Bush is back and it's time to expand, says RI envoy

Yenni Djahidin, Washington, D.C.

Indonesian Ambassador to United States, Soemadi D. M. Brotodiningrat followed the U.S. elections closely. He spoke recently with The Jakarta Post correspondent Yenny Djahidin in Washington about the elections and the bilateral relation between the two countries. The following is the excerpts of ther interview.

Question: What do you think about the U.S. elections and the outcome?

Answer: Well, in a sense, it's good because before the election we were hearing news that it promised to be a controversial election, many lawsuits. And so it turned out to be, yes, there were some lawsuits, some complaints, some grumbling, but all in all, the proceedings ended up much better than four years ago; much smoother than four years ago. And also the turnout was much higher than usual.

How do you feel about the reelection of President Bush?

The Indonesian government is ready to work with whoever is elected by the American people. Now it turns out that the American people elected President Bush, we will cooperate with him.

What do you expect for U.S.-Indonesian relations for the next four years?

First, since the incumbent is re-elected, things are clearer for us because if it is a new president, we don't know if it would be better or worse. Now, since the incumbent is elected, it's clearer. We already have a commitment. President Bush has committed to us and we have committed to him. It is clearer.

My expectation is that we can build on the cooperation that we started, with the joint statement made by President Megawati and President Bush three years ago in Washington, which was later updated during Mr. Bush's visit to Bali. We have already implemented various commitments, and some are still ongoing. But now it seems that both the U.S. and Indonesia are opening a new chapter in their political life. We would like very much to see that this foundation for cooperation be strengthened and the level of ongoing commitment be increased, accelerated and made more effective. And also cooperation in education. President Bush has pledged US$157 million for five years. We need to increase this financial assistance. We also want cooperation in schools and at university level.

There are still some issues regarding the U.S.-RI military relations. Do you expect some changes soon?

Military-to-military cooperation is restricted by the U.S. Congress and it is always reviewed by the Congress every year. And unfortunately in the latest review, the decision of the U.S. Congress still contains some restrictions. So there are still indeed some restrictions, but it doesn't mean that we don't cooperate.

We do cooperate. When I began my assignment here we managed to establish a security dialog, a periodic security dialog. The first meeting was in Indonesia and the second was in Washington. On the positive results of this security dialog; one of them is the reactivation of the so-called BDD (Bilateral Defense Dialog) and this involves the military.

So cooperation between the two countries is not completely shut down; there is some ongoing cooperation. And there are other areas of cooperation that are not in violation of the Congressional restrictions. There are now Indonesian military officers now in the U.S. for training. And there is an exchange of visits between our military leaders.

A condition for resuming the IMET (International Military Education and Training) is the cooperation of our armed forces in the investigation of the Timika (Papua) killing. And the FBI has stated very clearly that our armed forces has nothing to do with it. This, based on the FBI testimony, I hope, sooner rather than later, the administration can go to the Congress and try to remove the conditions.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States, there are some strict rules regarding obtaining U.S. visas. How does that affect Indonesian students here?

The strict rules to obtain student visas affected many students from many countries including Indonesia. The opportunity should be open for foreign citizens to study here. It also creates problem in the U.S. I hope that the U.S. will be able to strike the right balance between security and open up opportunities for foreigners, including students.

How do you describe the economic ties between the U.S. and Indonesia?

Well, at the government-to-government level, it is good because the U.S. is a big donor. U.S. government institutions are always positive in fostering the U.S.-Indonesia relations, for instance, in financial cooperation and financial assistance.

But we are not yet qualified to receive the Millennium Challenge Account, an assistance to countries that fulfill some criteria. We are almost qualified, except for one criteria -- that is corruption. Hopefully, with the resolute action by the new President to address corruption, our cooperation with the U.S. will be better.

Trade is still OK because the U.S. is still our largest market for non-oil and gas exports. There are some issues here and there but we are trying to solve them. But in investment it is different. Apart from specific investment, namely oil, the U.S. business community still has the attitude of wait and see.

Do you see it changing in the next four years?

It depends on us, because this is to do with the investment climate in our country. Investors will go to the country with the best investment climate. If our investment climate is not as pleasant as others, they will go to other countries.

What is the most frequent complaint you hear from investors?

Legal uncertainty is at the top of their complaints. And they are very candid about it. They say that, in Indonesia, people can still play with the law.

What are the issues you would like to address in the next four years?

We will continue to try to find ways to resolve our differences to resume the military-to-military cooperation. It's not because the military cooperation is the most important, but because this is where we still have a problem.

And the other issue is that we would like very much to impress U.S. businesses to include Indonesia as a prospective partner. This is very important because Indonesia has a large number of unemployed. We can't solve the problem without having foreign investment in the country.