Scholar says Indonesia more visible in the U.S.

Scholar says Indonesia more visible in the U.S.

WASHINGTON D.C. (JP): For better or for worse, Indonesia has
become more visible in the United States.

Harry Harding, dean and professor of the Elliot School of
International Affairs at George Washington University, attributes
two factors that have generated greater American public interest
in the developments of Indonesia recently: Indonesia's rise as a
regional power, and the election campaign scandal involving the
Lippo business group, which is now the subject of a Congressional
investigation.

But Harding says the attention given to Indonesia by those in
the U.S. remains low compared to those paid to many other Asian
countries.

At 51 years of age, Harding is an old Asia hand and has
authored several books about the region, including Organizing
China, which won the 1986 Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize, and A
Fragile Relationship: the United States and China, named as
outstanding academic book in 1992 by Choice Magazine.

He is active in at least eight international organizations,
one of which is the Asia Foundation where he is trustee, a
position that led to his first "professional visit" to Indonesia
last year. In a recent interview, Harding says he was deeply
impressed with the critical attitude of the people he met in
Indonesia.

As part of reforming the Elliot School's graduate program,
Harding recently added Southeast Asian studies to the curriculum
and hired more professors, including Ronald Palmer, former
American ambassador to Malaysia.

The following is an excerpt of the interview, in his office,
on his impressions of Indonesia and its relations with the United
States.

Q: Tell us about your impression of your trip to Indonesia

A: I enjoyed it very much. It was my first professional visit
there and my first visit to any place other than Bali, and I was
very impressed, especially with the people I met. I went with the
Asia Foundation and the foundation has an enormous range of
contacts in Indonesia, everyone from high officials in the
government to journalists, to Megawati (Soekarnoputri) herself. I
was very impressed with all of this, as well as the dynamism of
the country. On the other hand, it was also clear that the
country faces some very serious problems in the years ahead, so
the challenge will be to overcome them successfully, or at least
to manage them successfully.

What do you think of the relations with the United States?

In general, those relationships are good, but there are
increasing concerns, specifically about human rights. But also, I
think, more generally about the ability of the political system
in Indonesia to adjust to the pressures and demands of economic
success. And so the use of these contradictions could always
produce a kind of explosion that could do some damage to the
relationship with the United States.

Would the Lippo contribution issue affect bilateral relations?

So far as I can tell from outside the government, this issue
has not had a major impact on U.S.-Indonesia relations. That
particular case was the first in a series that is being seen as
an example of an attempt by China to secure influence in the
United States. So, I think, that the case of the Lippo group is
not being interpreted entirely as a U.S.-Indonesia issue. I'm not
sure if it has that much impact on relations. It is true that
Indonesia may be somewhat more visible in the United States, in
American politics today than it has been in the past. I'm not
sure how much of that is due to the Lippo case specifically and
how much of that is due to the fact that Indonesia is
increasingly becoming recognized as a very important regional
power with very serious internal problems.

Even though there has been an increase in attention to
Indonesia, this comes from a very low base. So that the amount of
attention, by any standard, remains low. The attention paid to
Indonesia remains, of course, quite far below that paid to China,
Japan and Hong Kong, let alone below that paid to Vietnam. It
might be on par with Singapore and Burma (Myanmar). I won't
exaggerate on the extent to which Americans are now focussed on
Indonesia.

Some people say that because of the embarrassing campaign
contribution scandal, the Clinton administration will be
reluctant to do something that could be seen as doing favors for
Indonesia. What do you think?

It is always dangerous for someone outside government to
speculate on motivation. You have to ask them. But you know, if
there have not been other issues in the relationship,
specifically with regards to human rights and labor rights, then
I don't think this contribution would have made that much
difference. So we shouldn't exaggerate the importance of this
relationship between Mr. Clinton and Mr. Riady. But certainly, it
makes it difficult for the administration to do something that is
positive and controversial.

What areas of Indonesia do you see as significant to the
United States?

There are a number of groups and individuals who are concerned
about the political situation in Indonesia, and specifically
about the question of human rights, and perhaps more in East
Timor than in any other part of the country.

There are other people who see Indonesia in more geopolitical
terms as the largest and therefore most powerful member of ASEAN,
as a country that clearly will be, and is already, a major
subregional power in the Asia Pacific region and one that has
played an important, I would say, constructive role in a number
of regional institutions...so people who are interested in
geopolitics would be interested in Indonesia in that dimension.

And finally, from a business perspective, Indonesia has been
identified, during the first Clinton administration, as one of
the so-called "big emerging markets". There is a realization that
Indonesia is a very large country that is growing fast, although
there are serious concerns about various aspects of the business
climate in Indonesia for both trade and investment.

Is there any pro-Indonesia people in the United States?

I'm not sure anybody wants to identify themselves as being pro
any country other than the United States. Many of the groups that
I mentioned are willing to acknowledge many positive aspects of
Indonesia. Certainly, the business community and people
responsible for economic relations in the government acknowledge
that Indonesia is an important emerging economy that has been
quite successful, especially in the recent past. In the same way,
there are those who are prepared to acknowledge Indonesia in a
regional and political role. There may be some groups who are
concerned with other issues, like human and labor rights, who are
more critical. But I don't think we are in a situation to say
that they are anti-Indonesia groups, nor to say pro-Indonesia
groups. Rather there are people who are interested in certain,
specific aspects of the Indonesian scene, and of course regional
specialists are very much interested in Indonesia as a whole.

Do you foresee political changes in Indonesia in the near
future?

My impression, frankly, when I was in Indonesia was how
critical everyone was of the political system, including people
that you wouldn't think. In general, there is a phrase that my
colleague, in a very different context many years ago, used to
describe this kind of situation. He called it "regime fatigue".
And I kind of have a sense of that, a widespread sense, that
there is a need for change.

What about the view that change won't happen without outside
pressure, say from the United States and the European Union?

In general, change comes from the inside of any country. In
some cases, we have pressed countries very hard. We pressed North
Korea extremely hard, but we don't see any significant reform. We
have pressed Burma (Myanmar) very hard, and we have pressed Cuba
very hard for 40 years. So basically, there has to be a decision
from inside to undertake positive changes. I think that there is
a responsibility in the international community to criticize
violations of human rights, especially to point out that, in this
kind of situation, there is a need for political change.

The contradiction between Indonesia's economic and social
dynamism on one hand, and its political system on the other, has
become more serious. At the same time, I think, we see some
disturbing trends in the society itself in terms of the growth of
ethnic and religious difference, the politicization of Islam in
new ways, and economic inequalities.

I think most people see this as a frightening and try to say
that change has to occur. And the sooner, the better.

-- Yenni Djahidin