Q+A-US stakes in Indonesia's presidential election
07 Jul 2009 17:58:33 GMT Source: Reuters
(For a TAKE A LOOK on the election, click here [ID:nIDELECT]) By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - Indonesia holds a presidential election on Wednesday in which Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is widely expected to win a second term at the helm of the world's most populous Muslim nation. U.S. President Barack Obama, who lived in Indonesia as a child, is expected to visit the country later this year -- a trip that would warm ties that both countries say they plan to raise to the level of "comprehensive partnership." Following are key questions about U.S. ties with Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation: WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT U.S. INTERESTS IN INDONESIA? Indonesia has been a frontline state in the U.S.-led "war on terror", with significant success in quashing violent militants after a series of deadly bombings and the emergence of radical Islam in some quarters. The United States rates the Yudhoyono government highly on counter-terrorism and Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism unit received U.S. training. Military-to-military relations have been normalized and most arms sales restrictions imposed after violence in East Timor a decade ago have been lifted. The country is a diplomatic heavyweight in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and many experts say Indonesia is now that regional grouping's strongest democracy, and a model for democratic values in the Islamic world. The planned bilateral comprehensive partnership would cover climate change, clean energy, environmental protection and cooperation in the G20 group of major industrial and developed economies, said the Indonesian ambassador to the United States, Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat. All candidates in Wednesday's election are committed to "vibrant and strong" Indonesia-U.S. ties, he said. WHAT DO U.S. BUSINESSES WANT FROM INDONESIA? Yudhoyono made modest progress in tackling graft and making Southeast Asia's biggest economy more attractive to foreign investors. Trade Minister Mari Pangestu vowed these would continue under a second Yudhoyono term. But U.S. trade officials and businesses complain about a range of protectionist policies, including judicial and bureaucratic bias favoring Indonesian firms, as well rampant corruption that distorts the economic playing field. Businesses complain of a long "negative list" of sectors of the economy that are closed to foreign investment, labor laws that make it virtually impossible to fire workers and onerous regulations that force pharmaceutical firms to manufacture in Indonesia if they wish to sell drugs there. Some policies have become more protectionist under Yudhoyono, including measures that force firms to re-register products they import, and rules restricting imports to a small number of ports in the vast country. U.S. trade officials say bilateral trade of $21 billion is smaller than two-way commerce with several smaller neighbors of Indonesia. And Southeast Asia expert Walter Lohman of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, said:"I hear more negative things from the business community now about how hard it is to do business there than I have in a long time." HOW BIG IS THE OBAMA FACTOR IN BILATERAL TIES? The Obama Administration has a distinct advantage in Indonesia because the U.S. president spent several years there as a child. His mother's second husband was an Indonesian and he attended an Indonesian government school in an elite Jakarta neighborhood. Many Indonesians regard Obama as a virtual native son, who apparently even spoke a few words of Indonesian to Yudhoyono in a phone conversation, said Ambassador Parnohadiningrat. "We in Indonesia live in a culture of extended family, so anyone who has been living among us as a family member of any household is considered one of the family," said the envoy. "At the state-to-state level, this will make Indonesia's posture in terms of building the Asian architecture distinctly stronger," he said. (Editing by Alan Elsner)
A man rides a bicycle in the haze-shrouded city of Pekanbaru town in Indonesia's Riau province July 5, 2009. Indonesia may experience more severe forest fires this year because of an ...
