Neighborly warmth infuses RI-India ties

Ashwini Devare, Singapore | Fri, 11/18/2011 8:57 AM A | A | A | - Klipping The Jakarta Post

Today, a resource hungry India, eager to boost its presence in Southeast Asia, is wooing resource-rich Indonesia.

The unquenchable thirst for energy has Indian companies flocking to Indonesia, infusing a new vigor into a centuries-old friendship that was fairly forgotten and neglected until the start of this decade.

Housed in the same continent and separated by a short stretch of the Indian Ocean, India and Indonesia are Asia’s two biggest democracies with a mosaic canvas- multiethnic, pluralistic with a religious diversity.

Yet, despite their geographic proximity and civilizational links, India and Indonesia looked past each other for the most part of their modern history.

India may have initiated its Look East Policy back in 1991, but Look-West remained the cornerstone of its foreign policy.

Dogged by its Hindu rate of growth, preoccupied by the Cold War, Pakistan, and a war with China, India remained mired in its own problems. Consequently, Indonesia remained largely missing from India’s radar.

Today, the fruits of the Look East Policy are slowly but surely ripening. For the first time in 60 years, India invited Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as its chief guest for its Republic Day celebrations earlier this year.

The bonhomie between the two countries is mirrored by robust investments and trade figures, with bilateral trade topping US$13 billion in 2010.

Indonesia is India’s second biggest trade partner in ASEAN and both countries have ambitious goals of boosting trade to $25 billion over the next five years.

Both are currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) that builds on the framework of the landmark ASEAN-India free trade agreement signed in 2009.

On the security front too there have been significant strides, with both signing a Defense Cooperation Agreement in 2001.

“The weight of geopolitics has asserted itself,” explains Navrekha Sharma, former Indian ambassador to Indonesia, who is writing a book on bilateral ties between India and Indonesia.

“Indonesia has become stable, it has become a convincing democracy, it has managed to resolve its ethnic conflicts, it has dealt firmly with terrorism. Simply size, population and expanse of Indonesia makes it the undisputed leader of ASEAN.

“So yes, that is the country we must deal with, even in dealing with ASEAN. Our relations with Indonesia will be watched because they will set the model for our relations with other countries in ASEAN.”

A view increasingly echoed in the corridors of South Block in New Delhi, which sees Indonesia as a gateway to increasing India’s presence in Southeast Asia, a bedrock for successful engagement with ASEAN.

The timing of India’s rapprochement with ASEAN coincides with China’s spreading footprint and access to the region. To a large extent, China’s rise has forced India not just to glance, but to really focus east, reflecting a strategic shift in mindset in New Delhi.

With the backdrop of China’s growing military might in the South China Sea, the theater of the wider Asia-Pacific landscape has acquired a growing geopolitical salience, top on the minds of leaders convening at the ASEAN and East Asia Summits chaired by Indonesia this week. The stage is being set in the balmy island of Bali, the lovely locus for the summits, not only for the traditional wayang kulit (puppet show) performance, but for a high-octane drama in diplomacy, with India, China, the US, Russia and ASEAN engaging in intense realpolitik.

Meantime, India’s enterprising entrepreneurs are fuelling the rapid pace of engagement with Indonesia by cherry picking opportunities in the country’s coal, oil and gas and mining sectors. India’s top firms — the Tatas, Birlas, Reliance, Essar, Jindal Steel, all have substantial investments in Indonesia.

While Indian auto giants Bajaj and TVS manufacture motorcycles in Indonesia, the Tatas own 30 percent of Indonesia’s two biggest coal mines. Last year Godrej became the first Indian consumer products company to acquire an Indonesian FMCG company, PT Megasari.

“Indonesia is a very exciting market for us with its 240 million consumers,” says Naveen Gupta, Megasari’s Chief Operating Officer, who spearheaded the acquisition. “Every day we touch 4 to 5 million homes with our products. Indonesia is a price-conscious market, with a modern retail trade mix. It is very similar to India, yet unique. Whenever I describe Indonesia, I say it is like India in ASEAN.”

