Foreign policy, neighbors first

Foreign policy, neighbors first

By Kornelius Purba

JAKARTA (JP): President Megawati Soekarnoputri has chosen the
Philippines as the first country she will visit since replacing
Abdurrahman Wahid last month. There is no clear reason why
Megawati decided on Manila as the first stop on her one-week
introductory visit to the members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), which started on Tuesday -- except that
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is a family friend.

In diplomacy, a first destination is normally well thought-out
because it is always regarded as a strong reflection of the
country's foreign affairs policy directions under its new leader.

Abdurrahman visited Singapore shortly after his election in
October 1999. The visit was very important not just for improving
relations with the city-state after they had been damaged by his
predecessor B.J. Habibie, but also for wooing back the Asian
Chinese business community which had lost confidence in Indonesia
following the nationwide riots that preceded Soeharto's fall in
May 1998.

"This is a visit to an old friend, because Arroyo's father was
a friend of Megawati's father Sukarno," said a senior diplomat at
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Both Megawati and Arroyo are the daughters of former
presidents. Arroyo served as Joseph Estrada's vice president
before his fall earlier this year. Megawati held the
corresponding position in Indonesia under President Abdurrahman
until July this year.

Megawati's tour has raised some eyebrows, although she is
actually only following the tradition of the 10-member ASEAN
where a new leader is expected to introduce himself or herself to
the leaders of fellow member countries.

Next month she is also scheduled to meet with U.S. President
George W. Bush in Washington and Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi in Tokyo. She will also address the United
Nations General Assembly in New York.

Megawati faces a public which is scrutinizing her every move,
who does not want her to repeat Abdurrahman's erratic foreign
affairs policies where he spent billions of rupiah on visiting
more than 40 countries within 21 months, with no tangible results
to show for all the air miles.

Abdurrahman did not just introduce himself to the other ASEAN
leaders in 1999, but before he was ousted he even went beyond the
call of tradition by visiting Bangkok and Manila to present
himself to new Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra Thaksin and
President Arroyo.

In his first visits, Abdurrahman received a warm welcome from
world leaders including U.S. President Bill Clinton, British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
Abdurrahman insisted his overseas trip would help him in settling
domestic problems and attracting foreign investment.

Abdurrahman's predecessor B.J. Habibie only made one bilateral
visit, to Malaysia, during his 17-month tenure, and chose the
ASEAN summit in December 1998 in Hanoi for the introductory
ceremony. In a demonstration of his displeasure against the
leaders of Singapore, which he described as a mere red dot
compared to the huge Indonesia, he invited the Philippines'
Joseph Estrada to meet with him in Batam, an island located only
a few miles from Singapore.

Megawati's senior aides have emphasized that Megawati fully
realizes she will be unlikely to achieve much on the
international stage as long as the country's political and
economic situation remains chaotic.

State Secretary/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo said Megawati
would prioritize much more urgent domestic affairs and would only
focus her attention on ASEAN, given the crucial role of
Indonesia, ASEAN's largest member, to the organization's future.

Bambang hinted that the government would concentrate on
restoring security, and ending the prolonged economic crisis and
the disintegration threat hanging over the nation, thus creating
political and economic stability.

"Who will listen to you if you can't even keep your own house
in order?" Bambang said during a recent conversation.

Indonesian envoy to Japan Sumadi Brotodiningrat once
complained that it was very difficult to promote his country to
Japanese investors as long as the domestic situation was far from
conducive.

In her state-of-the-nation address on Aug. 16, Megawati only
devoted one paragraph to explaining her foreign policy stance, in
which she mentioned Indonesia's preparations for the
implementation of free trade involving ASEAN.

"We are also facing a short-term challenge which we must
respond to with hard work, namely our participation in the ASEAN
Free Trade Area and the World Trade Organization ...," Megawati
said.

New Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda described
ASEAN as the cornerstone of Indonesia's foreign policy. He
repeated the President's determination to implement a free and
active foreign policy, to restore the state and the nation, and
to recover the trust of foreign countries and organizations.

"ASEAN will remain a cornerstone of our foreign policy,"
Hassan said.

Indonesia has practically lost its leadership position in
ASEAN since the economic crisis hit the country in 1997, followed
by Soeharto's fall in May 1998. Indonesia was internationally
recognized as the leader of the regional forum and the power
vacuum has seriously affected ASEAN's effectiveness and
international clout. ASEAN's existence is even questioned by many
in the international media.

In the public eye, the annual informal summit of ASEAN plus
Japan, China and South Korea has become more of a forum for the
leaders of the guest participants, with ASEAN itself sidelined in
the coverage.

Even some ASEAN leaders, including Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad, openly called on their people to learn from the
reform process in Indonesia.

Before large pictures of the victims of riots in Indonesia,
Mahathir told a gathering of his UMNO (United Malays National
Organization) ruling party that such conditions were not the kind
of reform that Malaysia wanted.

ASEAN needs Indonesia's leadership in uniting its members in
facing rapid global changes, because no other leader, even
Singapore's Goh Chok Tong or the outspoken Mahathir, have been
able to fill the leadership vacuum since the economic crisis.

The Singaporean leader has repeatedly said that the return of
a strong Indonesia would help restore ASEAN's influence.

But, again, who will listen to Indonesia when it is not able
to satisfactorily deal with its own domestic upheavals?

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.