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‘Belt and Road Initiative’: An opportunity or threat
Unlike in Pakistan, Malaysia and the Philippines, in Indonesia the implementation of China’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Road scheme under the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) tends to stagnate.
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China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (China Daily/File)
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nlike in Pakistan, Malaysia and the Philippines, in Indonesia the implementation of China’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Road scheme under the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) tends to stagnate. China has so far committed to investing only about US$5 billion in the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project. And this is the only infrastructure project so far approved for Indonesia under the BRI.
Meanwhile, China has committed to investing $55 billion, $30 billion and $13 billion in Pakistan, Malaysia and the Philippines respectively. This is ironic, considering Indonesia’s strategic geography and geopolitics and its role as Southeast Asia’s largest economy. There are at least three reasons why BRI projects seem to stall in Indonesia.
First, there are many issues that are beyond China’s capability. For instance, rampant issues related to SARA (ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations) or identity politics — particularly anti-China sentiments —manipulated by politicians and opportunistic groups to achieve their political objectives have been circulating in Indonesia. A more concrete example is the case of Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, the former Jakarta governor who despite his strict characteristic and relatively clear trajectory and impressive performance was still struck by SARA-related issues. His loss in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election marked a new beginning in politics and was reportedly the dirtiest election in the history of Indonesia.
Second, a number of China’s investment projects in Indonesia have stumbled upon problems. One of the problematic projects is the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project. Although the ground-breaking for the project was made two years ago, the pace of implementation has been very slow. The difficulty of acquiring land is suspected to be the main culprit.
