UK expects RI to uphold free trade, help reform Myanmar: Envoy

The relationship between the United Kingdom and Indonesia has never been as strong as it is today. Once a major colonial power, the UK has close relationships mainly with its former Southeast Asian colonies like Malaysia or Singapore through the Commonwealth of Nations.

But the world has changed, and so has Indonesia.

As a member of the G-20 and the world’s third-largest democracy, Indonesia has taken a bigger role recently in a world mired by economic downturn. Trade and investment, climate change and counterterrorism are some of the areas that form the important components in the growing relations between the UK and Indonesia, according to British Ambassador to Indonesia, Martin Hatfull.

“I think the relationship between Indonesia and the UK is a strong one. And it has become stronger in the past few years,” he told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview at his residence.

“The fact that the G-20 had played an increasingly important part in trying to help the world find a way out of the current economic crisis has made Indonesia even more important to the UK and made the partnership with the UK even stronger.”

The G-20 is a group of the world’s 20 major economies, which comprise 85 percent of the global gross world product, 80 percent of the world trade and two thirds of the global population. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono attended the latest G-20 summit in London in April, in which world leaders coordinated measures to overcome the economic
crisis.

“Indonesia is a very important player within the G-20. And we have been able to work more closely on issues like the global economic policy on how we restructure the World Bank and the IMF,” Hatfull said.

Yudhoyono’s visit to London that was preceded by the visit of Prince of Wales to Indonesia in November last year, Hatfull said, underlined the strengthening relationship between the two countries.

The economic crisis has provided opportunities for trade relations. Indonesia’s remarkable resilience to the crisis appeared to have made it one of a few potential markets the UK is eyeing in Asia as other economies are shrinking.

“Many British companies are interested in doing business in Indonesia,” Hatfull said.

The chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (Britcham), Llewellyn Malcolm, agreed with Hatfull.

“We probably live in the most politically stable and the safest financial country in ASEAN,” said Malcolm recently at a Britcham meeting.

As a proof of this, the number of British companies in Indonesia and their investments have increased in recent years as trade relations have begun to get deeper and stronger, the ambassador said, disclosing that he himself had opened three new big British stores
in Jakarta, including one of Harvey Nichols and a new flagship for Marks & Spencer.

In 2008, Britain became the biggest European investor in Indonesia with US$513.4 million worth of realized investments in some 57 projects.

“British companies have cumulatively invested some $20 billion in Indonesia so far,” Hatfull said.

Major investors in Indonesia include BP,  Unilever, the Jardine Matheson Group, Standard Chartered Bank, Premier Oil, BAT, Rio Tinto,  HSBC, Prudential, Shell, Rolls Royce, GlaxoSmithKline and Wedgewood/Royal Doulton. Recently, more and more British retail companies, including Harvey Nichols, Marks & Spencer, Next, Debenhams, Top Shop and Ted Baker, are flocking to the Indonesian market.

The bilateral trade has also been growing remarkably. Last year, the bilateral value, based on Indonesian trade statistics, increased to $2.61 billion in 2008, a 24.02 percent increase from $2.10 billion in 2007.

Britain mainly exports pulp, waste paper, household goods  and transport equipment to Indonesia and imports textile products, furniture and food items from Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Hatfull emphasized the need for free trade between the two countries.

“Free trade in both directions is very important to Indonesia too.”

When asked about the growing anti-free trade sentiment ahead of the presidential election, Hatfull said, “It would be a grave mistake to go down that road in Indonesia.”

The UK has been raising its concerns toward the existing regulations here that hinder trade, such as restrictions on foreign investments and trade barriers on certain products Hatfull said the UK through the European Union was hoping to work with the Indonesian authorities to solve these problems.

“If we can do that, I think the prospects are very good.”

Relations are also strengthening in other areas. The UK is keen to work closely with Indonesia in the efforts to avert climate change disaster and promote better understanding between the Islamic world and the West as a way to curb terrorism and abolish prejudice against Muslims.

“It’s a big priority for us in the UK and here at the embassy to work closely with Indonesia to get really good results [at the United Nations climate change meeting] in Copenhagen. I think that’s important not only for the UK but also for the whole world. We’ll put a lot of effort into that,” Hatfull said.

The UK sees Indonesia as an important partner in promoting a dialog between civilizations.

“You’re a country where although the vast majority of population is Muslim, you have a secular, democratically elected government,” Hatfull said.

“[Prince of Wales] has for many years been a champion for promoting better understanding between faiths and between religions, and the contact he is able to have here with senior figures from Islamic communities in Indonesia has really helped to demonstrate the depth of commitment that the UK has to work on promoting that kind of better understanding.”

In the political sphere, Hatfull said the UK hoped Indonesia’s success in democratic reform would have an influence on other ASEAN countries, especially military-ruled Myanmar.

“We’d like to continue to work closely with Indonesia to try to promote the process of reform in Myanmar,” he said, stressing the need to press for the release of detained democratic  icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

“It’s absolutely essential that she should be free and allowed to play her part in the process of reform and liberalization in Myanmar.”