Susilo, regional affairs and lessons from Sukarno

Susilo, regional affairs and lessons from Sukarno

Michael Vatikiotis, Bangkok

Now that Indonesia has a president who looks like a hands-on
leader rather than a symbolic figurehead, it's time for the
country to revive its role in regional and world affairs. This is
important, because without Indonesia's presence and responsible
leadership, Southeast Asia's chemistry is thrown out of balance
and it becomes a region diminished in the eyes of the world.

More broadly, without Indonesia, the non-Muslim world finds
it hard to imagine Muslim society as tolerant and secular.

Just look what happened when Indonesia was out of the picture.
While Indonesia was preoccupied with economic crisis and a messy
transition to democracy these past six years, ASEAN lost the
economic weight it once had.

China's economy boomed and sucked in investment on the back of
cheap labor and its massive market. ASEAN became a margin play
largely because Indonesia, its largest market and cheapest pool
of labor, was branded a basket case.

When the war on terror broke out after the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks on New York and Washington, Indonesia was initially held
up as the shining example of a pluralistic Muslim society in
contrast to the fractured Middle East. But weak government,
factional infighting and an appallingly lax legal framework in
Indonesia allowed a tiny band of militants to open a new front in
the war on terror in Southeast Asia.

Indonesians can put this reckless and tragic interlude behind
them so long as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono now focuses on
rebuilding Indonesia's international credibility and economic
vitality. This above all is what the country's neighbors and
regional partners would like -- for if Indonesia rises, they all
do too. As one senior Singaporean diplomat put it: "Our own
prosperity is linked to Indonesia's."

You only have to cast back a decade or so to see how well
Indonesia acted as the region's center of gravity and a force for
progressive change. In the late 1980s it was Indonesia that
pushed the warring Cambodian factions into a settlement that
ended the long-running conflict in Indochina, which opened the
ear up for investment.

In the early 1990s it was Indonesia that encouraged the first
trans-national economic cooperation, which has helped break down
barriers to trade within ASEAN. And it was Indonesian Muslim
scholars and intellectuals in the 1990s who first identified the
need for dialogue and reform to head off the rise of Islamic
militancy.

Ironically, Indonesia made these constructive contributions to
the region and beyond in spite of the authoritarian and
repressive domestic political environment. Former President
Soeharto, for all his faults, knew the value of international
image-building and responsible regional diplomacy.

After all, he came to power in the aftermath of an earlier
period of recklessness and tragedy, which in the mid-1960s had
brought Indonesia dangerously close to internal turmoil and
conflict with its neighbors.

Susilo would do well to follow in Soeharto's footsteps in this
respect. He should harness the country's diplomatic corps to re-
building solid relations within the region, begin to generate
ideas and initiatives aimed at regional consolidation, or throw
his weight behind existing ones, and bring to bear all the ideals
of Indonesia's society, non-alignment and tolerance, that
the region has come to respect. There are already signs of this:
Susilo was quick to link up with Malaysia's new leadership and
realize the necessity for moderate Muslim nations to speak with
one voice as a means of fighting extremism.

Like Soeharto the former general, Susilo the former general
comes to power knowing full well the importance of security. But
unlike Soeharto, the people elected Susilo, and here lies the
danger. The lesson from the Sukarno era of the 1960s is that
dangerous adventurism and reckless foreign policies stem from
populist platforms.

Sukarno promised his people an unceasing revolution; he took
the country out of the United Nations and confronted Malaysia to
demonstrate his political virility. It was his way of maintaining
popularity in the face of disastrous economic decline.

Now that Indonesia has a president who must deliver on
promises to the people who elected him, the hope is that he will
offer them the security and well-being they asked for at the
ballot box, without having to resort to petty nationalism and
adventurism to cover up for his shortcomings.

The writer is a former editor and chief correspondent of the
Far Eastern Economic Review. He can be reached at
michaelvatikiotis@yahoo.com