20/02/2012 Uncategorized
It was stated by UPH Dean of Faculty of Social and Political Science Prof. Aleksius Jemadu to respond the discussion regarding Indonesia?s foreign policy in SBY era with Dr. Santo Darmosumarto.
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| The office of Presidential Special Staff for International Relations in cooperation with UPH Faculty of Law and Faculty of Social and Political Science held campus outreach to discuss the development of foreign policy in Indonesia. (left-right) UPH Law lecturer John Riady, assistant to presidential special staff in international relations Dr. Santo Darmosumarto, and Dean of UPH Faculty of Social and Political Science Prof. Aleksius Jemadu. |
| It was stated by UPH Dean of Faculty of Social and Political Science Prof. Aleksius Jemadu to respond the discussion regarding Indonesia?s foreign policy in SBY era with Dr. Santo Darmosumarto, assistant to presidential special staff in international relations on Friday, February 17, 2012. The seminar was attended by UPH students and lecturers from Faculty of Law and International Relations Department.
In his presentation, Santo stated that Indonesia?s development in the eyes of foreign countries depended on SBY?s foreign policy. According to him, the development did not get much attention from the people. Development in domestic context is stable reformation and democracy. In democratic process, our foreign policy is growing rapidly as there were more aspects affecting the foreign policy, such as the parliament, academicians, mahdani community organization, and press. The autonomous region has directly connected with foreign countries. Our economic development is also improving as the third largest among Asian countries. In international context, Indonesia has important role among Southeast Asia countries as the permanent member of G20 and actively involved in ASEAN community. SBY?s foreign policy approach is all-direction-foreign policy and a-million-friends-zero-enemy. The instrument is based on international law. And also the restoration of Indonesia?s image abroad. ?This is important for academicians as foreign policy issue is one of the important points in general election,? Santo mentioned. He also reminded people to acknowlegde the development to be able to give critical thinking. Meanwhile, Aleksius was questioning the success of SBY?s leadership, which one is more important, becoming a statesman in the eyes of Indonesians or foreign countries. One of the measurements is to see how democracy is applied in his leadership because one of foreign policy contexts is democracy. We do not have well-developed democratic institutions. Polling showed that many people were dissapointed with democratic institutions. Whereas, the true democracy is in those institutions. Let’s not be too proud of our democracy. It is good to discuss how we improve our democracy. Regarding SBY, as the leader of the ruling party, he has not made the initiative to make a blue print for future policy. This results in pubic dissapointment, including academicians. Aleks did not agree with SBY?s statement regarding FPI case at Palangkaraya. ?It is better for SBY to not say anything than to confuse people regarding the needs of legal compliance from each element of the society,? he told. There were still many examples regarding bad democratic campaigns in Indonesia. It is better for the president to take prevention steps using international law standards, such as democracy and human rights, in order to gain international acknowledgement. Indonesia also does not have soft power, mentioned Aleks. The countries that promote soft power usually have stable hard power. Both are developed simultaneously. For instance, India has soft power with its Bollywood, but also has hard power with IT development sector. Soft power is not enough for global diplomacy. Including regions in globalization could be a double-edged sword. The strong one will survive, in the other hand the weak one will be exploited. It could expose the weak regions to the powerful regional and global competition. To create a sustainable economic growth, democratic reformation must support the good governance. He also mentioned the opportunity driven foreign policy done by SBY. In utilizing opportunity, Indonesia is the forth largest exporter country among ASEAN. Why do you have to be so aggressive in liberating trade in ASEAN while Indonesia gains the least benefit. Indonesia export contribution in GDP is only 23,8 percent while Thailand 71 percent and Malaysia 97 percent. We are not trading state. So be careful, we could make profit or become a victim. It is time to undergo data driven foreign economic policy and integrated ASEAN policy. President must acknowlegde the coordination aspect. ?Evaluation with clear indicator determines our success in ASEAN,? stated Aleks. Million friends zero enemy policy might come from the will of pleasing everybody. My fear that is could blur our identities and pronciples. So I choose principled foreign policy. ?I hope SBY could be an ideal statesman outside in the global world and inside for Indonesians as the president until 2012,? Aleks closed the discussion. (ros) UPH Media Relations |
