newsletter forward volume 1 tahun 2015 preview
ISSN 2460-1659
FORWARD
Towards ASEAN Community - Centrality - Connecivity
OPINION
Redeining Indonesia’s ASEAN Policy
SEAN 26th Summit concluded
that the ASEAN Community
must be strenghtened and
be more people-centred. There was,
however, little consideration to the
Rohingya humanitarian crisis, their
prosecution, exclusion and violence
against them. Conlict transformation
in the South China Sea (SCS) also
received minimal attention from
ASEAN.
A
The SCS issue is distracting ASEAN
solidarity; it was deadlocked at the
2012 ASEAN leaders meeting in Cambodia. Indonesian Foreign Minister’s
diplomacy successfully bridged the
deadlock and urged regional leaders to
continue with the peaceful transformation of the SCS dispute, by exercising
self-restraint. Recently, Cambodia
restated that the SCS issue was not
an ASEAN affair, but a problem of
claimants states vis-a-vis China.
The ASEAN vision essentially means
developing regional peace and stability, also beyond Southeast Asia.
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF),
ASEAN-Plus 1 and Plus 3 and the East
Asia Summit, are examples of this
vision. Indonesia and ASEAN initiatives in organising the Jakarta Informal Meeting (JIM) have constructively
put an end to the attrocities during
the Cambodian war. Can ASEAN
consider the Cambodia’s civil war
an isolated conlict? What if ASEAN
leaders assume that the Cambodian
conlict was an internal problem and
let them continue killing each other?
Redeining Indonesia’s ASEAN Policy
News Update
China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative
Page 2
Article
ASEAN and The South China Sea :
Towards Conlict Transformation
The 26th ASEAN Summit, Kuala
Lumpur & Langkawi, 27 April 2015
Page 3
Article
Thailand’s Border Problems:
The ASEAN Solution
Page 4
Activities
Research Activities
Book Review
Border Dispute Settlement
between Thailand – Cambodia
Any decrease in Indonesian attention
of ASEAN could hamper the ASEAN
process in building strong regionalism
in Southeast Asia. Strategically, it is
a political imperative that Indonesia
must urge ASEAN to keep on moving
forward. ASEAN will remain a cornerstone of Indonesia’s regional policy in
a new multiplex world. (RM)
NEWS UPDATE
TABLE OF CONTENT
Page 1
Opinion
Indonesia is also concerned on
border problems; they should be
solved peacefully, without the use
of military force. The application
of international law in solving the
Sipadan-Ligitan dispute was a prime
example. Indonesia’s modest role
has made it to be acknowledged as
the primus inter pares in ASEAN. As
a democratic country, Indonesia has
promoted ASEAN as a people-centred
security community.
China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative
n March 28, 2015 China’s
President Xi Jinping gave a
keynote address at the Boao
Forum For Asia in Hainan Province which
promoted a “community of common
destiny”. Xi expounded four points to
be implemented: mutual respect and
equality; win-win cooperation; common,
comprehensive, cooperative and
sustainable security; inclusiveness and
mutual learning among Asian countries.
Further, Xi’s speech showed China’s
maritime strategy on the South China Sea
(SCS) dispute. Currently, China’s offer on
the establishment of the Maritime Silk
Road (MSR) engage parties of the dispute
O
i.e the Philippines, Viet Nam, Brunei
Darussalam and Malaysia. As a result, the
Philippines, which asked the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on 2013, is
expected to ask for postponement of the
on going legal process; she is to focus on
strengthening its economic cooperation
with China. China’s political and economic
ties with Viet Nam also got a signiicant
boost when Secretary General of the
Communist Party of Viet Nam Nguyen
paid a state visit to Beijing in April 7, with
Viet Nam showing high interest in joining
the MSR. Likewise, China has become
more friendly to Malaysia on the SCS
dispute. (FF and HN)
FORWARD
Volume 1 2015 1
FORWARD
Towards ASEAN Community - Centrality - Connecivity
OPINION
Redeining Indonesia’s ASEAN Policy
SEAN 26th Summit concluded
that the ASEAN Community
must be strenghtened and
be more people-centred. There was,
however, little consideration to the
Rohingya humanitarian crisis, their
prosecution, exclusion and violence
against them. Conlict transformation
in the South China Sea (SCS) also
received minimal attention from
ASEAN.
A
The SCS issue is distracting ASEAN
solidarity; it was deadlocked at the
2012 ASEAN leaders meeting in Cambodia. Indonesian Foreign Minister’s
diplomacy successfully bridged the
deadlock and urged regional leaders to
continue with the peaceful transformation of the SCS dispute, by exercising
self-restraint. Recently, Cambodia
restated that the SCS issue was not
an ASEAN affair, but a problem of
claimants states vis-a-vis China.
The ASEAN vision essentially means
developing regional peace and stability, also beyond Southeast Asia.
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF),
ASEAN-Plus 1 and Plus 3 and the East
Asia Summit, are examples of this
vision. Indonesia and ASEAN initiatives in organising the Jakarta Informal Meeting (JIM) have constructively
put an end to the attrocities during
the Cambodian war. Can ASEAN
consider the Cambodia’s civil war
an isolated conlict? What if ASEAN
leaders assume that the Cambodian
conlict was an internal problem and
let them continue killing each other?
Redeining Indonesia’s ASEAN Policy
News Update
China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative
Page 2
Article
ASEAN and The South China Sea :
Towards Conlict Transformation
The 26th ASEAN Summit, Kuala
Lumpur & Langkawi, 27 April 2015
Page 3
Article
Thailand’s Border Problems:
The ASEAN Solution
Page 4
Activities
Research Activities
Book Review
Border Dispute Settlement
between Thailand – Cambodia
Any decrease in Indonesian attention
of ASEAN could hamper the ASEAN
process in building strong regionalism
in Southeast Asia. Strategically, it is
a political imperative that Indonesia
must urge ASEAN to keep on moving
forward. ASEAN will remain a cornerstone of Indonesia’s regional policy in
a new multiplex world. (RM)
NEWS UPDATE
TABLE OF CONTENT
Page 1
Opinion
Indonesia is also concerned on
border problems; they should be
solved peacefully, without the use
of military force. The application
of international law in solving the
Sipadan-Ligitan dispute was a prime
example. Indonesia’s modest role
has made it to be acknowledged as
the primus inter pares in ASEAN. As
a democratic country, Indonesia has
promoted ASEAN as a people-centred
security community.
China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative
n March 28, 2015 China’s
President Xi Jinping gave a
keynote address at the Boao
Forum For Asia in Hainan Province which
promoted a “community of common
destiny”. Xi expounded four points to
be implemented: mutual respect and
equality; win-win cooperation; common,
comprehensive, cooperative and
sustainable security; inclusiveness and
mutual learning among Asian countries.
Further, Xi’s speech showed China’s
maritime strategy on the South China Sea
(SCS) dispute. Currently, China’s offer on
the establishment of the Maritime Silk
Road (MSR) engage parties of the dispute
O
i.e the Philippines, Viet Nam, Brunei
Darussalam and Malaysia. As a result, the
Philippines, which asked the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on 2013, is
expected to ask for postponement of the
on going legal process; she is to focus on
strengthening its economic cooperation
with China. China’s political and economic
ties with Viet Nam also got a signiicant
boost when Secretary General of the
Communist Party of Viet Nam Nguyen
paid a state visit to Beijing in April 7, with
Viet Nam showing high interest in joining
the MSR. Likewise, China has become
more friendly to Malaysia on the SCS
dispute. (FF and HN)
FORWARD
Volume 1 2015 1