Times change. Had US President Barack Obama visited Indonesia just a year ago the reception would have been electric, obsessive and overwhelming. Instead, on a heavily overcast and stormy afternoon troubled by talk of volcanic ash and airport closures, Obama landed in a country under pressure from natural disasters. He encountered a nation no longer so enamored of his rock-star appeal.
Still, the deep fondness for “Barry” Obama, the brilliant son of Indonesianist Stanley Ann Dunham, remains a constant.
I believe somehow there will always be a place in the archipelago for this remarkable global icon.
Indeed, in time his post-White House career will inevitably bring him ever closer to Jakarta. He could one day become Indonesia’s most persuasive high-profile interlocutor and ambassador.
But that is in the future. We should perhaps return to the present.
A good indication of Obama’s continuing appeal was that even former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, with her immense distaste for rival Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, made a rare foray to the Istana Negara to attend the state banquet.
And although the US president was on Indonesian soil for less than 24 hours, his presence was an important affirmation of the republic’s mounting global profile.
But as I have noted, times change.
The Americans came with an array of goodies bundled into the Comprehensive Partnership, stepping up their diplomatic engagement in this vital and strategic nation.
In normal times, the US initiatives would have been lauded, and rapturously so — money for the environment and education, and increased trade guarantees.
However, these are not normal times.
Indonesia, and indeed Southeast Asia, are no longer diplomatic backwaters.
This heavily populated region, rich in natural resources, straddling some of the world’s most important sea routes, is part of the new Great Game.
China, the United States and, in time, India will vie for prominence in the region, with Indonesia as first prize.
The jockeying will be intense and determined.
Whether or not the United States has the stomach, or more important the resources, for the engagement remains to be seen.
Nonetheless, Jakarta’s business community, glamour aside, was unimpressed by the US president’s latest offering.
Is this altogether surprising?
Only a day before Obama touched down, Wu Bangguo, the head of China’s National People’s Congress and the second most senior figure in China’s Communist Party, concluded a four-day visit here promising a staggering $6.6 billion in trade and economic deals.
As it is, China-Indonesia trade has mushroomed to an estimated $23.5 billion in the first nine months of 2010 alone, while US-Indonesia trade has fallen in the last few years, dropping to less than $17 billion through the first three quarters of this year.
Bear in mind that as recently as 2007, America’s terms of trade with Indonesia eclipsed China’s.
China’s experience in building infrastructure has impressed Indonesians, from the president to PLN’s Dahlan Iskan.
While the prospect of a similar rollout of infrastructure across the archipelago is unlikely, there’s no doubt that Chinese business will play a major role in the building and upgrading of the republic’s utilities and transportation infrastructure.
Indonesia in 2010 is driven by trade and business.
For better or for worse, we are living in the Age of Money, and from this viewpoint, Obama’s trip failed.
Visits to Istiqlal Mosque and the University of Indonesia are commendable. They show respect for the nation’s admirable pluralist traditions.
However, Obama should have adopted the more business-driven approach he employed in India to great success.
Sadly, it appears as if Washington still views Jakarta through the outdated prism of security and Islam.
Unlike visiting Chinese leaders, Obama overlooked the commercial potential of the archipelago.
Washington should be talking dollars and cents in Indonesia.
Despite all this, it’s hard not to feel buoyed by Obama’s positivity and passion.
He remains a transformational figure, if sadly one leading an America hollowed out and eviscerated by George W. Bush’s disastrous economic and foreign policy priorities.
Whatever happens, Obama’s relationship with Indonesia will only grow in importance as his own nation’s profile steadily dips; a victim of history’s inexorable pressures.
As I said, times change.
Karim Raslan is a columnist who divides his time between Malaysia and Indonesia.
Source: The Jakarta Globe
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