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resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrived back in Hanoi on Friday after visiting tsunami-stricken Mentawai to attend the UN-ASEAN Summit where he signaled ASEAN would play a greater global role under Indonesia’s chairmanship.

After two quiet days for Indonesia in the ASEAN Summit when it lost its leadership with Yudhoyono leaving Hanoi on Wednesday to inspect relief efforts for victims of the Mentawai tsunami, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy can now show some of its 2011 leadership plans.

Yudhoyono proposed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a more comprehensive cooperation between ASEAN and the UN so that the 10-country grouping could be involved in more areas to help the world body solve global problems.

“We want to be more involved on a range of issues the UN handles such as human rights and development, and achieving MDGs,” Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

“This is in line with the President’s vision of pushing ASEAN to play a global role. So our theme for our chairmanship next year is that prosperous ASEAN must contribute at the global level.”

With Yudhoyono’s return, scores of leaders from major countries, including China, Japan and South Korea, directly asked for a bilateral meeting, a sign of the importance of Indonesia as next year’s chairman.

Indonesia has slated to hold a bilateral meeting with those countries during the ASEAN Summit, but had to cancel them after Yudhoyono cut short his visit.

“We must rearrange the canceled meeting with those countries as they want to hold a bilateral meeting before the summit ends,” an official said.

The Indonesian chairmanship, however, will be challenged by a number of problems faced by the member countries, and has been pushed to find a way to balance its position between the US and China, both wanting to make the region their sphere of influence.

Border disputes among member countries and outsiders, notably China in the South China Sea, will test Indonesian leadership. For instance, regarding South China Sea — a dispute between China and six ASEAN countries — as a non-claimant state to the territory, many expect Indonesia to show impartiality and that it can act as mediator to the disputes.

Marty has made Indonesia’s position clear on how potential conflicts in the region can be solved amicably, acknowledging the rise of China’s influence and the need for the US to become more involved in East Asia.

Marty said that bilateral and regional solutions through ASEAN on the South China Sea should be complementary, adding that by the end of the day it was the respective country in dispute itself
that should find ways to end the dispute in accordance with international law.

Indonesia’s proposal to let the US and Russia join the East Asia Summit next year, a convention of ASEAN and its six partners, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India and New Zealand, is part of its strategy to create a peaceful region.

“We want to see a dynamic equilibrium in our region,” Marty said, arguing there was no preponderant power taking charge in the region.