Editorial: Indonesia Defends its Foreign Policy Record under Jokowi

By Prashanth Parameswaran

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi dismisses criticism of Jakarta’s ‘narrow nationalism’ in a key speech in Washington.

Indonesia’s foreign minister staunchly defended the country’s foreign policy outlook Monday in a key speech in Washington, D.C., rejecting criticism of its narrow nationalism and stressing its important contributions regionally and globally.

Since President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo took office last November, Indonesia’s actions – including its relative neglect of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its decision to sink the fishing vessels of neighboring states to crack down on illegal fishing – had contributed to a perception among some that the country was becoming more inward-looking (See: “Is Indonesia Turning Away from ASEAN Under Jokowi?”).

But in an address to the United States-Indonesia Society (USINDO) Monday night ahead of Jokowi’s visit to Washington next month, Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi dismissed these worries of a “narrow nationalism” and a “U-turn” in Indonesian foreign policy.

“On the contrary, eleven months on, Indonesia’s engagement with the international community is even stronger. Indonesia [continues] to have rock-solid commitment and take a proactive approach to bilateral, regional as well as global affairs,” Marsudi said.

Over the past year, Marsudi argued, Indonesia has strengthened bilateral ties with countries around the world, with more than 100 bilateral meetings and dozens of working bilateral visits being conducted at the president as well as the foreign minister level.

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Editorial: Can Jokowi Bring Peace to West Papua?

Morning Star Flag; the symbol of
Papua Independence

By Leonard Sebastian and Emirza Adi Syailendra

The Indonesian president is rolling out new initiatives, hoping for a breakthrough in a troubled region.

Separatist resistance persists in Indonesia’s West Papua region, as attempts to internationalize the dispute by the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka – OPM) make it necessary for Jakarta to devise new policy options to address the decades-old conflict.

OPM has been waging a low-level guerrilla war in West Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, since 1969, the year of the controversial Act of Free Choice – a referendum process that ostensibly resulted in a unanimous decision by Papuan representatives to accept Indonesian sovereignty, but which has been dismissed by analysts as fraudulent.

Police reports indicate that between 2009 and 2014, there were 166 cases of violence involving the OPM. There were at least 14 attacks on the security apparatus in the region between 2014 and 2015. These actions indicate that despite the efforts of a newly democratic Indonesia (since 1998) to proactively address these challenges by reforming its counterinsurgency approach and providing more welfare for the population, grievances fed by protracted human rights abuses and economic exploitation linger.

Read the full story at The Diplomat