Abstract
Indonesia’s rise has led to talk of regional leadership as a middle power. This article unpacks the notion of Indonesian leadership by assessing key initiatives associated with Indonesia based on their intent and objectives, their overall effect (and effectiveness), how they were received regionally, and whether such initiatives are the best means through which Indonesia can play a leadership role furthering regional stability. It considers three recent high-profile initiatives, in particular, that are associated with Indonesia: (1) the ASEAN Security Community concept; (2) the Bali Democracy Forum; and (3) the proposal for an Indo-Pacific Treaty.
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Notes
- 1.
Two examples come to mind. First, in the compromise statement on the “temporary” nature of foreign bases in the region that allowed ASEAN’s founding document, the 1967 ASEAN Declaration, to be signed. Second, when Jakarta decided in 1980 to set aside its concern for China’s creeping regional influence, epitomized in its involvement in the Third Indochina War, in order to stand with regional partners Thailand and Singapore, who held the view that Soviet-sponsored Vietnamese aggression was, at the time, the primary threat to the region.
- 2.
Rizal Sukma, “The Future of ASEAN: Towards a Security Community.” Paper presented at the seminar on ASEAN Cooperation: Challenges and Prospects in the Current International Situation, New York, June 3, 2003.
- 3.
Rizal Sukma, cited in Amitav Acharya, Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia. (London: Routledge, 2009), 226.
- 4.
“Bali Democracy Forum: Yodhoyono’s Legacy at Stake,” Jakarta Post, September 25, 2014.
- 5.
Donald K. Emmerson, “Regional Efforts to Advance Democracy and Human Rights in Asia,” Issue Briefs, October 31, 2012. http://en.asaninst.org/contents/issue-brief-no-32-regional-efforts-to-advance-democracy-and-human-rights-in-asia-apid-the-pg20-and-a-possible-ggain/.
- 6.
Benjamin Reilly, “Regionalism and Democracy in Asia: The Australia-Malaysia Nexus” in Claudia Tazreiter and Siew Yean Tham, eds., Globalisation and Social Transformation in the Asia-Pacific: The Australian and Malaysian Experience (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2013), 21.
- 7.
Marty Natalegawa, “An Indonesian Perspective on the Indo-Pacific” (keynote address, Washington, DC, May 16, 2013), http://csis.org/files/attachments/130516_MartyNatalegawa_Speech.pdf.
- 8.
“Marty Urges Treaty to Ward Off Indo-Pacific Conflict,” Jakarta Globe, August 2, 2013.
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Liow, J.C. (2018). Can Indonesia Fulfill Its Aspirations to Regional Leadership?. In: Rozman, G., Liow, J. (eds) International Relations and Asia’s Southern Tier. Asan-Palgrave Macmillan Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3171-7_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3171-7_12
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