Indonesia ‘open’ to Japan’s EAC initiative: SBY

Indonesia is open to Tokyo’s initiative to form an East Asian community (EAC), President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday at a joint conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, but added Jakarta wanted to know what set it apart from existing regional architectures.

“I always accept new ideas [for regional cooperation], as long as they are positive,” Yudhoyono said on the sidelines of the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) underway on the resort island. “What matters [is that] we have to ensure that the new forms of cooperation will benefit all parties, so that we can capitalize our economic and non-economic resources for our shared welfare.”

Hatoyama, while co-chairing a general discussion with Yudhoyono, said he believed Asia’s transition to democracy would pave the way for closer regional integration, suggesting Japan’s greater support for the BDF was part of his East Asia community aspiration.

He praised Indonesia’s vibrant democracy, calling the Bali forum initiated by Jakarta an important step to democratize the region.

“Japan supports the self-motivated efforts for other governments toward democracy,” he said. “I believe that an East Asia community, of which I am a proponent, will also come into view in time as we forge ahead in this way.”

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said Japan had long promoted democracy in the region, though “less conspicuously” than other champions of democracy.

Since 2003, he went on, Japan had included good governance and the protection of human rights among the requirements for its development partners.

Hatoyama, who vowed to reduce Japan’s dependence on the United States after he was elected, floated the concept of an East Asian community during the East Asia Summit in Bangkok in October, during which Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also introduced his Asia-Pacific community plan.

Both leaders again talked up their proposals during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore a month later. Washington has voiced its concerns over Hatoyama’s plan, in which the world’s lone superpower, in a mission to make its presence more felt in the region, will likely be excluded.

Conversely, Rudd’s initiative would open the door wider for the United States to join the East Asian club.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said last month Indonesia was taking an open-minded approach toward new regional architecture concepts coming from Canberra and Tokyo, and stressed Jakarta would like to learn more about the benefits to Indonesia’s policy regarding the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the longest-lived bloc in the region.

“Those who have ideas have to say what added value they are going to bring ... to the existing processes,” he said.