http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/politics/yudhoyono-lays-claim-to-indonesias-role-in-the-g-20/406425
Yudhoyono Lays Claim To Indonesia's Role in the G-20 Armando Siahaan & Antara | November 12, 2010 Jakarta. By participating in the Group of 20 gatherings of the largest developed and emerging economies, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has staked Indonesia's long-term claim to play a major role in the global economic architecture. And even if the Seoul summit ended on Friday with the G-20 deeply divided over the ongoing currency dispute between China and the United States, Yudhoyono still sees the group as representing the wave of the future. "Western countries' economic domination will not last forever. There will be new poles, new powers that are called emerging nations or emerging economies," Yudhoyono told reporters on the way to the summit on Thursday. Indonesia needs to use its elevation to the world stage to push for advantages that will benefit its own economy, the president added, citing its presence at the summit as evidence of the country's rising power and prosperity. "We may not have realized that our GDP has grown in the last five to six years and now we're in the world's top 20," he said. "Since Indonesia became a permanent member of G-20 in 2008, we are already world class. "If we can manage things well, then five to 10 or 15 years from now, we can really be a world power." Analysts may not be so fast to confer such status on the country, which despite its size has long been seen as an underperformer in global power politics. Bantarto Bandoro, a foreign affairs expert from University of Indonesia, calls Yudhoyono's grand ambition "far-fetched." "One of the main criteria of a world power is a balance between economic and military power," he said. "Indonesia does not have such a balance." Bantarto conceded, however, that given the country's geography, population and history, "Indonesia has greater influence in the Southeast Asian region." The nation's position in the G-20, Bantarto said, is a result of its admirable economic growth in recent years and the recognition by other powers that the country needs to be at the table on behalf of Southeast Asia and the developing world. Pande Radja Silalahi, an economist from the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that Indonesia could only raise its stature further in the global arena if it succeeds as a voice for other developing countries in the G-20. "Indonesia must listen to other countries and raise their concerns through the forum," Pande said. "Unfortunately, Indonesia is frequently occupied with domestic affairs, so we haven't really done a great job of listening to others." Meanwhile, on Friday, Yudhoyono spoke at the G-20 and told his audience that global prosperity could only take place "if developed and developing countries can fulfill their commitments." Unfortunately, divisions between wealthy countries like the United States and emerging powers, especially China, have muted the effectiveness of the G-20 in the last year, leading to watered down resolutions that are long on promises but short on specifics. The Seoul summit could not resolve a currency dispute that has the United States fuming over the "undervaluing" of China's yuan, nor could it make progress on trade imbalances. In the worst-case scenario, experts worry that a global trade war could result that would lead to a slowdown harming all countries. The G-20 was supposed to make such a possibility remote. Created in the spirit of fighting the global economic meltdown in 2008, the group was touted at the time as a sign of unprecedented global cooperation. Now, experts say the rapid recovery from the crisis has made G-20 countries less inclined to reach consensus. Yudhoyono remained optimistic, saying the G-20 still plays a pivotal role in driving the global economic recovery. "The world's economic recovery is going on. This is an achievement. It is an exaggeration to say there are no achievements. It is also an exaggeration if the G-20 is regarded as an ineffective forum. We must be fair," he said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
