Description
In the Post New Order period, there was a significant development in Indonesia. The military, which was used as a political tool by the authoritarian regime, underwent a fundamental reform. The process was supported by the military leaders, which resulted in the issuance of the new Law on the Indonesian National Defence Forces in 2004. This legal basis has since guided how the Indonesian military operates in dealing with external and internal security threats and curbs the socio-political role of the Indonesian military, which is associated with the New Order period. However, it has not explicitly touched upon the implementation of defence diplomacy, which has significantly increased within the last decade. Hence, this paper aims to analyse the transformation of Indonesia’s Defence Diplomacy in the Post New Order period.
The paper attempts to answer two key questions: “Why has Indonesia increasingly relied on defence diplomacy as part of its overall diplomacy?” and “What factors account for different practices undertaken in Indonesia’s defence diplomacy?” The paper qualitatively scrutinises the transformation of Indonesia’s defence diplomacy by comparing three case studies of defence diplomacy activities, namely strategic consultations, joint exercises, and inter-military assignments, under different administrations in the Post New Order era. Additionally, it observes the four reasons for Indonesia’s defence diplomacy. In supporting the analysis, the paper relies on the combination of interviews and observations performed during fieldwork from July 2018 to July 2019.
An examination of Indonesia’s defence diplomacy transformation in the Post New Order period is critical to help understand how Indonesia has developed its engagement with external partners through diplomacy by using its defence ministry and military, as part of the national instruments. Hence, this paper offers an alternate approach to studying Indonesia’s defence diplomacy under democratic control.
