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Indonesia gains many opportunities for global role with U.S. election
Pribadi Sutiono , Jakarta | Tue, 10/21/2008 11:26 AM | Opinion
In less than one month from now, the people of the United States of America will elect their new president. The appointment of a new president in a big country such as the United States, like it or not, will have an impact on the policy of many nations in the world, including Indonesia.
The two recent debates suggest there is no great difference between the two parties' domestic and foreign policies. Unfortunately, neither appears to consider Southeast Asia or even Indonesia as an important place to deal with. There are several reasons for this. First, understanding the debates, we recognized that both candidates would focus on domestic economic policy. For McCain and Obama, the current U.S. economic turmoil is too important to be ignored. Whoever wins the election will have to spend the first six or even 12 months of his presidency boosting the world's confidence in the U.S. economy, while at the same time trying to recover the U.S.'s economic might.
Both McCain and Obama will conduct their foreign policy based on the so-called "traditional" issues, such as the conflict in the Middle East, including considering the importance of Israel in that conflict. This policy has been made by many administrations in the United States, whether covertly or overtly.
Another "traditional" issue the next president will have to focus on is the issue of Iraq. Indeed, the two men have a different approach to ending this saga. But both surely will make this issue a priority for foreign policy. The same will apply to the issue of Afghanistan and U.S. relations with the European Union. The only probable difference between McCain and Obama in their foreign policy will be the Iran nuclear issue. McCain tends to use a stern approach while Obama is willing to sit down and talk directly with the Ahamadinejad regime.
The question now is why Southeast Asia and especially Indonesia have not received sufficient attention from either candidate. There are various reasons for this. First, as explained above, it is obvious that the United States will focus its attention on the situation in the domestic economy. For some time, foreign policy will not be a priority except as far as it concerns recovering America's economy. In foreign policy terminology, the economic crisis means that for the time being, the United States will lose power to other regions and states, especially European Union and Russia. Therefore, the United States needs to concentrate on its domestic economic recovery effort and regain its influence on the world stage.
Second, the political situation and condition in the Southeast Asia region have remained stable over the past decade. Except for the recent situations in Myanmar and Thailand, there has been no political emergency that required the direct involvement of the United States. The establishment of the ASEAN community and the ASEAN Charter has given a guarantee to the United States that any regional emergency could be handled through ASEAN's mechanisms.
As for U.S. relations with Indonesia, 10 years of political stability in Indonesia has assured the United States that Indonesia is able to manage its domestic situation. Indonesia is also now regarded as the world's third largest democracy after the United States and India. Some analysts even regard Indonesia now as the capital of democracy in the world. For the United States, this phenomenon is in line with U.S. foreign policy.
With almost 200 million Muslims in its population, Indonesia is able to prove that Islam and democracy are indeed compatible with each other. Indonesia is also one of the countries (if not the only country) that has managed to control terrorism and bring the perpetrators to justice. This will ease U.S. suspicions about Islam and the Muslim community.
The candidates' oversight should not make Indonesia feel neglected by the United States. Since the United States will be preoccupied with domestic issues, the situation has created more opportunity for Indonesia to play a significant role in the region as well as internationally in three different policies. First, Indonesia could become a "bridge builder" in solving the problem between Palestine and Israel. Given Indonesia's large Muslim population and its traditional stance on the Palestine-Israel issue, Indonesia has a positive influence in bringing about Middle East conflict resolution conferences initiated by the United States or other parties.
The same position could also be taken on the Iranian nuclear weapons issue. Indonesia's position in this matter could help the Iranian government, the United States and other parties to meet and discuss about the issue.
Another important way that Indonesia could play a role is by sharing its experiences in promoting democracy to other states in the region. This does not mean that Indonesia will follow the U.S. style of promoting democracy. Far from it: Indonesia's illuminating experience in the past decade suggests that democracy cannot be imposed from outside by outsiders. As a matter of fact, for a democracy to work properly, its seeds must be planted in the soil of a nation's life.
And then, democracy will grow only if it is nurtured by the nation itself. In this regard, democracy could function as a platform upon which members of the international community, with Indonesia as an initiator, compare their notes and share their experiences with one another. The process of mutual learning and sharing of experiences would further vet the nature of democracy as unifying factor. The Bali Democracy Forum, initiated by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, will serve as such a platform.
