Making global ripples

Growing influence: Jokowi and wife Iriana being briefed by Ukrainian officials amid ruined buildings on his visit to the war-torn country. Can the Indonesian president help foster peace between Russia and Ukraine? — Indonesia’s Presidential Palace/AFP

THIS is an interesting and exciting year for Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand.

One is chair of Asean, another holds the presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) and the other is taking its turn to host Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec).

Apart from the various meetings to be organised throughout the year involving senior government officials and ministers, all three countries will be hosting leaders of these groupings at three separate summits to be held back to back in November.

Cambodia’s chairmanship of Asean continues to be plagued by the question of its ability to rein in association member Myanmar, which is reportedly committing atrocities against its own citizens.

On other platforms, international tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are spilling over into protests at international meetings since the war started in February. The Apec Trade Ministers’ meeting in Bangkok in May was disrupted when representatives of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States walked out as the Russian representative stood up to make a speech.

Thai Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit has downplayed the incident. For the record, Apec has had its share of incidents over the years. In 2019, just weeks before the leaders’ summit, Chile had to cancel the meeting due to anti-government protests that led to scores of deaths. The Papua New Guinea summit in 2018 ended with no statement amid the trade war between China and the United States.

Apec secretariat executive director Tan Sri Dr Rebecca Sta Maria wrote in a recent opinion piece in the Bangkok Post that this will also probably be one of the most difficult years to host Apec for any member.

“It challenges the 30-odd years of multilateral optimism. While there are many benefits to the rise of globalism during this period, we also know that economic growth remains unequally distributed.

“Over the course of many challenging events, including two major financial crises, a disruptive trade war between the two biggest economies, and of course, the Covid-19 pandemic, we have heard many point out the cracks in the old comfortable order. But multilateral cooperation endured,” she wrote.

Will this walkout protest spill over into the Apec summit in Bangkok or the G20 summit in Bali? It remains a big question.

An interesting development is being closely watched. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, as chair of the G20, has extended an invitation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to attend the leaders’ summit.

The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Indonesia is under pressure from some Western countries to exclude Russia from the G20 summit.

This week, Jokowi, as he is popularly known, was in Europe to attend the G7 summit and continued his trip to Ukraine and Russia. His mission? To meet the leaders of the respective countries to convey his message for the two countries to build dialogue, stop the war, and attempt peace.

In a video clip uploaded by the Indonesian Presidential Palace on YouTube on Wednesday, Jokowi is briefed by Ukrainian officials amid ruined buildings. He expresses sadness at the devastation caused by the war and hopes no more destruction will take place. He met Zelenskyy the same day and the next day, he met Putin in Moscow and conveyed a message from Zelenskyy.

“What Jokowi is doing is very important. He is showing leadership by going to see what he can do. That is important because he is taking his [G20] chairmanship very seriously,” says an observer.

Jokowi’s move was a surprise indeed but it was a smart thing to do, bringing in the parties and providing an avenue for conversation and dialogue. He is putting Indonesia in a very good light showing leadership within Asean, and he is lending credibility to G20.

“Of course when he agreed to Indonesia hosting the G20, he didn’t expect this [the Russian invasion]. Nobody expected it.

“But instead of lying back and asking what to do, he is taking a very proactive stance. Indonesia comes out looking very good,” says the observer.

Jokowi is surely making ripples internationally. During a recent visit to Washington DC for the Asean-US summit with President Joe Biden, he also met Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer and the world’s richest man. Although there is no decision yet on Tesla investing in Indonesia, Jokowi invited Musk to attend the G20 summit as his guest.

“Look at his visit to the US. His English isn’t the greatest but people still listen because he makes sense. Jokowi has issues at home but he managed to surpass that and he takes his job seriously doing what he has to do as chair of an international organisation.

“That gives him a different stature and Indonesia can hold its head high,” says another observer.

Still, there might just be a walkout or some leaders sending lower level representation to attend the summit to show their displeasure to a certain country. Developments in the next few months will be crucial, not just for these organisations but globally too.

It remains to be seen what Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand are doing to manage all these issues when they host the summits in their respective nations. At the end of the day, the three – who are members of Asean – hopefully can reflect the region’s ability and Asean’s centrality during their tough chairmanships.