Comparing Indonesia's Foreign Policy under President Jokowi and President Yudhoyono

Analyzing Indonesia's foreign policy under the last two presidents, we can come to a conclusion that in terms of strengthening the role and image of Indonesia in the presence of international stages; President Yudhoyono clearly has bigger influence. Using the slogan 'Thousand Friends, Zero Enemy' as his foreign policy platform, President Yudhoyono tried to focus his foreign policy by practicing peace diplomacy as a way to revive and secure Indonesia's image which has been marred from the increasing amount of terrorism, secessionism, violation of human rights and corruption issue that put the country in such unfavorable position internationally. Dino Patti Djalal, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Policy in a discussion in Jakarta (2010) conveyed that we should be grateful that during the reign of President Yudhoyono, Indonesia has a good image, profile and position in the international world. He claimed that it was very difficult for him to do political and economic lobbies since Indonesia was considered a 'sick country' among ASEAN countries due to the internal conflicts back in his days as the Head of International Relation in 2000.

The effort of President Yudhoyono in the process of strengthening Indonesia's role and image globally shows that his main priority in foreign policy is getting international engagement3. Under this, he often placed foreign policy on the high profile level, considering it vital and putting every attention possible to it. President Yudhoyono tried to project Indonesia's internationalism that has been impaired due to the cascade of domestic problems during the early reformation era as stated before. His internationalism is shown by his active participation in all diplomatic activities, emphasizing Indonesia's presence in international stage. This resulted to the appointment of Indonesia to become the Cho-Chair at High Level Panel of Eminent Person of Post-2015 Development Agenda, Leader of ASEAN in 2011, Leader of APEC in 2013, Host of KTM WTO in 2013, and the executant of Bali Democratic Forum regular meeting in Bali since 2008.

President Yudhoyono used the concept of 'navigating a turbulent ocean', then adopted constructive approach to interact with global and regional actor as as the implementation of this term. This energetic perspective looked ahead to see Indonesia as a peacemaker, confidence builder, problem solver, and the bridge builder of cou. Not only that, while interacting with other countries and in the process of promoting peace, the concept of 'Thousand Friends, Zero Enemy' also showed that Indonesia can work with any values, even if the country is considered to be the binary opposition of Indonesia. This also showed in Indonesia's help for democratization in Myanmar, peace settlement in Cambodia and in the Southern Philippines, potential conflicts management in the South China Sea, and many more.

From participating actively in diplomatic agendas, alongside with the help Indonesia offered to other countries in need, Indonesia then started getting noticeable respect regionally and internationally. Indonesia's presence in the international stage became significantly impactful and influencal. President Yudhoyono had successed in promoting Indonesia's image as a democratic, and open, confident, moderate, tolerant, and outward looking country which compelled to what he had aspired through his foreign policies.

In the other hand, President Jokowi's approach in foreign policy is noticeably different. Rather than focusing on international relation, participating in various global politic agenda to show Indonesia's impact, securing the image and position of Indonesia worldwide as President Yudhoyono aimed on previously, diplomacy in his reign are done solely as an effort to reach domestic growth. While President Yudhoyono holds the approach of internationalism, President Jokowi holds the entire opposite of it by using pro-people diplomacy; locating domestic needs as the main focus of Indonesia's foreign policy.

President Jokowi's pro-people diplomacy is arranged also with the doctrine of independent and active principles (prinsip bebas aktif), blending of the two principle but with different strategical emphasizes. While President Yudhoyono's diplomacy stressed on Indonesia's existence in the international stage, pro-people diplomacy accentuated on advancing all diplomatic activities as an effort to lead the country's economic growth. Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi accumulated the pro-people foreign policy approach focusing on three priorities, which are (1) to maintain Indonesia's sovereignty; (2) to enhance the security of Indonesian citizens; and (3) to intensify economic diplomacy. 

Furthermore, she underlined three imperative approach as the 'decendant' of pro-people foreign policy, which are; (1) to strengthen Indonesia's economy through diplomacy; (2) to be active in conducting bilateral mechanism as diplomatic instrument rather than multilateral forums, and; (3) to actively promote Indonesia's competitive economical advantages through diplomatic agendas. Through the last two points, it is explained that President Jokowi also tried to actively participate in global politic agenda as an effort to promote Indonesia's capability. But, rather than focusing on the participation or presence itself, President Jokowi emphasized that the main focus of his foreign policy should still be on domestic economic growth through economic diplomacy as seen in the first point. President Jokowi is able to direct his diplomacy on this focus because it was not necessary for him to fight for Indonesia's image since it has been secured in a decent position due to the success of President Yudhoyono's foreign policy.

President Jokowi's economic approach in his foreign policy has been accentuated in several occasion. In May 2014, President Jokowi brought out the idea of how 80-90% Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs activities should be related strictly to business. This idea is commanded after he sees how other country's foreign affair minister spread their strategies, he pointed at China's Foreign Minister as the example. Other than that, in November 2018, The head of Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Darmin Nasution, also explained that the government had already given the memento regarding on how to intensify bussiness relationship with other countriy's foreign minister in Indonesia. The success of this economic approach resulted in significant outcome in which (1) In Progress Report 2019, Retno Marsudi conveyed a number of achievements in Indonesia's trade figures with several non-traditional markets, including countries in South Asia, Central Asia, South America, Central America, Central Europe and Eastern Europe which are claimed to have increased by 100% since four years ago; and (2) Foreign investment realization rate has progressively increased whereas in 2018 the total investment of all 4 quarter has reached Rp173.8 Trillion.

In conclusion, it is clear that while President Jokowi is more influencal in terms of economic growth through diplomatic activities, President Yudhoyono holds bigger influence in securing and strengthening the image of Indonesia. And, to begin with, that is actually what he aim for in his foreign policy; he was indeed trying to focus on aiming international engagement. President Yudhoyono emphasized on participation as an effort to show Indonesia's internationalism, to proof the presence and existence of Indonesia in international stage.