There is no other country in this world that offers such a perfect combination of these related aspects as Indonesia, whether the U.S. presidential candidates choose to speak about it or not.
The writer is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He currently works for the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs. This article reflects his personal views and not the view of the department.
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Ketti (not verified) — Mon, 10/27/2008 - 10:25am
Mr. Ian, there is no citizen who sees his country as unimportant and even he will fight in every ways to keep and protect his country's good image from other countries, unless he does not love his country. So, it is being normal and even good effort for the writer as good citizen if he promotes his country as the largest country democracy.
I think it is impossible for U.S.'s presidential candidates to speak about Indonesia as long as they still believe that their country is the super power,even though we all know how bad reputation this country is. However, it is likely similar to the relation between teacher and student. There is no teacher who wants to learn from his student though he recognizes that his student is more clever than his.
Ian Wirajuda (not verified) — Sat, 10/25/2008 - 9:51pm
Mr. Sutiono's article has introduced a new perception on Indonesia's importance towards the ongoing US presidential campaign. It is true that the presidential candidates have the right to speak about Indonesia or not, but the underlying question here is that 'if Indonesia see itself as important, with all the resources that have been mentioned in this article, why none of the candidates speak about Indonesia?' Even have said that the candidates emphasize heavily on the reconstruction of US economic system, why did they not ask Indonesia about the prescription used to stabilize Indonesia's economic condition in the late 1990s? At least, this can be used as a parameter when those candidates view Indonesia as important. The inward looking behavior (of why Indonesian thinks that Indonesia is important) is indeed necessary to boost the nation's self confident, but an outward looking by gaining perspective and recognition, not only perception, that Indonesia is important carries a significant importance to share a common recognition globally especially when such recognition comes from a potential presidential candidates of the world's hegemony.
Komeng (not verified) — Thu, 10/23/2008 - 10:15am
Yeah....a little bit agree to your opinion on democracy in Indonesia. Nevertheless, dont you see, mr.Pribadi, that our people are not ready to learn and even share their knowledge with each other yet?
I am not pessimiss to what you promote our prospect of democracy because we still optimist that we should gain many opportunities as as much as we can even though there are still doubt about our people preparedness. I have several reasons for that. First, I think that there are still many our people who do not know what the meaning of democracy really is. How can we people do the right democracy when we ourselves do not know about democracy? Can you answer that. Second, how can we people fight for democracy while we dont have weapon. It can be happened but is it in the right line or in the wrong line.
I hope this my doubtness only in my wrong perception. Fortunately, I still optimist we people can do till now.
Ketti (not verified) — Wed, 10/22/2008 - 12:30pm
In reality, we should realize that no country could live alone and without helping to each other. If there is, it would be no longer survived. Thats why I really agree to Mr. Pribadi's opinion on the significance of mutual learning and sharing experiences in processing to the democracy. These mutual learning and sharing experiences should be the basic principle of all countries to solve any problems of both domestic and international affairs in recent democratization era.
I hope Indonesia could more learn and share experience with other countries on how to implement democracy which is more compatible with the Indonesian people's characteristics.
Mohammad Ali (not verified) — Wed, 10/22/2008 - 12:54am
Mr Pribadi has made a good point on the future relations between US and Indonesia. As the world's global power house, the US has maintained a position of interest in all parts of the world, with or without direct intervention. By using its political and economical powers, US is trying to subdue the different nations of the world into adapting its democratic values and economic agendas.
The recent collapse of the US economy is a sign that something is wrong with its program, and Indonesia should look to other economic powerhouses. In democracy, the US is a poor represented nation, where there are only 2 major political parties. Indonesia domestic democracy is more colorful, with 34 parties now preparing to next year elections, thus more democratic than the US.
although the US cannot interfere directly with Indonesia's policies, it is constantly influencing Indonesia's sovereignty, by allowing the US Congress to defend separatist groups operating in Indonesia. Such support underestimates Indonesia's sovereignty, and endangers the security situation in Indonesia.