Clinton’s visit and a new level of cooperation

Jusuf Wanandi, The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Tue, 02/17/2009 9:26 AM  

A heartfelt welcome to Secretary Hillary Clinton! 

This first visit by her to Indonesia as US Secretary of State, together with visits to Japan, China and South Korea, is a harbinger for closer and higher levels of engagement and cooperation between Indonesia and the US. 

This is no more “business as usual” between two widely different countries, as the relations are often portrayed by experts and officials on both sides. 

As Prof. Raja Mohan from the NTU’s Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, said in an earlier op-ed piece, the relationship has changed. 

This visit, according to one of the most acclaimed strategists of India who follows the East Asian regional closely, “is confirming a new trend among major powers — the recognition of Indonesia’s recent achievements and their implications for the nation’s changing profile in Asia and the world”. 

We have had bright moments in our relations, as during president Nixon’s first term, when at the end of the US war in Vietnam, Indonesia was chosen as a member of the International Commission to implement the Paris Agreement on Vietnam, and also supported the regime change of president Lon Nol of Cambodia, who had to leave his country to go into exile in Hawaii. But that was during the Cold War, and since Indonesia had escaped from the clutches of Communism, she became the de facto bulwark for a free and independent Southeast Asia. 

Those relations was shaped by the close personal relationship between Nixon and Soeharto, and were mainly in military and security cooperation, as in economic terms Indonesia was on the receiving end and the political systems of the two countries were so different. 

Today, Indonesia is a decent democracy that appears to be the most stable one in Southeast Asia. The economy has been stabilized, and the military has been placed back in the barracks, and regional conflicts, especially in Aceh, have been resolved peacefully. 

Furthermore, having the largest Muslim community in the world, around 200 million strong, Indonesia will be an important model for Muslims in the world, if they are able to show that in practice Islam can be reconciled with modernity, democracy and economic development, coupled with equality. 

Washington could establish strategic relations with Indonesia to strengthen regional security in the East Asian region, promoting a peaceful maritime environment through cooperation on the important straits in the waters of the Indonesian archipelago, structuring a stable balance of power in the region, regaining credibility in the Muslim world, and developing a stronger framework to counter terrorism and extremism. 

Since Indonesia is eager to strengthen cooperation in the East Asian region in overcoming the financial and economic crisis the world is enduring, this opens the way for collaboration with the US in the G20 context, as well as in the East Asian regional context, such as the Chiang Mai Initiative and the East Asia Summit (EAS). 

On the other hand the US presence in the region is critical for peace and stability and in

providing strategic choices for the countries of East Asia, especially Indonesia. 

The US also is the centerpiece of economic recovery for the world and needs support and cooperation from the region and Indonesia. 

For Indonesia, economic recovery and development are critical to sustain a democracy that has started to deepen, and in facing extremism, instability and conflicts in the future. 

We also have to cooperate in maintaining open global trade, overcoming the challenges of climate change and sharing renewable and clean alternative energy, as well as on nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in East Asia. 

We also need US help in improving our education, especially at the tertiary level, which is critical for our future, for the future of democracy in Indonesia and sustainable economic development. 

We have to cooperate closely to overcome poverty globally, regionally and nationally, because the crisis will remove the opportunities that emerged pre-crisis toward achieving sustainable development. For all these to happen, we need regular exchanges and dialogues. 

At the bilateral level, we need a biannual dialogue at the deputy or undersecretary level. At the East Asian regional level, the US has to be involved in a new summit for the region consisting perhaps of eight of the most important countries according to GDP, size and strategic importance. 

The US, China, Japan, India, Russia, Indonesia, South Korea, and Australia come to mind, with ASEAN as an associate member. The members will have to be limited in number to make it work. 

At the global level, the G20 is a good start and has to be taken seriously by both. That is why both presidents have to attend this important event. 

Secretary Clinton’s visit will open a new era in our relations and begin to explore some of the possibilities mentioned above. 

In the future, all those areas of cooperation have to be worked out together in a consistent manner. 

A possible visit by President Obama to Indonesia in November could be seen as an opportunity to strengthen this new level of cooperation that is elevated to a strategic relationship, through the development of a common agenda that is well deliberated and workable in advance of that visit. 

The writer is vice chairman of CSIS Foundation’s board of trustees.

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