By Jalo : Kiprah Hercules TNI AU Dalam Misi Kemanusiaan Di Filipina

JKGR-(IDB) : Kala itu dipenghujung tahun 2013, sekitar 10.000 warga Filipina di kota Tacloban tewas akibat topan Haiyan. Sementara di luar Tacloban, sedikitnya ratusan orang meninggal dunia. Ratusan ribu jiwa kehilangan tempat tinggal dan harus mengungsi.

Topan terkuat dalam sejarah bencana Filipina ini melarutkan rumah, sekolah, gedung pemerintahan, rumah sakit dan bandar udara.

Korban bencana di Filipina ini diperkirakan mencapai empat juta orang, sebagian di antara mereka kini berjuang mengatasi rasa lapar dan haus serta hidup tanpa aliran listrik dan tempat berlindung memadai.

Situasi tersebut membuat dunia internasional mengirimkan bantuannya ke Filipina,termasuk Indonesia. Sebagian fragmen bantuan internasional itu, sempat diabadikan Jalo dalam sudut pandang militer.

Here we go:

Hercules kita ini dari Skadron 31 yang diperbantukan di sana. Meski Hercules tua, boleh diadu dengan pesawat-pesawat negara lain. Saat di sana, hari ketiga baru kita dapat sortie membawa bantuan ke Tacloban, karena sortie ke sana sudah diambil negara-negara besar. Saat kita diminta ke Tacloban ada peristiwa menarik. Landasannya pendek di sana dan pilot kita berhasil mendarat dengan sempurna.

Kita membawa pengungsi, wartawan dan LSM dalam perjalanan dari Cebu ke Tacloban. Saat akan balik dari Tacloban ke Cebu, tentara kita ditanya muat berapa pengungsi, kata tentara kita mau seratus atau lebih juga tak apa. Si tentara AS yang tugasnya mendata pengungsi yang naik ke hercules geleng-geleng kepala. Katanya rata-rata hercules bagus yang menggunakan tipe J paling maksimal cuma muat 64 orang, kita kemarin memuat 112 orang belum termasuk wartawan dan LSM.

Saat saya tanya, tentara kita gimana ? Mayor Sinclair dari USAF mengatakan tentara negara kamu gila semua, katanya sambil bercanda. Setelah itu, tentara kita selalu diminta untuk membawa bantuan ke kota Tacloban dan karena kasus itu tentara kita sangat dihormati oleh tentara-tentara negara lain.

Wartawan-wartawan asing paling senang kalau pulang dari Tacloban nebeng pesawat kita. Katanya tentara kita tidak ribet dan kalau di dalam pesawat stabil jadi ngambil gambar enak. Itu kata mereka loh, termasuk wartawan Malaysia.

Tiap hari di Bandara stress karena pesawat dan heli AS tidak pernah mematikan mesinnya. Kenapa ya?. Lebih lagi, mereka akan stay cukup lama, jika sudah mendarat di bandara. Bandara Tacloban terasa nyaman mulai jam 3 pagi, tidak ada lagi aktivitas pesawat-pesawat AS yang bikin streesss

Helikopter Filipina, Ada yang tahu jenis apa ? Mungkin ada yang mau bantu.

Oh ya, karena padatnya sortie membawa bantuan, jadi rata-rata pesawat harus antre di udara untuk take off, selain AS dan Inggris, kita termasuk negara yang bebas putar-putar. Dan tentara kita terkenal paling ramai di markas induk di Bandara Cebu. 

Mungkin sifat orang Indonesia yang selalu gampang bergaul kali ya, ? Negara-negara besar rata-rata jaim-jaim… tapi sayang waktu mau balik ke Indonesia ada masalah penyadapan, saya sempat tegur tentara Australia yang sudah deket banget karena pos-nya bersebelahan. Biasanya sehari-hari nih tentara habisin rokok, pop mie dan kopi kapal api yang saya bawa dari Indonesia. 

Ketika mau balik saya tegur buat pamit, eh dia pasang muka ngajak berantem. AS yang juga terlibat ngomong gini ke tentara Australia: “Biarkan masalah politik negara kita, karena di sini kita datang untuk misi kemanusiaan,”.

