ASEAN
Benefit from ASEAN or leave it, experts say
ASEAN will continue to be the cornerstone of Indonesiaโs foreign policy, said a government official, despite increasing pressure for Jakarta to move beyond the regional grouping.
A number of experts have accused the Southeast Asian bloc of having fallen back on its promises to solve membersโ disputes and deliver democracy.
Djauhari Oratmangun, director general of ASEAN affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said Jakarta would remain committed to the associationโs 10 members, which would embark on one ASEAN community by 2015, for the sake of geographical proximity and regional stability.
โOur involvement in ASEAN is not optional. We want to establish relations with both ASEAN and other countries,โ said Djauhari in a roundtable discussion co-hosted by the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) and the of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) political foundation in Bandung.
โIt is important for us to make sure that we establish good relations with our own neighbors before we embark on new cooperations with countries beyond the region.โ
Although established with the aim to solve common issues, ASEAN has not developed a mechanism to deal with them. Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur resorted to the International Court of Justice to solve their dispute on Sipadan Ligitan Islands while Thailand and Cambodia resorted to a UN mechanism when they encountered similar border disputes.
โIf members cannot solve their issues within ASEAN, whatโs the importance of maintaining it as the corner stone of our foreign policy?โ said Andi Lolo, a lecturer from the University of Hasanuddin in Makasar, during the discussion.
Jakarta has been increasingly told to shift its foreign policy focus to the global level as the largest economy in Southeast Asia has been too consumed with consolidating its influence in ASEAN despite the slow progress of economic and political cooperation among association members. Jakartaโs membership in the G20 of the worldโs largest economies over the last two years has been mentioned as an alternative for its new foreign policy focus, especially when the country is working to translate its portfolio in political diplomacy into economic benefits to support growth.
โIn terms of trade, Indonesiaโs exports to ASEAN countries only increased by 2 percent in the last 10 years; while in politics, we have not seen any progress in Myanmar,โ said Evan A. Laksmana, a researcher with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
โJakarta has to start figuring out where itโs heading and what its strategic plans are for the next 20 years,โ he said.
ASEAN members have maintained the principle of non-interference that will not see democracies, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, urge Myanmarโs military junta to speed up democratization.
The ASEAN human rights body has not been helpful as it is not authorized to receive reports on abuse nor can it investigate, let alone punish perpetrators of human rights violations. NGOs and the media have criticized the body as a watchdog that neither bites not barks.
Winfried Weck, a representative for KAS in Jakarta, said ASEANโs initiative of one community might remain bleak because members treated the grouping as their โforeign policy fieldโ that saw little involvement from other stakeholders beyond foreign ministers.
Mail from: Ms. Wahyuningrum (Yuyun)
By: Lilian Budianto, The Jakarta Post
When: 7/2/2014