America can do better

Now that it's official that Democratic Senator John Kerry will challenge incumbent Republican President George W. Bush in November, the rest of the world should make known what it expects from the presidential election in the United States. In the coming four months, we should all convey our messages not only to the two presidential candidates, but, perhaps more importantly, to American voters, in whose hands the outcome of the election depends.

Friends and allies of America, including Indonesia, have every right to state their preferences, if not for a particular candidate, then certainly for particular policies, especially those that have a bearing or impact on the rest of the world. Whether the candidates or the American voters heed our words is another matter.

Still, it is worth remembering that being the only global superpower, the United States has some responsibilities to the rest of the world, besides the privileges that such a status confers. They come with the territory. The rest of the world may not have a direct say in November's election, but we all have a stake in its outcome, something that should afford us some voice in the U.S. electoral process. The least we expect is to be heard.

There are no shortages of policies made in Washington that have strong implications for the rest of the world.

Thanks to the rapid globalization of the 1990s, the economy of most of the world is now tied very much to the U.S. economy. Asia is particularly "vulnerable" in this regard. Almost every single Asian country relies on the U.S. market for its economic growth. Asian countries, particularly China and Japan, hold sizable amounts of dollars in their reserves even as Washington engages in an orgy of budget and trade deficits, partly to pay for the escalating costs of its war on terror.

What has irked many countries over these last four years has been Washington's penchant to go it alone, ignoring world public opinion and even bypassing the United Nations. The invasion of Iraq, the withdrawal from earlier commitments to prevent global warming, and the U.S.'s refusal to sign up for the international criminal court are some obvious unilateral actions. The current debate in the United States over the government's decision to attack Iraq in 2003 shows that what White House officials like to call the national interest is often little more than camouflage for the much narrower political or business interests of powerful groups in the United States.

As powerful as the United States is today, it does not control the world, and it certainly cannot advance many of its goals by acting alone, whether in pursuit of its own or global interests. International support for anything that the United States does hinges to a large degree on its integrity and moral standing, which in turn depends on how it uses its extensive power.

Some of the unilateralist actions of the last four years have not only alienated the United States from its friends and allies, they have also undercut the moral leadership that a superpower needs in order to "lead" the world effectively.

America today is still learning how to handle its newfound, unprecedented powers. These last four years have been a test of how she will perform her new role in the world. Experience and time will hopefully make the United States more mature and wiser in exercising its powers. Our impression is that, to borrow from Kerry's acceptance speech on Friday, America can do better. And if America makes the right decision in November, help will be on its way in the form of international support and respect.