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RI told to be active in alleviating Korean tensions
Experts have urged the Indonesian government to be proactive and take an immediate action toward the escalating dispute gripping the Korean peninsula as the issue may eventually affect the country’s economy
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xperts have urged the Indonesian government to be proactive and take an immediate action toward the escalating dispute gripping the Korean peninsula as the issue may eventually affect the country’s economy.
University of Indonesia international relations expert Hariyadi Wirawan said Wednesday although a “military war” was unlikely, Indonesia should take up the role of mediator to calm the rhetoric between the two Koreas.
“Our foreign policy is not only being neutral, but also free and active. [Meaning Indonesia should be] active in peacemaking and [helping create] global order,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
The Indonesian government, however, seems to be in limbo as to how to respond, and faces a lack of initiatives to offer during any peace talks, Hariyadi said.
The ongoing dispute on the peninsula would harm Indonesia’s economy because the matter also concerned some of the world’s big- gest economies, including China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea itself, said Hariyadi.
“Indonesia’s economy [also] relies on development of East Asia’s economy,” he said.
Hariyadi also said Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or Vice President Boediono should be involved to throw weight behind any mediation because Jakarta was perceived
by Pyongyang to be aligned with Seoul.
He said Indonesia had lost respect on the peninsula since President Yudhoyono cancelled his planned trip to both North and South Korea in 2006.
Yudhoyono took a trip to South Korea later in 2009 during a ASEAN meeting on Jeju Island.
Bandung-based Padjajaran University security expert Yan Yan Mochamad Yani said Indonesia should urge peace in the peninsula through global forums, like ASEAN, the G-20 and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), adding that Yudhoyono carried sway as one of the world’s top figures.
Both Indonesia and North Korea are members of NAM, but the South Korea is not.
“Indonesia can be a moderate in an ASEAN [forum], conveying the voice of ASEAN members [over Korean dispute], as the ongoing situation in East Asia will undoubtedly affect Southeast Asia,” Yani told the Post.
The renewed tensions between North and South Korea began when a guided torpedo tore apart South Korean navy vessel Cheonan near a disputed sea border off the west coast killing 46 sailors.
A team of international investigators have concluded the torpedo was fired from a North Korean submarine, prompting South Korea to take punitive measures ranging from slashing trade, resuming propaganda warfare and blockading the North Korean cargo ships.
