Indonesia's Steps In Opening The Eyes Of The World

Photo Illustration Andry Winarko VOI

JAKARTA Indonesia's foreign policy is always implemented to fight for national interests in international forums. One example is the soft power policy as a country that provides assistance in South-South Cooperation (KSS) between developing countries.

South-South cooperation gave birth to cooperation in the development of fellow developing countries to build collective independence which will strengthen the position of developing countries in international forums. South-South cooperation is a continuation of the idea of cooperation in development between developing countries starting from the Asia-Africa Conference (KAA) in Bandung in 1955.

The KSS policy is a element of soft power diplomacy which is expected to strengthen the implementation of Indonesian foreign politics. South-South Korean cooperation itself is part of strengthening Indonesia's soft power foreign policy in every conflict resolution. At this time, the perpetrators of international relations realized that the use of hard power as a form of unilateralism did not necessarily solve the problem.

On the other hand, the use of soft power is actually getting stronger in efforts to solve world problems. According to Joseph S. Nye, soft power diplomacy is another way to achieve goals or often referred to as the second face of power which is the ability of diplomacy to indirectly direct its national interests towards other countries through non-violent cooperation.

In his journal entitled The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Joseph S. Nye explained that a country must have great attractiveness so that other countries will voluntarily agree with its policies. The attractiveness of a country will only succeed depending on the credibility of the perpetrators and a sense of sensitivity to the interests of other parties in formulating foreign policies.

The appeal of a country to influence other countries can be pursued through culture, political values and foreign policies that have moral power. Through this approach, relations between countries can be accepted more openly and harmoniously because there is no coercion

Between Hard Power, Soft Power And Diplomacy

In the eyes of the world, the Indonesian nation is known as a country that has a rich culture, art, culinary and various ethnicities. Unfortunately, the government has not optimized this wealth, especially in order to strengthen Indonesia's position in the international arena.

In the arena of international relations, there are actually two methods of diplomatic approach that can be used by every country. First, hard power diplomacy, which is a way for a country to achieve its national interests through an approach by using violence and coercion. One example is the military force.

Second, known as soft power diplomacy is a national resource that excels as the country's ability that can be used to influence other countries in order to achieve the desired results or interests.

Well, in the third presidential candidate debate which took place on Sunday, January 7, there were two presidential candidates who explained their vision and mission alluded to the implementation of soft power diplomacy in carrying out international relations if elected in 2024.

Presidential Candidate number 3 Ganjar Pranowo mentioned the importance of the role of Indonesian diplomats to support the direction of foreign policy, including in Indonesia's future political and economic sectors. According to him, foreign political policies are a tool for Indonesia's negotiations in the global arena. For this reason, he considered the importance of Indonesia immediately adjusting the strategy taken with the current context.

In addition, he assessed that Indonesia's foreign policy is also important to support the national economy. Indonesia's success in implementing foreign policy in the economic sector will ultimately have an impact on the flow of foreign investment entering the country.

People need jobs, so they need to invest in. For this reason, it is important for the existence and role of our diplomats in terms of national economic assignments, in accordance with the current context," he added.

Ganjar also wants people to experience firsthand the government's foreign policy. One example is when bringing Central Java micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to the global arena.

"Our diaspora, such as Carina Joe, also need to be an ambassador to show Indonesia's face on the global stage," said Ganjar.

Another presidential candidate who mentions the importance of soft power diplomacy is Anies Baswedan. In his vision and mission presentation, the presidential candidate number 1 said that economic forces, arts, Indonesian culture must participate in coloring the international arena.

Moreover, the former Governor of DKI Jakarta intends to restore Indonesia's position as the main actor in the global constellation and determine the direction of peace for both the global and regional levels. Therefore, he plans to prepare Indonesia's strength in the global arena through culture and art, as well as economic power.

Anies said that his party plans to make films, artists, culinary, diplomats and diaspora from Indonesia a world phenomenon, where these things are expected to be present to color the international arena.

"We want in such a way, so what we do at the world level can make Indonesia host in our own country as well as a charming guest in people's countries," he explained.

South Korea And K-Pop Strength

A lecturer on International Relations Science at the University of Jember, Agus Trihartono, admitted that he was surprised by the existence of a presidential candidate who alluded to the plan to implement a soft power diplomacy in the debate. Because, although hard power diplomacy is still important in the association of a country in the international world, currently many other countries also care about the soft power aspect.

"Soft power makes other countries or the international community follow, even pros in a country because they are interested in three aspects. One is cultural, second is political policy, and the third is value," he continued.

He said, Indonesia has enormous potential in the soft power aspect, both value, policy, and culture. Included in it through its culinary. Many regions in Indonesia have distinctive culinary delights, from Sabang to Merauke which can be used as gastroplomacy.

There are two countries that can be used as examples on the Asian continent that use soft power and have given colors in the international world, Japan and South Korea. Japan is known as the pioneer of the world of anime and South Korea with K-pop.

Agus assessed that without the realization of many people, South Korea had great strength to influence the international community through the K-Pop culture.

"People don't know that K-Pop is not only the image of South Korea that is getting closer to us, but also our money also ran there without us being felt," he explained.

In South Korea, K-Pop is not just music or entertainment. K-Pop is an industry and artist K-Pop is like a commodity so that it really pays attention to the government. This attention paid off so that K-Pop music was able to penetrate the Asian market to the country of origin of pop music, namely the United States.

Launching Forbes data, in 2017 the K-Pop industry contributed US$ 5 billion or IDR 70 trillion (exchange rate at that time IDR 14,000) to the industrial sector. In 2018 the boy group BTS even contributed up to US$ 3.6 or IDR 50.4 trillion at the same exchange rate to the Korean music industry. This is because the boyband group managed to break the Billboard 200 record for five consecutive days.

The Korean Stock Exchange is green because investors flock to share entertainment companies. In Korea, entertainment companies on average have been listed on the stock exchange.

The large revenue of the K-Pop music group cannot be separated from fanatical fans who do not hesitate to spend deeply in order to fulfill their desires, which are not small in numbers, ranging from collecting knick-knacks, buying digital music on the internet, to visiting concerts abroad.

The K-Pops enthusiasm also has an impact on the number of tourist visits to South Korea. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the number of tourists from Indonesia reached 98,000 as of August 2019.

Agus Trihartono revealed that actually President Jokowi had implemented soft power diplomacy such as gastroplomacy. He gave an example in the G20 grand event in 2022, Indonesia presented cultural attractions to leaders and citizens of the world while enjoying the typical culinary delights of the archipelago.

Based on Research from the University of Edinburgh's Institute for International Cultural Relations, soft power efforts such as the existence of cultural institutions, internet connectivity, international assistance, and cultural ranking have a significant influence on increasing the number of tourists, international students, investment, foreign capital flows, to politics.

"Seeing the size of the soft power for Indonesia's progress and position in the international arena, we need to strengthen the soft power of our nation's diplomacy," said Agus Trihartono.