Filipina memiliki dua Hercules, nah ini wujudnya sama tua kayak punya kita:

Nih pesawat besar yang baru saya lihat….

Pesawat di bawah ini, foto di dalam maaf tidak bisa saya share, waktu itu belum ikut formil jadi kalau foto harus selfie sama teman-teman karena tidak boleh lama di dalam. Tentara AS lagi pada kerja.

Salah satu pasukan khusus Filipina (Green Beret) masih menggunakan senjata tua.

Pengalaman menarik saya yang sangat berkesan adalah saat jalan-jalan menggunakan nih heli membawa bantuan dari Tacloban ke Ormoc… Lumayan sempat mampir mengisi Avtur di USS George Washington.

Pasukan khususnya Filipina yang berjaga Bandara Cebu:

Ini pengawal saya saat di kota Tacloban. Karena waktu itu diberlakukan jam malam jadi yang mau keluar malam harus dijaga sama polisi. Ehh, khusus untuk rombongan Indonesia dikasih pasukan elit Filipina. Rombongan Malaysia hanya dikasih polisi.

Inilah bukti tentara kita dinegara luar… Ini peristiwa pertama hercules Indonesia diperbantukan di negara luar. Sekali diperbantukan langsung terkenal, info hoax-nya nanti PBB mau pake kita lagi untuk misi kemanusiaan.

Sumber : JKGR

Indonesia, Japan Buy Bushmasters

DARWIN-(IDB) : Thales Australia has secured sales of its Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle to Indonesia and Japan, marking the first Asian orders of the 4x4 wheeled armoured vehicle.

The sale to Indonesia was concluded, but not announced, in late 2013 and features three Bushmaster troop variants that were delivered to the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus) in February 2014, a spokesman from the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) confirmed to IHS Jane's on 4 April.

The sale to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) was announced on 7 April and covers four units of the same design, with deliveries scheduled before the end of 2014, Thales Australia said in a statement.

A Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) official told IHS Jane's that the four Bushmasters had been purchased to provide "land transportation for Japanese evacuees" in the event of an overseas contingencies, such as the January 2013 In Amenas hostage crisis in Algeria. Ten Japanese citizens were killed in the siege, which the official said had exposed a gap in the Self-Defence Forces Law in how the JGSDF was allowed to operate overseas.

Chris Jenkins, chief executive officer of Thales Australia, said: "This is the first time that Thales is providing platforms to Japan. Our aim is to be customer-focused and to offer Thales group's ... services and technologies to our customers in Japan. We look forward to working closely with the JGSDF as these vehicles enter service."

The Japanese MoD official said that the four Bushmasters would cost about JPY200 million (USD1.9 million) per vehicle and "will be focused on overseas transport operations in case of an emergency - either natural or man-made". He added that there would be no further purchases.

The acquisition of "protected carrier vehicles" was outlined in the MoD's supplementary budget for fiscal year 2013/14, which was released in December 2013. It was included in a section detailing "measures that facilitate the JGSDF to maintain and operate various equipment and defence facilities in a stable manner" and also included the acquisition of fire-control radar parts for F-15 fighter aircraft and soundproofing of homes and private facilities close to Japanese air bases.

The Indonesian contract is valued at AUD2.7 million (USD2.5 million) and the Japanese deal is expected to be worth around AUD3.6 million, with both including the provision of training covering vehicle operations, maintenance, and repairs.

The Indonesian deal progressed as a government-to-government deal overseen by the Australian Military Sales Office, which was established in 2012 to facilitate the export of platforms and components on behalf of Australia's defence industrial base. The sale to Japan is understood to be a commercial contract.

Other potential export orders for the Bushmaster include the Royal Thai Army, which has maintained its interest in acquiring the vehicle for use in the country's turbulent south, and Libya, which is reported to have expressed a requirement to acquire between 100 and 400 Bushmasters. A Thales Australia spokesman said: "I can't confirm anything about other potential exports for commercial reasons, but we continue to explore opportunities."

