Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit East Asian countries including China, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia. This will be her first overseas trip as the US Secretary of State.
It is interesting that the US chose Indonesia as a destination to demonstrate its foreign policy in Southeast Asia. It can be seen that the superpower is seeing Indonesia as a representative for the whole region.
But why Indonesia?
Of course, Barack Obama's childhood in Indonesia may be a factor. There is a personal link between the new US President and Southeast Asia. Or in other words, it made the US approach this region easier.
But I don't think it is an important point.
Lest not forget some facts about Indonesia. It is the world's largest Muslim-majority nation. Indonesian Muslims comprise of 15 per cent of the total Islam population in the world. This is a crucial point; the US under Obama would have to approach Muslim countries for talks and develop trade partnership. It cannot pursue a preemptive attitude like it once was under Mr.Bush. So where is the better place if not Indonesia? A tight relationship with Indonesia show the Middle-East that the US is willing to negotiate with any Muslim nations. This is for the sake of neo-liberalism, unfortunately.
Moreover, let's consider Indonesia's performance since the economic bust in 1997. Among countries in Southeast Asia, Thailand and Indonesia were to two most severely hit by the crisis. However, ten years later, Indonesia under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono improved considerably well. The conflict between religions seems to decrease. Even though he is struggling to gain real power in the administration, Yudhoyono seems to do well in his office. Compare to countries in the region, Indonesia is seen as the most promising.
P.S. It's the Shan's National Day on Saturday.
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