During his less than 24-hour stay in Indonesia, President Obama managed to get two of his main talking points across. The first one was about the relationship between the US and the Muslim world and the second about the economic partnership between Indonesia and the US.

The first point is purely aesthetic but ineffectual in nature. Although Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world, it is located far from the epicenter of the issue in Palestine and has absolutely no political influence on any Middle East peace talks.

Even the most radical Muslims living in Kandahar, Gaza, or Islamabad could care less if the West suddenly decided to send a missile to Indonesia while the radical part of Indonesian Muslims sadly would jump into a war if something were to happen to the Dome of Rock.

Obama’s second point of calling for increased trade between Indonesia and the US is more relevant considering the struggle between China and the US to gain more influence over Indonesia’s developing economy as reported by Noritmitsu Onishi in The New York Times on Nov. 10.

Since the failed communist coup of 1965, coupled with the local antagonistic tendencies against the Chinese minority, Indonesia has managed to keep trade with China to a minimum. However as China continues to grow economically, increased Chinese influence over Indonesia is inevitable. Apparently less than a day before Obama’s visit, Beijing had agreed to pour US$6.6 billion in investment into Indonesia’s infrastructure development.

Having the second-largest rain forest resources in the world, the development of land use in Indonesia will be important in the global effort against climate change. This is why scientists all over the world “facepalmed” when they saw Indonesia’s asinine and ironic efforts to make more bio-fuel out of palm oil plantations by cutting down more rain forest.

The policy releases more net greenhouse gasses from deforestation and carbon release from organic rich peat lands than it saves through emissions reductions, and in the process has disastrously catapulted Indonesia to third largest CO2 emitter behind China and the US.

The US energy cap-and-trade bill might never be able to pass the US House let alone the Senate, but the Obama administration could still retain some integrity in the next IPCC climate convention if they make up for their lack of domestic progress by helping Indonesia and other developing countries carry out more sustainable economic developments.

Then all international pressure during the convention can be diverted to China, forcing them to do something about their carbon emissions. This policy would also considerably help the US fight China’s growing dominance on global economy because it would limit China’s influence over the strategically resource-rich region of Southeast Asia.

Sadly, neither Obama nor Yudhoyono emphasized these climate change and energy policy issues during their press conferences. This is understandable though as natural selection has never favored hindsight and people usually prefer a short-term rather than long-term solution.

Moreover, considering the heavily polarized state of American politics coupled with the growing anger and frustration channeled by the Republican Party for its own gain, domestic progress in the right direction is unlikely to happen.

Therefore the jury is out on Indonesia. The Southeast Asian country must take the initiative and come up with its own proposals for the United States. Because of the emerging global economy, no country can afford to wall off their trade and become a truly “independent” country.

There is no such thing as “resisting colonization from the West,” and as for Indonesia the choice is either to work with the Western world toward a more sustainable environment and higher quality albeit more expensive infrastructure or work with emerging China for cheaper but less sustainable and lower quality development.

The writer is an Indonesian student at Boston University majoring in environmental science.

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