co.id imaabdul@gmail.com Dr. Ir. Fuad Rasyid, MSc Director For Administrative Affairs The Habibie Center Building Jl. Kemang Selatan No. 98 Jakarta 12560 Indonesia Tel: (62-21) 7817211 Fax: (62-21) 7817212 Email: fuadi@habibiecenter.or.id Mr. David Parsons KADIN Business Support Desk Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Policy & Research Tel: +62 21 527 4503 ext. 102 +62 812 1068 166 Email: david@parsons-asia.com

KADIN Business Support Desk

City Council Melaka


www.mbmb.gov.my

Director of Urban Planning Mr. Hj. Mansor Sudin, Graha Makmur, No.1, Lebuh Ayer Keroh, 75450 Melaka, Malaysi Tel: +606 285 9848 Fax: +606-232-5716 Email: mansor@mbmb.gov.my. Contact number 0196555561
H.E. Ambassador Andrea Wicke Austrian Embassy Wisma Goldhill Suite 10.01-02, Level 10 67, Jalan Raja Chulan 50200 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Tel: 03-20570020 Fax: 03-23817768 Email: kualalumpur@bmeia.gv.at

Austrian Embassy to Malaysia

113

Austrian Embassy to Indonesia


www.aussenministerium.at/bangkok

H.E. Dr. Klaus Wlfer Ambassador of Austria Austrian Embassy Indonesia Jalan Terusan Denpasar Raya (Jalan H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. X/3 N 1, Kuningan), Jakarta Selatan 12950 Tel. (+62/21) 25 93 037-40 (Ms. Sri) Fax: (+62/21) 52 92 06 51

Institute

of

Diplomacy

Foreign Relations
www.idfr.gov.my

H.E. Ambassador Abdullah Faiz Zain, Senior and Director Institute of Diplomacy & Foreign Relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jalan Wisma Putra 50460 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: + (603) 2149 1102 Fax: + (603) 2144 9197 Email: faiz@idfr.gov.my Parliament Malaysia Parliament Malaysia, Bangunan Parlimen, 50680 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 603-20721955 Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Higher Education Email: saifuddin61@yahoo.com Fong Po Kuan, Member of the Malaysian Parliament Email: pkfongz@yahoo.com Rosnah Hj Abd Rashid Shirlin, Deputy Minister of Health Email: RosnahShirlin@yahoo.com

Parliament Malaysia
http://www.parlimen.gov.my/

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16 Credits
Final draft of the report Photos Country Info Indonesia Country Info Malaysia Monday, 28th June Tuesday, 29th June Wednesday, 30th June Thursday, 1st July Saturday, 3rd July Monday, 5th July Tuesday, 6th July Wednesday, 7th July Thursday, 8th July Friday, 9th July Androsevic, Trauner, Wabro Froschauer, Hanke, Maurina Karl Wolf Plewa, Sturm Havelka, Ulreich Ashour, Weber Laisy, Liu Pfeifer, Reimann Dennig, Schmickel Buchmayr, Krainer Pll, Tiang-Nga Irndorfer, Kahr, Wimmer Bisinger, Herko

115

Dubai Airport 22

Jakarta, city lights 23

116

Jakarta, street-life 24

Bandung, Tea-fields smile 25

117

Jakarta, Jazz that sreeet, jazz em all... 26

Every morning something to report, prof. Anis Bajrektarevic listens to debriefing 27

118

Volcano road, BFA crew and prof. Bajrektarevic 28

Jakarta, Scene from the Theatrical performance, great joy before meeting the actors back-stage 29

119

Jakarta, Reception at the Residence of Austrian Ambassador, prof. Anis Bajrektarevic Mrs. Ambassador and Us 30

Jakarta, Reception at the Residence of A. Amb., Falk-dance performance kindly organized by Amb. Wlfer for us 31

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Diplomatic Academy of Indonesia, Consul Swoboda, MFA host and prof. Anis Bajrektarevic 32

Bandung, Reception at the Residence of H.C. Eddy, exchange of presents with prof. Bajrektarevic 33

121

Diplomatic Academy of Indonesia, Director David Parsons and his KADIN team, deputy EU Delegation Head Mr. Blankert and prof. Anis Bajrektarevic 34

Jakarta, ASEAN HQ group photo 35

122

Jakarta, Diplomatic Academy opening with Consul Swoboda, hosts and prof. Anis Bajrektarevic 36

Kuala Lumpur, Parliaments Senat Room, prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, Oposition leader Ms. F.P. Kuan, Minister Deputy of Higher Education Mr. S. Abdullah and BFA team 37

123

Collections of famous Malaysian butterflies, City Lake Garden Park, Kuala Lumpur 38

Kuala Lumpur, MATIC, Theatrical folk-dance show for the BFA participants 39

124

Kuala Lumpur, Treaty Room IDFR, prof. Anis Bajrektarevic during his Opening Statement 40

Reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, Putrajaya HQ 41

125

Minister Deputy, Dr. M. Mahathir welcoming the BFA participants and prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, IDFR-Treaty Room, Kuala Lumpur 42

Reception at the MFA of Malaysia, Putrajaya HQ Mr. Erwin Ulreich addresses the audience in Bahasa 43

126

Business Focus ASEAN 2010

Family photo of the BFA 2 participants with Deputy Minister Dr. Mahathir, IDFRs Senior Director Amb. Faiz, Director Vasudiwan and prof. Anis Bajrektarevic Wisma Putra IDFR, 08 JUL 20110 44

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