Indonesians have welcomed Indian investment proactively, says Swati Chopra, consumer analyst with Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, who follows Indonesia closely. “While regulatory challenges and land acquisition are the hurdles Indian investors face, there is an incremental effort on the part of the Indonesians to attract foreign direct investment from India. There are also preliminary discussions to allow access to Indian
pharmaceuticals.”

“Indian investors are more humble and adaptable,” says a Jakarta-based Indonesian analyst. “There has been no major public backlash against the Indian investors, mainly because of their willingness and openness to be a minority shareholder, even in energy sectors like coal. That goes down well with the locals.”

Indian corporations and analysts point out to the remarkable resilience and strong economic fundamentals that have allowed Indonesia to rebuild itself and emerge as one of the more politically and economically stable countries in the region. Buoyed by strong domestic spending and investment, Indonesia has not only shielded itself from the crippling blows of the global recession far better than its export-dependent neighbors, Singapore and Thailand, but has come out as one of the best performing economies in the region, growing at 6.5 per cent this year.

Yet, despite the strides India and Indonesia have made, there is still a big information gap that separates the world’s second and fourth most populous nations. A majority of Indians remain largely oblivious to their huge democratic neighbor.

That the southern tip of the Nicobar Islands is less than 100 nautical miles from the Aceh coast of Indonesia is a geographic reality few are aware of. The Indonesian elections in July 2009 received next-to-nothing coverage in the Indian media. Like India, Indonesia too has a large population of young people, with nearly 30 percent of its population under the age of 15.

While Bollywood, notably Shah Rukh Khan, remains hugely popular in Indonesia, there is still a big chasm dividing both sides. That there are no direct flights connecting India and Indonesia is a glaring reflection of how relations have been neglected for too long.

India and Indonesia are in the nascent stages of rediscovering their old civilizational friendship. There is a lot to learn and build on. The good neighborliness is the denouement of a relationship that evolved through history, and was built on a foundation tried and tested over centuries.

Given the commonalities, the synthesis of traditions and values, it is a given that the path for closer alliance and understanding is just a matter of time. The modern chapter in the ancient relations between India and Indonesia has only just begun.

The writer, a former BBC correspondent, now is executive producer for Vichaar media.

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Rahim: German Neonazis killed 8 Muslim Turks | Sun, 20/11/2011 - 08:11am

Members of murderous neo-Nazi gang linked to German secret service
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“Germany's intelligence services have revealed that they are investigating whether members of a brutal neo-Nazi terror gang, responsible for a series of bomb attacks and cold blooded murders, were double agents who also covertly worked as secret service informers.
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Suspicions of an extraordinary intelligence service link with the far-right group have emerged following a spectacular police raid in eastern Germany last week, which tracked down a neo-Nazi terrorist cell that had eluded police and prosecutors for more than a decade.
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The gang, which called itself the National Socialist Underground, murdered a policewoman and NINE IMMIGRANT STREET VENDORS (8 Turks, One Greek and a Police woman) – who were shot in the face in broad daylight – carried out two bomb attacks which injured dozens, and robbed 14 banks to finance its operations.
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THE ATTACKS WERE AMONG THE MOST BRUTAL CARRIED OUT BY A NEO-NAZI ORGANISATION IN GERMANY SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR. The Interior Minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, described them as a "new dimension" of far right terror.”
(abbreviated and adapted from: The Independent, London, 15th November 2011)

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Note: In Germany it is virtually not possible to band the NPD (the right-wing party. The German Justice shows some sympathy for the right-wingers. This is tradtion in German speaking countries since 1848. It is interesting to note thar the Federal Office for the Protection of Constitution is involved in this case. This office is actually resposible to observe the enemies of the German Democracy, but during the last 10 years they were simply blind.

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Reply to Rahim | Sat, 19/11/2011 - 00:11am

>RICH INDIA. Ha, Ha, Ha:

What is the point in your obvious glee at poverty in India? Fortunately India (just like Indonesia) is witnessing steady economic growth. Hopefully poverty will be eradicated within 1-2 generations.

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Sanjoy Das | Sat, 19/11/2011 - 00:11am

Best wishes to all Indonesians!

Indonesia and India have shared goals of a peaceful, prosperous, democratic Asia. India should pay more attention to Indonesia.

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