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.