Foreign policy lacks ability to confront terror threats<\/p>\n
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia's foreign policy lacked the ability to cope with the
\nregional shift in security threats, where transnational crimes
\nlike terrorism have overshadowed traditional threats from other
\ncountries, analysts said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
They said Indonesia was facing a more complex world with
\nthreats coming from organizations and individuals that do not
\nrepresent their countries of origin.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's foreign policy dated back to the Cold War era,
\nwhile it needed one that was more responsive to changes, said
\nforeign policy analysts during a seminar on regional security.<\/p>\n
"Traditional security threats, such as wars between countries,
\nare not significant within ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian
\nNations)," foreign policy analyst Dewi Fortuna Anwar of the
\nIndonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) told reporters. "We
\n(ASEAN) have a code of conduct to resolve friction, so it's hard
\nto imagine two ASEAN countries at war."<\/p>\n
C.P.F. Luhulima, another analyst and a senior fellow of the
\nCentre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), commented,
\n"We need to change our mind-set."<\/p>\n
Indonesia's "free and active" or non-alignment foreign policy
\nmade sense in the Cold War era when the world was still divided
\ninto East and West blocks, he explained.<\/p>\n
Back then, foreign policies assumed that other states were the
\nmain actors of a foreign security threat. "But if the actors are
\nnon-states, then it becomes difficult to apply the free and
\nactive foreign policy as before," he added.<\/p>\n
The free and active principle forms the basis of Indonesia's
\nforeign policy as stipulated in the preamble to the 1945
\nConstitution.<\/p>\n
Former senior diplomat Wiryono Sastrohandoyo said that in the
\n1950s, Indonesia applied the policy to its benefit by flirting
\nwith either the U.S. or the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
The policy was neglected during the early 1960s when Indonesia
\nstrengthened ties with the Communist block. Soeharto's rise to
\npower put an end to this orientation and Indonesia "almost
\ninstantly" entered the Western block, Wiryono said.<\/p>\n
The fall of the Communist block gave rise to new and more
\ncomplex threats. Piracy of vessels and cargo, money laundering,
\nsmuggling and terrorism were examples of transnational crimes
\nthat called for a new approach, the analysts said.<\/p>\n
"For instance, Indonesian waters are seen as the most
\ndangerous in terms of threats from pirates," said Dewi.<\/p>\n
Such threats raised the insurance premium charged on vessels
\nleaving or heading to Indonesia that made trading with Indonesia
\nmore expensive, she explained.<\/p>\n
Foreign illegal fishing vessels roaming Indonesian waters, she
\nadded, was another example of how transnational crime was costing
\nthe country millions of U.S. dollars in potential revenues.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's response to these changes was slow, said Dewi.<\/p>\n
"This country still thinks conservatively," she said of the
\ntraditional approach to security threats that underpin
\nIndonesia's foreign policy.<\/p>\n
Most of the world had the same problem, though, she added, and
\nsaid that the U.S. went to war against terrorism much in the same
\nway it would have fought wars against other countries.<\/p>\n
Wiryono said Indonesia cannot handle transnational crimes
\nalone and as such, international cooperation had become more
\nimportant than ever.<\/p>\n
No country could face the threat on its own and thus, "it
\ncalls for closer regional and international cooperation, and the
\nmost appropriate forum would be the United Nations."<\/p>\n
On the regional front, he said, this might require ASEAN
\nmembers to also look into each others' domestic problems --
\nsomething that had long been taboo.<\/p>\n
"Because what happens in one country, even in one that is far
\naway, can effect the lives and interests of one's own country,"
\nhe said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/foreign-policy-lacks-ability-to-confront-terror-threats-1447893297",
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