“Is the rise of China a solution or problem for Indonesia?” said Imron Cotan, MA., Indonesian Ambassador to China, in a discussion on Thursday (30/8) in Digilib Café, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM.
The discussion was held by Institute of International Studies of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM to analyse the impact of China’s strengthening position in international politics towards various sectors in Indonesia.
Imron said many countries stick to the Washington Consensus initiated by economist John Williamson in 1989 as a solution to the economic crisis in Latin America. “The essence of the policy is leaving it to the market,” said Imron.
He saw however that China also had a similar policy named as Beijing Consensus which has two main points: state defence economy and consensus. The target, said Imron, was to create stability, unity, and awareness of consensus within China.
“The key player here is Chinese state owned enterprises. The essence of the policy is economy for the welfare of all Chinese people,” he said.
Looking at the Indonesia’s economy policy that leaves the matter to the market but on the other hand has Pancasila as its basis, according to Imron, Indonesia has a shell of the Washington Consensus, but the identity is Beijing Consensus.
“Beijing Consensus can be identically said as the Pancasila. This is observable in the principles of Pancasila that emphasise on unity, consensus, and social justice. If Indonesia truly implements Pancasila principles, Indonesia can keep up with China’s achievements,” he said.
Dr. Nur Rahmat Yuliantoro, chairperson of DIHI UGM, said the Beijing Consensus had strength and weaknesses. “The great achievement of China becomes small as it is divided among all its population, but the small problems in China will get huge because it is multiplied by the number of population,” he said.
Rahmat said Indonesia could learn from China in terms of corruption handling. “The fox hunting operation by China (can be learned) by hunting corrupters abroad by making use of the country’s foreign policy,” he said.
Another speaker, Hikmah Akbar MA., lecturer from Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Yogyakarta, said Chinese diaspora in other countries could be learned as well by Indonesia.
“Indonesia, like China, has diaspora in other parts of the world, like Suriname, even if the number is not as high as that of China. So, Indonesia needs to develop integration between the central government and the diaspora by making use of its foreign policy,” he said.