Obama’s Visit, a Sign of Reconciliation?

Obama’s mission to Indonesia was more for discussing political and cultural issues than economic issues. It was different with the three other Asian countries that he visited, India, South Korea and Japan, where there was more discussion of economic issues to look for a market opportunity for American products.

Obama’s arrival in Indonesia might also be related to the terrorism problem. Obama values the efforts to eliminate terrorism that have been made by Indonesia. The terrorism problem became a U.S. global program led by former president George Walker Bush, and is still continued by the Obama administration.

Other than that, the Obama administration probably also wants to convey appreciation to Indonesia, which is deemed able to protect the security and peace of the world in general and Asia in particular. As a country with plurality and a population that is large, Indonesia is deemed able to protect the security and peace within its region. Indonesia is also valued for success in striving for peace in the world, specifically in its neighboring Asian countries, who were fighting but are now united within ASEAN.

As the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Obama’s visit to Indonesia might become the implementation of Obama’s promise when he was first chosen to become U.S. president. After inauguration on Jan. 29, 2009, his government did not want to have a confrontation with the Muslim world, as was done by George W. Bush’s government. Obama wanted to reconcile and develop good relations with the Muslim world. Indeed, to actualize that promise, Obama has visited Turkey and Egypt, as well as given speeches in those countries stating that the U.S. government under his leadership wanted to develop better relations again with Muslim countries. Visiting the Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta hinted at the desire of the U.S. president to actualize his obsession.

Just the Same

After almost two years in power, the promise to not have confrontation and to reconcile with Muslim countries has not yet been realized. The promise remains a promise; nonetheless, a promise is only for the importance of winning the general election in campaign season. Obama is just the same as other U.S. presidents, acting for the sake of the U.S. interests only.

Ironically, Obama even continued Bush’s program for eliminating global terrorism by increasing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. That addition was meant to destroy the basis for al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The reality at this moment is that NATO troops that are driven by the U.S. have lost in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with many NATO troops being killed in those countries, plus moral and material losses that greatly embarrass U.S. and NATO troops. Obama did not want to learn from the past defeat of Soviet troops that were called great, [but who] nonetheless, in reality, ran head over heels out of Afghanistan fighting mujaheddin troops.

We will see later how the promise to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq that was planned to go on as long as 16 months until the year 2011 will be realized. Nonetheless, withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq is not a simple problem. There is a U.S. military-industrial interest there that does not want the army to be withdrawn quickly, because withdrawing U.S. troops from that country of 1,001 nights would, in and of itself, reduce military-industrial income. Other than that, there is a Pentagon interest that wants to show the invulnerability of the U.S. and simultaneously increase the ranks of their commanders. Therefore, if Obama wants to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, he will be faced with those interests.

When he was chosen to be president, Obama promised that diplomacy would continue with Iran without requirements to look for a comprehensive solution to the issues of Iran’s nuclear program, the Muslim country’s support for terrorists or Iran’s threats toward Israel. But later, Obama gave choices to Iran, as a precondition for dialogue. If Iran wanted to stop its nuclear program and support for terrorist groups, then the U.S. would give incentives such as becoming a member of the WTO, economic investment and better diplomatic relations. If Iran refused, then the U.S. would increase economic pressure and political isolation.

Stopping the nuclear program would indeed complicate the position of Iran, which needs energy for its industrial needs. Nonetheless, Obama is certain that Iran’s nuclear program is for destroying Israel. This means that Obama greatly supports Israel and ignores the importance of the area surrounding Israel, even though Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad opened the opportunity for dialogue with the U.S.

Obama said that he will continue to push for cooperation between Israel and Palestine to form two states, the Jewish state of Israel and the state of Palestine, which will live side-by-side peacefully and safely. However, the reality is Obama is not able to press Israel to stop the construction of Jewish settlements in populous areas that have become the conditions for the continuation of peace talks with Palestine.

It is still fresh in our memory when Obama kept quiet in a thousand languages when Israel conducted aggression toward Gaza at the end of December 2008. Obama also didn’t do anything when Israeli troops waylaid the humanitarian assistance ship, the Mavi Marmara, resulting in many victims. In the chess game of Palestinian politics, Obama also considered the Hamas group to be a terrorist organization and did not want to hold talks with Hamas. When former President Jimmy Carter met with Hamas leaders to accommodate the interests of that group, Obama appeared to strongly disagree.

During Obama’s visit to Indonesia this time, it appeared that the government, populace and media were not too excessive in welcoming the arrival of the U.S. president, who has a romantic impression about Indonesia from his childhood. This means that the welcome of Obama’s arrival this time was not as sensational and successful as the planned visit that was canceled earlier. This issue might just be coincidental, because at this moment the attention of the Indonesian government, populace and media is focused on the recurring natural disasters that have hit Indonesia and the handling of those disasters on their own.