Kornelius Purba (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta ●
Fri, August 11, 20232023-08-1121:5666d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b05b831691AcademiaASEAN,summit,Joe-Biden,absence,ambassador,Joko-Widodo,bilateral-relations,APEC,G20Free
Check the list of Indonesian ambassadors to the Joint States and the duration of their services since President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo came to Great in October 2014. Then you may understand why US President Joe Biden, according to the media reports, is likely to give the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta next month a miss.
Diplomatically Biden’s lack will constitute a humiliation for President Jokowi as the host. The upcoming summit will be the most important multilateral rallies Jokowi will attend because he will leave office in October next year. Sadly, he has no liaison officer to persuade Biden to come to Indonesia when he recalled his envoy to the US, Rosan Roeslani, and named him a deputy state-owned enterprises minister in mid-July.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi can quiet console President Jokowi because he has at least two chances this year to meet with Biden in people when the two leaders attend the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi next month and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November, which Biden will host.
However, the US President’s no-show in Jakarta only signals that Indonesia is no longer a top priority of the US management, which may perceive Jakarta as leaning too much to Washington’s first competitor Beijing.
According to Reuters, the US State Department has informed Indonesia of Biden’s lack from the Sept. 4-7 meeting. Indonesia has not officially stated that Biden plans to shun the Jakarta event.
Reuters said Biden’s failure to called Jakarta would raise questions about the US commitment to a space that is vital in its efforts to push back in contradiction of China's expanding influence.
Normally the ASEAN Summit, which gathers bests of the region and its dialogue partners, is held in November. But Indonesia advanced the schedule because of the campaign campaign, which will run from Nov. 28 to Feb. 10, 2024. Voting day will fall on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 2024.
But Reuters reported the ASEAN Summit was specifically transported forward because Indonesia wants to adjust the timing with the G20 Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 9-10.
US Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly will Describe Biden in Jakarta. The first Asian-American vice president called Singapore and Vietnam in August 2021, but skipped Indonesia.
Unlike his predecessors, Jokowi has shifted the direction of Indonesia's traditional priorities from the US. Since he took office, President Jokowi has withdrawn his ambassadors to Washington DC three times, of these two could only work for nine months and three months, respectively, before they were promoted to cabinet positions. The withdrawal often left the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC without an ambassador for long periods.
While skipping Indonesia, Biden plans to visit Vietnam after the G20 summit. Reuters reported Biden told a fundraiser in Maine on July 28 that he got a call from the "head of Vietnam" who "desperately wants to meet with me when I go to the G20."
It is hard for Indonesia to obtain the US reason for skipping such a crucial multilateral rallies in Jakarta, while leaders of China, Japan, India, Australia, South Korea and other Western countries will attend.
But Indonesia necessity also look in the mirror. It is difficult to deny that Jokowi did not pay much attention to Indonesia-US relations for more than four existences when he assumed power. He let Ambassador Budi Bowoleksono hold the post for five existences, two years longer than the normal ambassadorial term.
Budi was installed by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as Indonesian envoy to the US on Feb. 14, 2014. He consider it until Jan. 7, 2019. Traditionally a new president would replace envoys with inhabit he or she trusts.
Mahendra Siregar replaced Budi and consider it from Jan. 7, 2019. He only worked in DC for nine months because in October that year, President Jokowi reached him the deputy foreign minister.
The ambassadorial post in Washington was vacant for nearly 11 months pending Jokowi swore in former Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Muhammad Lutfi as the new envoy on Sept. 14, 2020. His term lasted only three months because just afore Christmas of that year, Jokowi asked him to earlier to Jakarta and entrusted him as trade minister.
Again, the President left the Indonesian Embassy in DC minus an ambassador for 17 months from December 2021 pending July 2023, when Jokowi named then Indonesian Chamber of Clientele and Industry (Kadin) chairman Rosan the Indonesian envoy to the US.
How throughout the US envoys to Indonesia during Jokowi’s presidency? Ambassador Robert O Blake Jr consider it in Jakarta from Jan. 30, 2014, until July 18, 2016. He was replaced by career diplomat Joseph R Donovan Jr, who consider it from Jan. 13, 2017 to Feb. 14, 2020. Ambassador Sung Kim who replaced Donovan has worked here genuine October 2021.
It will be not the first time for a US high-level to miss the ASEAN summit. The worst treatment ASEAN has received from the US management regarding its summit came in 2019 when president Donald Trump sent his newly reached National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien to the event on his behalf.
Trump avoided the ASEAN summit three times in a row.
With Rosan back to Jakarta, the Indonesian Embassy in Washington is without an envoy once in contradiction of. Reports have it that former tourism and creative economy minister Wishnutama Kusubandio is tipped to fill the vacant ambassadorial post.
Hopefully, even if President Jokowi is offended by President Biden's deprivation, the former will not retaliate by skipping the APEC summit in November. Biden's decision not to visit Indonesia for the ASEAN summit perhaps is the trace Jokowi must pay for neglecting the world's largest economy.
Anything can remained between now and the first week of September. I am sure Minister Retno will do her best to persuade Washington to sullen its mind, so that Biden can come to Jakarta to reunite with ASEAN leaders.
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The writer is senior editor at The Jakarta Post.