And so, another year ends in Indonesia's diplomatic front... Much can be said, much can be learned... Bilateral, regional, multilateral... But I'll leave an assessment of this to those who's gonna be listening to the Minister's Press Statement at the end of this week...
I, however, have something to say about Indonesia-China relations... In 2010, we'll be entering the 60th year of our diplomatic relations with China. 60 years... But the feeling is that we have little to show for the supposed lengthy period with which we've been friends, comrades, brothers with China.
Indeed, of the 60 years, there was a period in which we froze our bilateral relations. But blaming our lack of cooperation on this matter shouldn't fly anymore, especially when considering that most countries in the region didn't start to have relations with China until the 1980s as well... And just look at the volume of China-Malaysia trade, or the amount of investment cooperation between China and Singapore. Then, you'll start to get the feeling that we, as the largest country in the region, are actually very small...
And so, I look at this 2010 with the optimism that maybe, just maybe people in Indonesia will start to pay proper attention to the Chinese. Fear the Chinese not, envy the Chinese not, chastise the Chinese never... Much can be gained; much can be learned. And if we lack that effort, then I'm pretty sure the Malaysians or Singaporeans wouldn't mind at all, and increase their slice of the pie at our expense...
Indonesia, wake up and smell the coffee... It's coming from China...
