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he Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) was one of the very few think tanks in the country 40 years ago when it was established.

It developed close ties with the late president Soeharto’s administration and provided ideas and recommendations to the president and his ministers — on request or not — on national development, legal affairs, economy, politics, security and foreign affairs, among others, during the first two decades of its history.

“We gave ideas, suggestions and responses to our [then existing] foreign policies and new foreign policies that we might need, citing development of foreign political situations,” one of CSIS’ founders, Jusuf Wanandi, said on Wednesday.

The CSIS gave recommendations to the government through seminars, publications and public lectures, among others, in addition to the direct contact between the research center and the authorities, he said.

At the time, it was easy, he said, for the CSIS to submit recommendations to the president, taking only one night for its “memo” to be executed on the latter’s order.

But relations between the CSIS and Soeharto turned sour when the CSIS sent him a memo that he interpreted as an urgent request to step down.

The memo, Jusuf said, recommended that Soeharto, who wanted to stay in power until he died, prepare for a new leader from the new generation as the people became more diverse and things more complex.

Another CSIS founder, Clara Joewono, said the relationship and cooperation between the CSIS and the government had been reciprocal, with the research center also provided with inputs by the government.

“We’ve enjoyed our relationship and cooperation with all foreign ministers since 1971 until now. And it’s reciprocal because the CSIS also gets many suggestions from the minister and officials at the Foreign Ministry,” she said.

In addition, the CSIS also works closely with eight other research centers in ASEAN member states (except Myanmar) to give each member government recommendations on foreign policies that would strengthen the bloc, she said.

The research centers are grouped in the ASEAN Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN ISIS), whose establishment the CSIS initiated.

According to Jusuf, the government may occasionally ask for recommendations from the CSIS.

For example, then foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda wanted something different upon Indonesia’s chairmanship in 2003, and the idea of the ASEAN Political Security Community (APSC) surfaced, he said.

“It was expected that [bonds among ASEAN member states] will become stronger with the presence of the ASEAN Political Security Community,” Jusuf said.

Clara said that the CSIS’ contribution to the idea of the APSC was a milestone as it had been time for the bloc to “embark on political security cooperation”. With the country chairing the regional grouping once again this year, Jusuf said the CSIS expected to help strengthen ASEAN in the future through Indonesia’s continued leadership.

In addition to the idea of the APSC, executive director Rizal Sukma said the CSIS also had provided the government with studies on ASEAN, the dynamics in East Asia and the importance of Indonesia’s strategic repositioning amid rapid development in East Asia.

“What we need to consolidate right now is our position in ASEAN with our position in G20, which we believe will be a premium international institution,” he said.

He said Indonesia had yet to have a comprehensive, solid policy in a global framework, particularly on the G20.