To date, the Australian Defence Force has ordered and taken delivery of a total of 1,052 Bushmasters, and exports include 86 vehicles supplied to the Dutch Army, 24 to the British Army, and 12 ordered by the Jamaica Defence Force in December 2013.

Source : Jane's

TUDM Perlu Dibekalkan MPA

ALOR SETAR-(IDB) : Kerajaan disyorkan agar membekalkan pesawat rondaan maritim (MPA) bagi meningkatkan keupayaan Tentera Diraja Udara Malaysia (TUDM) dalam menjalankan rondaan serta misi mencari dan menyelamat (SAR) di lautan yang lebih luas pada masa depan.
 
Panglima Tentera Udara, Jeneral Tan Sri Rodzali Daud berkata, pesawat Maritim Domain Awareness (MDA) yang dimiliki sekarang seperti Beechcraft King Air 200 hanya sesuai digunakan untuk operasi di Selat Melaka dan Laut China Selatan.
 
“Jarak capaian pesawat ini tidak dapat sampai ke Lautan Hindi, kita hanya mampu untuk operasi di Selat Melaka dan Laut China Selatan.
 
“Kita harap kerajaan dapat membekalkan TUDM dengan MPA yang lebih sesuai pada masa depan kerana cabaran lebih besar akan ditempuh," katanya.
 
Beliau berkata demikian selepas menyampaikan Sayap Penerbangan kepada 26 pegawai TUDM, Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia (TLDM) dan Tentera Darat di Kolej Tentera Udara, Kepala Batas di sini hari ini.
 
Dalam majlis itu, Leftenan Mohd. Firdaus Awang Koding dianugerahkan Piala Panglima Pendidikan dan Latihan Udara (terbaik akademik), Kapten Ahmad Zulfikri Ahmad Kamal pula menerima Piala Komandan (terbaik penerbangan sayap kaku), manakala Kapten Hafizullah Mohd. Noor Mohd. Sallehhuddin menerima Piala Nuri (terbaik penerbangan sayap putar).
 
Menurut Rodzali, pihaknya mahu meningkatkan keupayaan bukan sahaja dari segi melakukan pencarian pada permukaan laut malah di bawah permukaan terutama dalam misi SAR pada masa depan.
 
“Buat masa sekarang apa yang kita ada masih kekurangan kalau dibandingkan dengan peralatan di luar sana. Pesawat C130 tidak dilengkapi dengan peralatan mencari di dasar laut.
“Sebagaimana kita tahu, apa yang diperlukan adalah mencari di bawah permukaan laut, lebih-lebih lagi dari segi elektronik dan akuastik," jelasnya.
 
Tambah beliau, misi SAR pesawat Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370 yang hilang di Lautan Hindi amat mencabar kerana jarak pencarian jauh iaitu 2,000 hingga 2,500 kilometer dari Pangkalan Tentera Udara Diraja Australia (RAAF) Pearce, Perth, Australia.
 
“Sebanyak tiga pesawat C130 terlibat dalam misi SAR ini. Perjalanan pergi dan pulang mengambil masa lapan jam dan dua jam untuk mencari, semuanya berjalan baik dan kita berharap operasi ini selesai dengan jayanya," katanya.
 
Rodzali berkata, kehilangan pesawat MH370 itu memberi banyak pengajaran kepada semua pihak bagaimana untuk mentadbir situasi itu dengan baik.
 
“Kita belajar daripada apa yang jadi sekarang supaya bakal dilaksanakan lebih baik pada masa depan," jelasnya.

Sumber : Utusan

China Offers Copy Of Kilo Submarine to Thailand

Chinese weapon has full of opportunities to penetrate the Thai market, after artillery system by WS-1B and WS-32, China continues to offer S-20 submarines for Thailand.

BEIJING-(IDB) : This transaction will be significant because Thailand has no previous experience using submarines. Although he expressed interest in submarine production by China, Thailand however still no official response regarding this invitation.

According to what China claims, submarine S-20 was designed by this country and production, but according to what was published, the S-20 is a copy of the Kilo class submarines from Russia. S-20 has a length of 66 m, a width of 8 m, height 8.2 m, as well water displacement of 1,850 tons when submerged water displacement of 2,300 tons, speed 18 knots/h, distance of journey speed 16 knots/h is 8,000 nautical miles.

