August 2005 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

INTERVIEW
Interview with retiring Netherlands Ambassador, Mr.
By Wil Kolen & Brigitte Velema
Mr. van Pesch has reached the final stage of his
now 36 year long career as representative for
the Dutch queen. The position of Netherlands
Ambassador in Singapore is the last one he will
be completing this month.
We had the opportunity to speak with Mr. van
Pesch and reflect on his experiences as diplomat
and ambassador for the Netherlands in the
various countries he was posted.
Born in Bandung, Java, 1942.
His family moved to Holland when he was four
years old. At the age of 16 he decided he wanted
to become a diplomat and studied in Leiden
before moving to Paris to take on Political Science
and Arabic language. His first position was at the
Foreign Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in The Hague. This was the start of a great career
during which he was posted in several Middle
Eastern and Asian countries.
Mr. van Pesch is married to Mrs. Viviane Sioufi
(born Libanese) and together they have two sons.
After living abroad for so many years, do
you still feel ‘Dutch’?
Yes of course. Although I haven’t spent that much
time in Holland, by working for a Dutch institution
like the Embassy I need to stay in touch with
Holland on a daily basis.
I have studied law in Leiden for a while, but
decided to give that up and go and study in Paris
instead.
Why did you choose to study Political
science in combination with Arabic
language?
Since my 16th year I decided I wanted to become
a diplomat. This idea got stuck in my head and I
worked towards it to make this come true. My
studies in Leiden did not work out and I decided to
make a definite move towards reaching my goal.
During the first year at the university in Paris I
had to write an essay about the Middle East conflict.
In my enthusiasm over this research, I thought it
would be a good idea to learn both Hebrew and
the Arabic language as well. With hindside that
was actually a bit naïve and idealistic step.
Which country has given you the best
memories and which country the worst?
I’m an optimist and try to look at situations in a
positive manner. From that perspective, every
posting was interesting in its own right although
some were easier than others of course. For
instance Libya, where I spent some time, was a
difficult spot. In those days the political climate
wasn’t that good under Khadafi.
I had the position of Chargé d’Affaires and did
not have any superiors and therefore carried sole
responsibility. Once I had visitors over from the
Union bicycle factory to try and set up a business
in Lybia. On their off-day, these guys went out sight
seeing in Tripoli but were then accused of spying
and immediately arrested. This was of course
ridiculous, but it became a difficult situation and
I helped them by getting rid of the ‘evidence’.
After which they still had to spend some time in
jail for interrogation.
The most interesting country was China. I
remember when we arrived there in 1980. It wasn’t
very developed then and there weren’t many lights.
We had some trouble to get into the country
because our newborn baby wasn’t included in the
visa application.
While driving into Beijing, the road was
completely dark and I was thinking, where have
we arrived?
During my stay there I experienced the
Taiwanese submarine crisis, which was a very
sensitive case that stirred up some dust and is not
easily forgotten by the Chinese government.
In wintertime, there wasn’t much available
although we received some supplies from Hong
Kong.
I could not speak or read the language and
often depended on translators.
Sometimes we had to deal with translators
who had studied the Dutch language in Surinam,
which was tough at times as we weren’t sure how
our words would be interpreted.
But I always wanted to look at the bright side
of things. You learn to deal with these situations
and look at things in a more relative manner.
While living there and discussing the situation,
I received some advise from one of my diplomat
colleagues; In the life of a diplomat there are two
most important aspects to take care of: Your kids
and your teeth; you never know how your kids can
be affected by living in foreign countries and
through constantly changing environment. The
dentists never agree with each other, so you may
end up with dental renovations all the time.
What is your favorite Singaporean food?
I love spicy food, Indian and Indonesian style.
Indonesian curry based dishes are my favorite.
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Vol.15 • No. 6 • July/August 2005