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Expert panelists urge 'grand strategy' on Indonesian foreign policy for global relevance
Speaking at a panel discussion on Saturday in Jakarta, experts including former senior diplomats called for a "grand strategy" to guide Indonesia's foreign policy to stay relevant on the international stage as they turned a critical eye on the current nationalist policy trend around the globe.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left) addresses the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Week on Nov. 16, 2023 in San Francisco, California, as other world leaders of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) look on. (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)
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ndonesia needed a “grand” foreign policy strategy to guide the direction of its diplomacy at the international table amid various global and regional conflicts, participants told a panel discussion on Saturday in Jakarta, as they reflected on the inward-looking policy of the President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo administration.
The three experts agreed that Jokowi’s foreign policy was heavily influenced by his prioritizing the country’s economic interests, including securing market access for Indonesian exports and attracting foreign investments.
This focus was also reflected in the President appointing businesspeople to certain diplomatic posts, in contrast with the Foreign Ministry’s common practice of appointing career diplomats.
One such example was Jokowi’s appointing Rosan P. Roeslani, former head of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), as the country’s ambassador to the United States.
“Foreign policy is only a part of fulfilling domestic objectives,” Poppy S. Winanti, international relations lecturer at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), told the discussion organized by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI).
“That’s why Jokowi has no grand strategy like the ‘a thousand friends, zero enemies’ [foreign policy] of the Yudhoyono era,” she said, referring to Jokowi’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Read also: Jokowi’s visit to China, Saudi Arabia underlines their strategic importance
