Foreign policy initiatives strengthen appeal for peace

Bantarto Bandoro, Editor, 'The Indonesian Quarterly', Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta, bandoro@csis.or.id

Changes in Indonesia's external environment do stimulate changes in our foreign policy, though the connection between the rapidly changing environment and the direction, content and, perhaps, mechanisms of our foreign policy changes are complex and often not clearly visible.

The drama being played out by the U.S. and Iraq and the U.S. and North Korea, and the battle against international terrorism are part of the external environment that prompts an immediate response from us.

The foreign policy challenges that Indonesia now faces are tremendous, particularly as we try to improve our image abroad and as we experience enormous transformations in the international system.

The sources of these challenges can be external as well as domestic. Domestic pressure that Indonesia be quick in responding to U.S. plans to attack Iraq has caused the government to react accordingly.

It was reported that Indonesia plans to initiate a new diplomatic offensive to avert war in the Gulf region by sending envoys to countries in the Middle East and Europe, to drum up international support to oppose any U.S. attack of Iraq.

The government has reportedly assigned former minister of foreign affairs Ali Alatas to lobby countries in those two regions, hoping to raise support for the renunciation of war.

Concern about the repercussions of the nuclear standoff on the Korean peninsula has also moved Indonesia to react by sending an envoy to the region. The former ambassador to Britain, Nana Sutresna, has reportedly been tasked to approach North Korea to seek a possible peaceful solution.

Our domestic crisis should not prevent us from taking fresh foreign policy initiatives. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, amid public criticism over the performance of our diplomats, has done its utmost to help improve the credibility of our diplomacy by introducing fresh ideas on how international and regional problems can be solved peacefully.

Perhaps it is during such a turbulent period that our foreign policy should be as proactive as possible, to demonstrate our consistency in the global coalition for world peace and security.

The question is not how our foreign policy has responded to a new international context, shaped by the international battle against terrorism, among other things. Rather, it is what Indonesia is doing to cope with such changes.

Though the Iraq crisis may have no immediate impact on our international position, the possibility of an attack on Iraq by the U.S. will certainly generate more anti-American sentiment here. Religious leaders have called on the government to take a more active stance in preventing the likelihood of war.

It is assumed that Indonesia's "engagement", in the form of international lobbying against war in Iraq, is the result of such pressure and that such engagement is meant to maintain domestic stability.

Domestic pressure, however, is absent in the matter of our initiative on the Korean peninsula. President Megawati Soekarnoputri's decision to send a special envoy to North Korea may have been dictated more by the need to follow up on her visit to North Korea last year, during which the President expressed the idea that Indonesia can contribute to the settlement of conflict on the Korean peninsula.

The final outcome of such initiatives are yet to be seen. However, these initiatives must be praised because the country is entering a world in which frontiers are continuously shifting, and where domestic and foreign issues converge and intermesh.

It is in such a world that Indonesia is likely to face more foreign policy challenges, and thus it is out to further promote its interests and make as many scores as possible in its foreign relations.

In the end, our international lobbying against war in Iraq and our proactive policy on the Korean peninsula may not have a significant effect on regional stability, as both crises involve the strategic stakes and interests of major powers, which will not easily be changed by Indonesia and other countries from the Non-Aligned Movement.

What we will witness is perhaps a spectrum of interests in which both ends of the spectrum reveal two contradictory stands, namely the war favored by the U.S. and the peaceful solution favored by Indonesia and other developing countries.

The U.S. and its allies will unlikely yield to the policy of Indonesia and other members of the Non-Aligned Movement, leading to continued guessing about will happen in the Gulf in the weeks to come.

What is important is not only the likely outcome of our international initiatives, but that Indonesia is advocating that the international crises be solved through peaceful means.

Because they have been embedded in Indonesia's foreign policy, such ideas, though not new, are very positive in strengthening the international idea that war must be avoided.

The policy of renouncing war and violence to settle international problems is in line with current public sentiment, thus it will guarantee nationwide support from the public. So though the government is seemingly weak, it can still throw its diplomatic weight around.

The thrust of Indonesia's "engagement" into these two international crises is to make the conflicting parties yield to the basic rules of international conduct. Indonesia's "engagement" can be conceived of as something like a joint venture because it also involves other countries in such undertakings.

Such a process carries certain principles that have to be honored by conflicting parties, namely: (1) no unilateral use of military force; (2) the peaceful resolution of disputes; and (3) the respect for national sovereignty and integrity. These principles set quite modest international expectations and focus largely on the threat to the international system.

Indonesia's collaboration with other nations in renouncing war and violence must continue, because such a strategy carries no real political risks for our international relationships, so long as Indonesia has the resources and domestic or international support.

In a rapidly changing international environment, Indonesia's efforts must not depart from its basic foreign policy tenets. Whatever foreign policy initiatives Indonesia pursues must pass the litmus test of the political reality of world politics. This is the real test Indonesia cannot avoid.