of respecting and appreciating cultures

once, i was talking to a retired ambassador and he remarked what i considered as a fatherly advice, " in diplomatic service, you have to love meeting people". i could not agree more with him. my career background in teaching proofs itself as a valuable bonus. i love knowing more people, making new connection and broaden my view of life.

foreign and diplomatic service can indeed be very interesting and exciting if we open up ourselves to new and unknown experience, making us larger than life. as a spouse to a diplomat, i take pride of having the opportunity to see and to feel for myself the beauty of other people's vibrant culture. this host country i am residing in still retains its rich traditional and native legacy, with clear evident of the cultures brought in by its occupants in the distant past. somehow, the blend reflects great acceptance and tolerance of the people, giving this land a unique representation of how east can harmoniously meet west. despite the vastness or diversity of their practices, values, and beliefs and the complexities of their history, the people have great camarederie and in fact have been known as the happiest people in the world!

as i was enjoying the local performances, their medleys of folk songs, graceful dances and traditional musical instrument as well as their hospitality, i couldn't help but wish, how beautiful the world would be if we all take the effort to understand, appreciate and respect each others cultures. opening ourselves is indeed the very first step, the keypoint to cherish both differences and commonalities that should bring out the best of all of us.

beautiful land, beautiful people with beautiful heart. thanks for making me so much welcomed and thanks for widening my horizon :-)

cream of the crop

in the previous post, i just penned down my thought on what make a good diplomat or ambassador. and yesterday, my eyes caught an exciting and mind- boggling editorial article in the local newspaper. i read it with special interest since it speaks about the urge to limit the number of political appointees in the diplomatic service of the host country foreign affair department.
i couldn't help myself from smiling because apparently the issue of who make a good diplomat; trainned career diplomats or selected political appointee has also hit this foreign shore and perhaps has become a universal diplomatic issue else where too.
i have to admit that politics is not my cup of tea. interestingly though, having been a spouse of a diplomat in this esteem service has somehow spurred my concern in politics and diplomacy. at least i care about what's going on all around the globe. politics and diplomacy for one thing, has enhanced my sense of patriotism. of course i am not keen of supporting any parties, instead, the commitment goes solely to the country. history and the tumultuos arab world crisis in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt right now hopefully, will never be replicated in our own homeland. and therefore, i support not any attempt to tarnish the government reputation, to topple it, or to give way for foreign intervention. here lies the need of having such expertise of charismatic diplomat with either political and diplomatic backround or better still, both.

no doubt, diplomats are almost always the cream of the crop, having been selected as the finest among the best trainned diplomatic officers, usually reputadly those with high level of language proficiency, intellect as well as excellent command not only in diplomacy, but also administration, management and international relation just to name a few. nevertheless, i am afraid, substantiating the correlation between a good diplomat and merely those criteria would not be fairly established.

language acquisition is naturally accellerated by a stimulating environment that requires and encourages its usage. as such, given the chance, anyone is capable of achieving the fluency. yet, we have to bear in mind that linguitics intelligence itself includes not only speech or presentation ability. instead, it also covers the ability of one to be word smart in order to obtain the desired communication objective. highly potential diplomat should also posses or develop interpersonal as well as intrapersonal skills. these are normally develop through positive nurturing especially at the very green age. in short, IQ and EQ are equally important in diplomatic career. whereby, being well versed in all the other areas does not come solely from few years of rigorous academic trainning and exposure only in foreign services. so if only these
are allowed to define a good diplomat again, i'm afraid it might do injustice.
there's stark contrast between academic achievement and years and years of hands-on experience in diplomacy. politicians though not all, i'm afraid might be better at this.


diplomatic service should therefore welcome the participation of political appointees or diplomatic officers from just any departments or ministries. time has changed and it requires us to adapt with the changing and demanding diplomatic landscape. having diplomat whose
career has taken him or her across multiple departments and ministries or those from political field should be an added advantage. what is important, diplomats must possess the best ethics possible, profesionalism, knowledge as well as hands-on experience, expertise and perhaps above all those qualities, he or she must be highly patriotics and be aware of his or her duty and responsibility to serve the country
at all times. it is certainly very common for career diplomats to assume ambassadorship at the pinnacle of their careers, however, we should keep in mind that such a pristigious post comes with great responsibilities. and therefore, QUALITIES should always be prioritized rather than individual. the cream of the crop could be just anyone, anyone with remarkable leadership and capabilities yet to be recognized. the brightest
among the bright could be just anywhere, should we look hard enough and give the chance to all. an open door policy would encourage more healthy competition. only then, we would really discover the cream of the crop, beef up performance and make diplomacy more relevant. so why not?