Asia challenge for Obama

Iyan Nurmansyah ,  Oxford, UK   |  Fri, 08/08/2008 10:29 AM  |  Opinion

When John McCain recently likened Barack Obama to Hollywood's starlets such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, I have some understanding as to why he came up with this idea.

Obama's fans might say that McCain's campaign ploy is bizarre and shows how frustrated he is about Obama's popularity. No one in the whole world would like it if their future leader was associated with fame hungry divas.

Strangely, there is a point in McCain's statement. The focus on Obama is often too much on his outer facade.

In Indonesia, when the media discusses Obama, most prefer to focus on his past association with Indonesia. For many people here, Obama's mixed background (a white American mother, a Kenyan father and an Indonesian step father) and his international childhood experience with his early school years in Jakarta are seen as a guarantee of cultural sensitivity.

Considering his past cultural experience, there lies a general hope that United States foreign policy would somehow move towards a more sensitive approach to the world, should he become the president.

Many in Indonesia become rather sentimental when they start talking about Obama, but does Obama reciprocate the same feeling, not only towards Indonesia, but to Asia in general?

Raising this question reminds me of an article written by Bill Emmott which points out that Obama's recent tour to Europe to strengthen his image abroad was actually showing his lack of understanding that the world is changing (see Europe's for wimps, tough guys go East, published by The Sunday Times 27/07/08).

No one should be surprised that London, Paris and Berlin gave their warmest welcome to Obama. After all, Europe is an easy target. The fact that Europe is almost too easy for Obama to impress, does not actually test his skills in dealing with foreign affairs. Perhaps his advisors knew this, and sent him to the easiest place first as a marketing mission.

There is no place in the world which could give a more difficult test on foreign affairs to a presidential candidate from the world's superpower, than Asia.

Here we see the fastest growing economies of China and India. Asia is also home to three nuclear-capable powers (India, Pakistan and North Korea). Then there are the political rivalries between China, India and Japan.

The recent slap in the face for ASEAN on the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand adds to the list of Asian complexities, even though ASEAN is a relatively solid regional institution.

There is also the question of Indonesia as the country with the biggest Muslim population in the world.

All of these issues will really test Obama's versatility in managing foreign affairs. Asia will force Obama to question the balance of power between China, India and Japan. So far, Obama's position on China is vague.

Would he continue the policy of his predecessors to curb China's domination of Asia by maintaining even closer relations with India? There is no clue yet to help answer this question.

Asia will also provide Obama with the tough question of tackling climate change, especially since the trendy green issues clash with the environmental degradation thats seems to go with economic development. As Emmott says it will be interesting to see the American's to-ing and fro-ing between China and India, especially coping with next year's UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

Obama's commitment to what he calls a "partnership with Muslims" as a key to fighting global terrorism should also be questioned further. It is still unclear how exactly he would conduct the 'partnership' with Asian Muslims.

Would it be possible for America under Obama to implement a completely different approach in dealing with Pakistan? Obama also has to calculate his actions wisely, so that his moves in South Asia do not worsen tensions between India and Pakistan.

Dealing with Muslims in Asia is one of the most challenging tests for Obama. This is because his effort will show us whether he really is the agent of change that he claims to be. The test is whether he is serious about overcoming security dilemmas by narrowing the gap between what the West call moderate Muslims, versus non-moderate Muslims.

These are all tough issues and Asia will definitely affect either Obama's or McCain's presidency. Over excitement with Obama's persona either because of his youth, race or family background only serves to justify McCain's recent comment.

The point is, there is no certainty that a change in the physical features of stereotypical United States Presidents (read: Obama versus White Anglo-Saxon Protestant men), would necessarily guarantee a change in direction for United States foreign policy. Should there be such a correlation, United States foreign policy in the last eight years would have been more feminine having had Condoleezza Rice, a woman, in charge of security matters.

Indeed, we should focus more on how these two candidates answer all the questions on Asia. The reason for so doing is that Asia will shape tommorow's global economy and world's politics.

The writer holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the school of social science and cultural studies, University of Sussex. He can be reached at RN28@sussex.ac.uk

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.