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Mediation was the theme of this year’s United Nations General Assembly. By choosing this theme, the gathering opened a window for Indonesia to assert its presence in a field where it has a wealth of knowledge and experience.

In this field of diplomacy, Indonesia has star status.

The late Ali Alatas, regarded in his time as a great statesman, produced some remarkable results in mediation during his watch as foreign minister in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the late 1980s, Indonesia launched and steered the peace process that led to the rebirth of Cambodia. That was a watershed in the history of peace-making. Then Indonesia mediated talks that led to a peace agreement between the Philippine government and the separatist Moro National Liberation Front in the mid-1990s.

In 1990, Indonesia initiated the yearly Informal Workshop on Managing Potential Conflict in the South China Sea. That workshop was a factor in the adoption by Asean and China of the Declaration on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

Today, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa is carrying on that tradition of mediation. Earlier this year, he pursued a hectic shuttle diplomacy to make Thailand and Cambodia, in a hot dispute about a border line and a Hindu temple, calm down and hold their artillery fire.

He won the support of the UN Security Council for the role of Indonesia, as Asean chair, in mediating this dispute. The matter is now under litigation before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In its provisional order this past July, the Court directed both litigants to “continue the cooperation which they have entered into with Asean.”

That means Indonesian observers will stand between the two armies to ensure the cease-fire holds.

The informal dialogue between the foreign ministers of the two Koreas during the Asean Regional Forum session in Bali in July was another breakthrough in mediation. There were no hugs between the Koreas, to be sure, but they were not at each other’s throat either. They were talking civilly, which could not have happened without Indonesia’s patient shepherding.

Hassan Wirajuda’s watch as foreign minister from 2001 to 2009 is best remembered for Indonesia’s drive for democratization of Asean and Asia, but he was no slouch at mediation. He strengthened the South China Sea workshop and worked for the establishment of institutions that serve as instruments of mediation. The Institute of Peace and Democracy of the Bali Democracy Forum is his baby.

What’s the big deal about mediation? The simple answer is that the human condition requires it. Since the beginning, the human race has survived using two seemingly contradictory strategies: cooperation and competition.

Without cooperation, a human being was helpless against the onslaught of nature. He would have been dinner to every big carnivore that prowled the savannah. But given genes for cooperation, humans were able to forage, then hunt, farm and build cities together. Arguably, the United Nations is the highest form of human cooperation.

On the other hand, without competition, there would be no incentive for excellence. Humankind could not have produced the pioneers, thinkers and leaders who advanced the frontiers of human achievement.

But there are bad forms of cooperation and bad forms of competition. Cartels and hegemonies are pernicious forms of cooperation. War is competition at its worst. There are too many armed conflicts raging in the world today. We don’t need that kind of competition.

But when combatants are weary of fighting, the violence persists because they do not talk with each other. The one who says “let’s talk” will be seen by the other as weak.

There has to be a third party — neutral and trusted — with which both sides can talk. It can help both combatants see what they cannot see in the heat of conflict: how their respective self-interest is served by mutual accommodation.

Hence, every measure of success that Indonesia gains in its role as mediator is a sign that it is trusted, trustworthy and communicates well.

If the dialogue leads to peace, the dividends of peace (often in the form of economic development) will be enjoyed by all — even by those who are totally uninvolved.

Because the dividends of mediated peace are always a blessing, mediation becomes something like a sacred calling, one in which Indonesia should be encouraged to specialize.

Blessed are the peacemakers, indeed.

Jamil Maidan Flores is a poet, fiction writer, playwright and essayist who has worked as a speechwriter for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1992.