Hillary Rodam Clinton to visit Jakarta, strengthen US-Indonesian link

MARK COLVIN: When Hillary Clinton touches down in Jakarta today she'll be setting a new record of sorts, no American Secretary of State has ever visited South East Asia so soon after taking office.

The links between Barack Obama and Indonesia run deep. He was schooled there as a boy and his step-sister has an Indonesian father.

But Indonesians are hoping that Hillary Clinton's 24 hours in their country signal a greater recognition of that country's role.

From Jakarta, Indonesia correspondent Geoff Thompson reports.

(Students 'singing star spangled banner')

GEOFF THOMPSON: From the moment, he was in the running to become US president; Indonesia's embrace of Barack Obama has been enthusiastic, romantic and nostalgic.

Following his inauguration students at his former school in central Jakarta sang 'The Star Spangled Banner' right after a rendition of Indonesia's own national anthem as other giddy kids and former classmates mingled among old photographs of Barack Obama years as a youngster here, in the late '60s and early '70s.

Mr Obama and his wife even retreated to Indonesia again for several months in the 1990s to find in Bali, the peace and quiet needed to complete his first memoir, "Dreams from My Father".

All these family and emotional ties have Indonesians hoping that their country will be soon be visited by Barack Obama himself, and perhaps the place where he delivers a big speech to the Muslim world.

There's no word suggesting that's happening soon, but today's unprecedented visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sent a message that Indonesia enjoys a new prominence on the White House's world map.

Jusuf Wanandi is a political analyst with Indonesia's Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

JUSUF WANANDI: There is a growing recognition of course that we have achieved something and that we have now some influence as well. And of course earlier the G20 but now of course also for East Asia of course you know that we are the leaders on South East Asia.

There are some concrete issues really where we have to cooperate upon; non-proliferation, this problem of the financial crisis, this problem of China's role.

GEOFF THOMPSON: J. Stapleton Roy was born in China and went on to serve two terms in Beijing as the US Ambassador there. He was also America's Ambassador to Jakarta between 1996 and 1999.

He says in his 45 years with the State Department he does not recall a single example of a secretary of state organising an overseas trip as quickly as Hillary Clinton and he says the fact that it's to Asia, including Indonesia, is hugely significant.

J. STAPLETON ROY: Given its size, the role that it plays in South East Asia and its larger international connections, including its role as a country with a large Muslim population, that it has a thriving democratic system at the present time. All of this suggests that Indonesia needs more attention and in fact I puzzle why Indonesia has not gotten more attention, which I think it deserves to have.

GEOFF THOMPSON: It wasn't until George W. Bush was into his second term that Hillary Clinton's predecessor Condoleezza Rice visited Jakarta and when Mr Bush came to Indonesia he stayed for just 6 hours holed up in the Presidential Palace in Bogor, outside of Jakarta while protesters chanted that he was a "terrorist".

Indeed his relationship with the world's most populous Muslim nation was mostly defined by the War on Terror.

Robin Bush, who represents the Asia Foundation in Indonesia, says the tone in speeches ahead of Hillary Clinton's visit could not be more different.

ROBIN BUSH: Well, I think of interest is not just what she said but what she didn't say. She didn't say that the US hopes that Indonesia will be the mouthpiece for moderate Islam and that Indonesia can be an example for the rest of the Muslim world. She didn't say that.

She also mentioned terrorism but it was in a list along with a number of other priorities. So what we can deduce from that is that the new administration is emphasising, at least at this stage, Indonesian priorities rather than US priorities and that they won't make terrorism and relations with the Islamic world a major part of their foreign policy platform.


Source : http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2495177.htm

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodam Clinton says visiting Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority nation, is important for the USam

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has chosen to visit Indonesia on her first overseas trip, saying she wants to "reach out" to the Muslim world.

Indonesia "is an important country" for the US as the largest Muslim-majority nation, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said when asked why Ms Clinton included Indonesia on her visit to Asia.

"And the secretary feels it's important we need to reach out and reach out early to Indonesia," Mr Wood said.

Ms Clinton would meet senior officials in Jakarta to discuss "the close and growing partnership" with Indonesia and perspectives on common interests in Southeast Asia, he said.

Her trip to Indonesia is scheduled for February 18-19, immediately after her stop in Japan and before her visits to South Korea and China.

There had been talk in diplomatic circles that Ms Clinton might visit Australia on the trip, but the State Department appears to have rejected the idea.

In his inauguration speech on January 20, Barack Obama vowed to seek a "new way forward" with the Muslim world based on mutual interest and respect.

After he was elected on November 4, the US President promised to make a major speech in a Muslim capital, but Mr Wood gave no direct answer when asked if Ms Clinton would lay the groundwork for a trip to Indonesia by Mr Obama, who spent part of his childhood growing up there.

"I don't know if, when the President will be travelling to Indonesia," Mr Wood said. "Obviously the President will be very interested in the outcome of this trip, not just to Indonesia, but to the other countries."

The son of a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, Mr Obama was raised in Hawaii and was taken to Indonesia when he was six after his divorced mother married an Indonesian. In his memoirs, he recalls his time in Indonesia as the "bounty of a young man's life".

With more than 200 million people, Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. It has had a love-hate relationship with the US since the 1960s, marked by Washington's support for military dictator Suharto, who was ousted in 1998.

Mr Wood gave few details about Ms Clinton's plans for Indonesia, but said that in all countries on the trip she would discuss "common approaches" to challenges such as the global downturn, humanitarian issues, security and climate change.

Ms Clinton's choice of Asia for her first trip was "a tremendous signal" of the importance of Asia to US foreign policy, Mr Wood said. "It's growing in size, in influence, prosperity."

Source : http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25017626-26397,00.html