Indonesia Key to Forming East Asian Community

The East Asian Community is a strategic idea to enable East Asia to cope with its future problems. Among these is the issue of how to cope with the peaceful rise of China, which has been already so dramatic for the region and the world. And it seems that it could continue to grow rapidly for the next two to three decades.

China has already created a lot of challenges in the region and those challenges would be better faced together through a regional institution such as the East Asian community, of which China is a vital part.

So is the challenge to normalize relations between China and Japan. This strained relationship has somewhat improved, due in part to the environment created by the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) cooperative, which has been the main instrument for building an East Asian community, as well as the visit by the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to Beijing in October 2006.

Another important challenge is the relationship between China and the U.S. This is the most important relationship in the region, but it is also a very complicated one, between the prevailing single superpower and potentially an upcoming super power in the next three to four decades to come.

ASEAN countries also face challenges in the economic and socio-political fields. To help overcome them, they also need to be part of an East Asian institution so that they will be assisted by the advanced member countries. This also ensures that there will be the peaceful regional environment that is necessary for them to develop further.

In the meantime, ASEAN is expected to play the driver's role in East Asian institution building, because the two great powers, namely China and Japan, are not ready to lead because of the lack of trust between them.

To be able to do so, ASEAN needs to first get its act together, especially in creating an ASEAN Community by 2015.

This is not likely to happen without Indonesia's leadership. The ASEAN Charter to be finalized by the end of this year (on ASEAN's 40th anniversary) could be the new and important basis for ASEAN community building and could strengthen ASEAN's role as the driver in East Asian community building.

Indonesia's leadership in ASEAN has been missing for the last 10 years since the financial crisis of 1997 and 1998, when President Soeharto stepped down. It can resume that role only if President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono shows his leadership.

Yudhoyono should have fully attended the Summit meetings in Cebu, which were an important part of East Asian community building. He was absent from the ASEAN Plus Three and East Asian Summits because of unimportant domestic problems.

Moreover, the abrupt termination of the sales of sand to Singapore is not very a very encouraging sign of Yudhoyono's and Indonesia's leadership in ASEAN. Being the "big brother" in ASEAN, Indonesia should show magnanimity towards the other members. This means self-restraint and, if necessary, leaning backwards for the sake of ASEAN. The manner in which the issue of the Treaty of Extradition was raised, while it is now almost finalized, has not been helpful.

The same happened in the way Indonesia reacted toward Malaysia on the Ambalat territorial claims. The public has become almost hysterical because of the lack of leadership on the Indonesian side.

One may criticize former President Soeharto for many things, as I have done often in the past, but he showed leadership in ASEAN. This has been recognized by all ASEAN members,

President Yudhoyono has to lead ASEAN, because ASEAN is important for Indonesia. And Indonesia's leadership can really make a difference.

Instead of dabbling in the problem of North Korea's proliferation and the complex issue the Middle East, President Yudhoyono should help resolve the conflict in southern Thailand, support Malaysia's effort to help to implement the settlement between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (as Indonesia did earlier in the case of the Moro National Liberation Front), and continue with the efforts to encourage the Myanmar junta to realize their road map toward achieving a certain level of political development.

In the case of East Asian community building, Indonesia should be aware of the critical role it is playing now and in the future in the creation of a peaceful and progressive East Asia, which will become the most important part of the world.

ASEAN's role, and for that matter Indonesia's role and leadership, will be a critical factor in making the East Asian community a reality.

The writer is vice chair of the board of trustees at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Foundation.