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View all search resultsJokowi and Modi’s budding bromance
The reelection of India’s Narendra Modi and Indonesia’s Joko “Jokowi” Widodo got India-Indonesia relations off to a good start after the two leaders congratulated each other on social media. The stage was set for them to renew a comprehensive strategic partnership signed in 2018. #opinion
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Close ties: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) shakes hands with Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta during Modi’s state visit to Indonesia on May 30, 2018. (Courtesy of Indian Embassy)
T
he reelection of India’s Narendra Modi and Indonesia’s Joko “Jokowi” Widodo got India-Indonesia relations off to a good start after the two leaders congratulated each other on social media. The stage was set for them to renew a comprehensive strategic partnership signed in 2018.
As rank outsiders and true commoners with humble origins who fought their way to the top of the leadership heap, Jokowi and Modi seem to have conjured up a budding bromance. Jokowi was a former furniture businessman and Modi was a tea seller before they joined politics. Their chemistry will be critical in taking India-Indonesia relations forward during their second terms in office.
Visiting each other’s countries within the first year of their second terms in office could enable both leaders to hit the ground running to propel India-Indonesia relations to new bilateral heights.
Despite being the largest country in Southeast Asia, Indonesia seldom featured in India’s Look East Policy since it was instituted in 1991. But Indonesia began to feature prominently after the Modi government injected fresh impetus to India’s Look (now Act) East Policy since its unveiling in 2014.
India sees Indonesia as a gateway to Southeast Asia to redress the unfortunate reality that India has not engaged in the region as much as China and the United States.
Indonesia sees India as a gateway to the Indian subcontinent. Engaging India is an important facet of Indonesia’s long-standing “free and active” foreign policy doctrine. By not taking sides, Indonesia is endowed with the strategic bandwidth to make as many friends as possible.
The economic potential of India-Indonesia relations is immense. Both India and Indonesia boast large consumer markets and trillion-dollar economies, with the former enjoying a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of US$2.61 trillion while the latter a nominal GDP of $1.01 trillion.
