Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia

by Jennie S. Bev

News on corrupt officials, intellectuals who work for oppressive conglomerates and businesses causing extreme pollution and catastrophe have been selling newspapers and magazines.

Indonesia is in crisis and we aren’t talking about finances or its poor international image. We are talking about of the lack, or even a non-existence, of knights (the closest Western analogy to ksatria) in modern Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry »

Image source: pemiluindonesia.com

By Evan A. Laksmana

Among the basic rights of any citizen, soldiers included, is the right to vote. But this has not been the case for members of the Indonesian military (TNI), who last exercised this right in the country’s first general elections in 1955.

In fact, since 1971, soldiers had been barred from voting. In return, the TNI was given fixed seats in the national and local parliaments, although the practice was discontinued after 2004. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jennie S. Bev

I live with a strong sense of awe and wonder. I love and adore mysteries. They are all around and inside me. Things unknown, things in the future, things far away, and things I keep close dearly to heart.

Mysteries keep me alive and craving for more.

In the end, they give me ecstasy.

We might have been looking for answers throughout our lifetime, yet answers are actually not what we are looking for. Read the rest of this entry »

Image source: travel.nationalgeographic.com

by Evan A. Laksmana

With all the bombast surrounding the 60th anniversary of China-Indonesia relations in the last few months, many seem unaware of recent developments in the South China Sea. In the last fortnight, details have emerged regarding the Chinese Navy’s growing assertiveness and naval projection capability in the region.

According to a recent report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a flotilla of six ships from the North Sea Fleet sailed on March 18 on a “long-distance training exercise” in the vicinity of the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands — and reportedly near the Malacca Strait as well. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jennie S. Bev

Raphael’s painting The School of Athens depicted Plato pointing to the sky and Aristotle pointing to the ground. It encapsulates the two approaches in how we perceive the world: perfection and grounded reality.

These perspectives divide the world into unconstrained and constrained views, using terms used by Harvard professor of behavioral studies Tal Ben-Shahar.

In psychology, they become perfectionism and optimalism; in politics, they become communism and capitalism; in everyday arguments, they become can-do and cannot-do. Read the rest of this entry »

Image source: pacamat.com

By Evan A. Laksmana

The arrest of two university students in Central Java on terrorism charges two weeks ago – following a wave of arrests in recent months – highlights several trends regarding Indonesia’s evolving terrorist threat.

First, as a recent International Crisis Group report argued, there are now at least three jihadi streams in the country. Read the rest of this entry »

Image source: anisavitri.wordpress.com

By Evan A. Laksmana

Few people pay attention to our state defense doctrine the Total Defense System (Sistem Pertahanan Semesta or Sishanta), although this doctrine (published by the Defense Ministry in 2007 and publicly available) shapes the legal, political, intellectual, and even operational foundation of our entire national security system.

After 12 years of reform following the fall of Soeharto in 1998, it is important to reinterpret this doctrine and its implications for our national security. Read the rest of this entry »

FIFA 2010 in Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela

by Jennie S. Bev

In 16 years after the apartheid ended in South Africa, Johannesburg has already become the host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This achievement has made Africa proud as it is the first time this continent has hosted a prestigious sporting event like this.

Historically speaking, South Africa has been colonized for 300 years by the English and the Dutch with 48 years of apartheid rule. In 16 short years, South Africa already built 1.1 million houses for the poor and has a rising number of middle class, although Caucasians still dominate the publicly traded companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Read the rest of this entry »

(Image: The Garden by Joan Miro)

by Jennie S. Bev

The historical backdrop of the Israel-Palestine conflict can be traced back 5,000 years to 3000 BC. The story of struggling Jews is part legend, part scriptural, part psychological, and entirely political.

Religions happens to be in the picture because the Middle East is the birthplace of three monotheisms — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — thus making it “the cradle of civilization.”

This “cradle” status ensures the region is continuously in the limelight. Religions are involved, yet they are not the main concern. Instead, this conflict is a humanitarian issue of massive proportion. Like the Mindanao conflict, the Israel-Palestine conflict also centers on a piece of land. Read the rest of this entry »

by Muhamad Ali, Ph.D

How did the State and civil society negotiate the Shari’a and the civil law in a modern pluralistic Indonesia? Why is it difficult for a compromise that pleases everyone? The State continues to function as the legitimate power to produce laws in which the Shari’a has to contribute and to adjust itself in a Muslim majority yet, pluralistic nation. The tensions and negotiations between various elements– the government and civil society, result from a long duree of encounters of the Middle East (including the Mediterranean), Europe, and Asia in the Indonesian archipelago. A history of a legal culture and interfaith interaction in a local context reveals the various and changing impact of global forces. Read the rest of this entry »

by Evan A. Laksmana

This month, the Indonesian Military (TNI) would have embarked on around 12 years of reform since Soeharto fell in 1998. Though civil society groups might still cry foul over their lack of “wholehearted” willingness to change, we need to think about what’s next; the transition from a “military reform”-oriented process to a “defense transformation”.

A “reform” agenda implies fixing certain aspects of the military’s “distorted” roles and functions. Given that Soeharto abused the military as a regime maintenance tool, this would logically mean focusing on getting the TNI out of politics and out of business, and submit to democratic civilian control and the rule of law. Read the rest of this entry »

by Evan Laksmana

THE issue of Myanmar and its future political development came up once again during the 16th Summit of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) in Hanoi earlier this month.

And according to the local press in Jakarta, there now appears more expectation for Indonesia to play a bigger, more decisive role in pushing the matter forward.

In fact, with Indonesia set to take over the Asean Chair next year – following an unusual swap with Brunei – some are speculating whether Jakarta might use the opportunity to launch a new bilateral or regional initiative to press on for more meaningful change in Myanmar. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jennie S. Bev

San Francisco, California – This month marks the 12th anniversary of a critical event in recent Indonesian history – the May 1998 riots. Following the death of four university students who were participating in a protest to demand the resignation of President Suharto, people took to the streets, rioting and looting.

Though many claim the riots were a result of frustration with the current regime and mass unemployment, the ethnic Chinese Indonesian community quickly became a target of mob violence, including reports of nearly 100 Chinese Indonesian women being raped. Read the rest of this entry »

Image source: commons.wikimedia.org

By Evan A. Laksmana

The recent debate regarding the expansion of the East Asia Community (EAS) by allowing Russia to join the ASEAN-driven grouping highlights the continued search for a better, more integrated regional architecture.

In fact, if one looks at the discourse within the last few years, crafting a new “regional architecture” has been somewhat the watchword of both government officials and scholars alike. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jennie S. Bev

Along with Serbia, Iraq, Iran and North Korea, the peace-building approach in Indonesia is both polarizing and dualistic. In a term used by Johan Galtung, these traits are “manicheistic.”

Manicheism itself is a term originated from religious studies referring to a dualistic system of good and bad. In this case, it is referring to a preference in a security-oriented approach, rather than in a peace-oriented approach.

In Indonesia, the state prefers to see “security” as identical to “peace.”

Indonesia must learn to adopt peace-oriented approaches in both daily living and policy making activities and attitudes. Failure to do so will exacerbate the already tarnished face of peaceful Indonesia with ongoing violent incidents and persecutions of minorities. By adopting a peace-oriented rather than a security-oriented approach, Indonesia will be able to cultivate peace from the ground up, where human rights — including minority rights — are upheld respectfully. Read the rest of this entry »