W

ith his approval rating hitting an all time low and his Democratic Party mired in scandal, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to use his meeting with foreign leaders and his planned visit abroad to raise his international stature.

In his planned meeting with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in their second annual retreat held at the Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java on Tuesday, Yudhoyono is expected to negotiate with Singapore to support Indonesia’s anticorruption drive, including extradition and mutual legal assistance for asset recovery.

Yudhoyono will also likely bring up the Middle East crisis when meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who is scheduled to attend the second Jakarta International Defense Dialog from March 21 to March 23.

After concluding his meeting with Ban, Yudhoyono is expected to leave the country for a state visit to China, Hong Kong and South Korea before wrapping up on March 28.

In China and Hong Kong, Yudhoyono is expected to hold bilateral talks and attend business gatherings while in Seoul, where the President plans to attend the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit.

South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Young-sun said that South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will welcome Yudhoyono as a state guest. The leaders are scheduled to hold bilateral discussions.

Presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizansyah said that talks on the crisis in the Middle East would be of great significance during the international trip.

“Indonesia will bring one special proposal concerning the commitment to avoid nuclear proliferation. We have already had talks about this at the senior official level, but we will push to have this discussed at the state leader level,” Faizansyah said.

In several Cabinet meetings, Yudhoyono has called for an international efforts to deal with the Iran’s nuclear ambitions and warned that all nations, including Indonesia, should brace for its fall-out, including rising oil prices.

The European Union and the US have imposed sanctions on Iran’s crucial fuel exports as part of the Western’s efforts to derail Iran’s nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at developing atomic weapons.

University of Indonesia international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana said that in addition to negotiations over trade and business, the government must be able to play a role as a “political broker” to ease international tension, including heightened tension in the Middle East and the South China Sea.

“The government can be a ‘go-between’ for China and the US concerning the tension in the South China Sea. President Yudhoyono should listen to China’s concerns over the issue and then relay the message to the US,” Hikmahanto said.

“In Seoul, the efforts to ease the tension in the Middle East is more feasible. Indonesia must be firm in making its stance known that Iran should open itself to IAEA’s [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspection to prove its claim that the nuclear program is aimed at peaceful purposes,” he added.

The Indonesian government has faced growing opposition from the public that rejected the government’s plan to make an early-revision for the 2012 state budget to accommodate its plan to increase subsidized-fuel price by Rp 1,500 (17 US cents) a liter. The current price is Rp 4,500.

The government has argued that the current state budget needs urgent revision because it includes an oil price assumption of US$90 per barrel. The actual price of oil has exceeded $105 and is rising.

As the state budget revision bill is being deliberated at the House of Representatives, politicians from opposition parties, as well as government critics have continued their attack on the government, saying that the lifting of the subsidy will burden the poor and increase unemployment.