Bali sets the stage for ASEAN

By: Ed Caffin

From November 19-21, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will have it’s 19th summit. In several meetings on Bali, the ten memberstates and 5 gueststates discuss the regions economic and cultural issues. As the chair of ASEAN in 2011, Indonesia also hosted a summit last May in Jakarta. Now, for the third time in ASEAN-history, Bali sets the stage for a giant logistic operation.

 

It isn’t easy to organize a summit with 15 heads of state. Especially not when the president of the United States is one of them. Logistic material required for president Obama’s vist only, required no less than 40 U.S. government flights (!) arriving on Ngurah Rai international airport this week. With the arrival of these planes and these of other heads of state, delays of commercial flights are expected.

SBY, president of the Republic of Indonesia

By: Ed Caffin

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also known as “SBY”, is the president of the Republic of Indonesia. In the first ever direct president elections, in 2004, he became the sixth president of Indonesia. Since then, he managed to bring economic and political stability to the worlds third-largest democracy. For the future, SBY foresees an increasingly important role for Indonesia in the world. This article offers an overview of SBY's political career and his vision for Indonesia.

A future for Indonesia

In the second -and last- term of Yudhoyono’s presidency, attention shifted to Indonesia’s international position. His international politics focusses on the areas of peace, anti-terrorism, democracy and economic development. With this focus, SBY is trying to put Indonesia forward as an emerging leading country in the world.

As a democracy and the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia already plays an important role in the fight against terrorism. Moreover, the country has a enormous economic potential. If that will materialize, will largely depend on the guidance of President Yudhoyono. The visit of Obama in November 2010 was a solid first step in US-Indonesian relations.

Unity in Diversity at Sea

President Obama visited Indonesia this month, delivering a speech at the university of Indonesia on the 10th of November. Mrs. Yuda Irlang, one of my friends in Jakarta who attended the occasion, shed a few tears hearing him talk with admiration about Indonesia’s five state principles, the Pancasila, and the inter-ethnic and religious tolerance of the population of this great nation enshrined in the term Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, which means unity in diversity. She wrote: Ironically, both terms have almost disappeared from the vocabulary of Indonesians in this era of Reformasi. Perhaps at some point in the future our grandchildren have to learn the American Pancasila.” She is talking about the period after President Suharto stepped down from office in 1998, when inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflict have become sad facts of life. The list of violence against religious and ethnic minorities and even displacement of minority groups in various regions is long. The same can be said about the list of  terrorist bombings of embassies, hotels, churches, and other public places. The policy of decentralization has further exacerbated tensions, as district governments have used their newly acquired power to issue decrees in favor of majority groups. Like Mrs. Irlang, many Indonesians are extremely worried about these trends of which the end is not yet in sight. Another friend of mine, a female Protestant reverend, sighed the other day: “It is as if Indonesia has never truly come into being”, referring to the local Muslim majority’s lack of support for the rights of the indigenous population of Papua. Lately, a number of civil society organizations have voiced the need to foster better relations between communities of different ethnic groups and religious affiliations. The government is called upon to act against violations of the public order and minority rights and to outlaw discriminatory regional decrees that are not in concordance with the country’s constitution. Initiatives are also undertaken at a local level: communities are organized by outside agencies to come to terms with their mutual disagreements and stimulated to build a more peaceful future together. Let’s hope all these efforts even

Welcome back, Obama!

By: Dalih Sembiring and Emma Kwee

Obama cancelled his trip to Indonesia in March to help push the health care reform bill through Congress. He cancelled it again in June to deal with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, the itinerary for US President Barack Obama’s visit to the country, part of his four-nation trip to Asia, brought him to Indonesia. His visit was cut short because of the ash clouds of uncooperative Merapi volcano near Yogya, but he made a lasting impression anyway.

As usual, the normally overcrowded jam packed streets of the capital were swept clean, on which Obama commented: “The landscape has changed completely since I was here in 1967. I remember people on becak or bemo, which were sort of like mobile taxis…Now, as president, I can’t see the traffic. The streets are blocked,” he joked, which made the crowd of officials and reporters laugh out loud.

The Jakarta residents were not as pleased, since the road blockade extended all the way to Jl. Sudirman, the city’s main thoroughfare. It was a taste of what life in Jakarta might be like if its roads were always as clear as they were made for Obama.