How do national, regional resilience link?

JAKARTA (JP): Is national resilience and regional resilience mutually exclusive or mutually interdependent?

This question was raised yesterday in a discussion jointly sponsored by the Lembaga Pengkajian Strategis Indonesia, a private center for strategic studies founded by former minister Rudini, and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

Former governor of the National Defense Institute Soebijakto said Indonesia has always opposed the setting up of a defense pact with other countries.

This fact will somehow hamper efforts to turn the Asian Regional Forum into an institutional body, he said referring to the forum which was founded in Singapore in July this year.

"The result is that it will become a forum where participants just talk about security issues, said Soebijakto, who is the Lembaga chief executive. "This is deemed ineffective in resolving conflicts."

Dr. Bernhard Dahm, a German professor from Passau University, reinforced Soebijakto's view, saying that national resilience and regional resilience is mutually exclusive.

Dr. Dahm who has made an in-depth study on national identity in Southeast Asia said the basic element of national resilience is found in culture and that national resilience is indeed strong in the region.

Citing Vietnam as an example, Dahm said the country would never be willing to compromise on questions affecting their national sovereignty.

National resilience, he said, will not automatically lead to regional resilience.

"Because of national specifics, national resilience will support efforts at regional resilience only if this lies in a country's own national interest," Dahm said.

The same applies even to Europe, he said, which has a more homogeneous culture. In former Yugoslavia, national interests are blocking the chances of regional cooperation, he said.

"If we have an amazing record of successful cooperation in Southeast Asia in the past 25 years it is not because of the strength of national resilience but in spite of it," Dahm said.

Indonesia is particularly averse to any notion of forming a defense pact with its Southeast Asian neighbors. Instead, Jakarta has been promoting the concept of regional resilience through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, stressing that this will be achieved if each member country strives to promote national resilience.

Speakers in another session of the discussion held at Aryaduta Hotel were Priasmoro of Lembaga and Dr. Kai M. Schellhorn of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

Peace

Soebijakto said that efforts toward the creation of a state of mind which is devoid of suspicion and distrust is the best guarantee for peace in Southeast Asia.

"The Asian Regional Forum is still needed as a communication and discussion point but the best guarantee to a sustained peace in the region is the exercise of confidence building measures and this means the building up of a state of mind which is devoid of suspicion and distrust," he said.

Dahm proposed a set of suggestions for confidence building measures including the holding of more dialog, the providence of early warning systems in the case of military exercises, invitations to military representatives from neighboring countries in events and cooperation among Asian countries on common issues in education, environmental, social and health.

"This is one possibility in reducing fear and suspicion in the region," Dahm said.

Both speakers and participants in the discussion, however, agreed that disposing oneself from long-held beliefs is not easy.

Dr. Soedjati Djiwandono, a noted political observer, said the challenge is tantamount to having a profound change of thinking.

"There is a need to develop a totally new line of thinking. We need to liberate ourselves from conventional concepts. It might be easier for us to find new terms but not to dispose of old feelings. The Cold War mentality is still with us," he said.

Citing an example he said that whatever China does will always be scary to its neighbors as the country looms large in their minds and is coupled with an awareness of China's traditional geopolitical perception of Asia.

Soedjati suggested a "non-offensive defense" strategy to solve this problem.

"But, again, this will depend on the perception of neighboring countries," he said. (hbk)