S-20 crew of 38 people, independent operation time of 60 days and nights. This double hulled submarine can dive to 300 meters deep. Kilo S-20 similar not only in design but also in superficial details like the wings tail fins help train changes direction.

S-20 is equipped with acoustics stations system to detect changes in frequency, 1 sonar intercept receiver and sound-velocity measuring systems to measure the noise of the ship itself. In addition, the ship has the ability to drop a towed acoustics stations. S-20 is equipped with torpedoes, mine spreader system and anti-ship missiles.

China offered the  S-20 submarine for Thailand for the move to be confirmed on the special relationship the defense sector is the establishment. Earlier China offered Thailand to buy multiple launch rocket system WS-1B and WS-32's.

Kanwa magazine (based in Canada) said, now the Royal Thai Army is considering ordering new multiple launch rocket system WS-1B and WS-32 (in Thailand this naming system is turn in DTI-1 and DTI-1G).

Kanwa adds, besides ordering multiple launch rocket system, Thailand has signed a contract on DTI-1G artillery system connecting  with navigation system of China. With the combination of satellite systems, DT-1G rocket artillery will reduce the error to less than 50m circle.

According to information published by China, rocket artillery system caliber 302mm WS-1B manufacture by China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC). WS-1B is the upgraded version of the WS-1 system with superior range (180km compared with 100km of WS-1 system).

Meanwhile artillery system WS-32 rocket built with the modern navigation technology in order to enhance the ability to attack targets accurately. Rocket chassis is mounted on 6x6 truck chassis with a total of 4 tubes. WS-32 system has a range of 60-150km.

Source : Baodatviet

Tumpang Tindih Pengamanan Laut Indonesia

JAKARTA-(IDB) : Pembentukan satu badan khusus untuk mengatasi tumpang tindih penegakan hukum di laut masih sulit diwujudkan. Sekarang ini setidaknya ada 12 institusi dengan kewenangan penanganan hukum di laut yang pada praktiknya kerap muncul gesekan.

Dalam menjalankan kewenangannya, seluruh institusi tersebut sebatas dikoordinasi oleh satu badan, yakni Badan Koordinasi Keamanan Laut (Bakorkamla).

“Belum ada ide besar untuk menjadi badan keamanan laut karena konsekuensi aspek legalnya harus dikaji lebih dalam. Tidak mudah,” kata Menteri Koordinator Bidang Politik, Hukum, dan Keamanan (Menkopolhukam) Djoko Suyanto seusai serah terima jabatan Kepala Pelaksana Harian (Kalakhar) Bakorkamla dari Laksamana Madya TNI Bambang Suwarto ke Laksamana Muda TNI Desi Albert Mamahit di Kantor Bakorkamla, Jakarta, Kamis (10/4/2014).

Banyaknya pemangku kepentingan, disadari menjadi satu kendala tersendiri dalam menangani keamanan di laut. Karena itu, selama ini sudah ada kajian-kajian untuk menyatukan banyaknya stakeholder tersebut dalam satu atap yang khusus menangani masalah ini.

Namun, kata dia, pembahasan belum mengerucut pada pembentukan suatu badan yang mempunyai aspek legal tinggi. “Harus dipikirkan lebih dalam, lebih tajam untuk membentuk badan semacam itu karena kalau tidak justru tak bermanfaat dan menimbulkan benturan antar lembaga satu dengan lainnya,” urai dia.

Djoko berharap, pergantian pemegang jabatan Kalakhar ini akan semakin meningkatkan peran koordinasi. Sehingga, kemungkinan adanya gesekan antarinstitusi bisa dihindari. “Mereka (institusi dengan kewenangan penegakan hukum di laut) harus disatukan. Itulah tugas Bakorkamla untuk mengkoordinasikannya,” tutur Djoko.

Sumber : Sindo

Skuadron 17, Markas Pilot Pesawat Indonesia Air Force One

JAKARTA-(IDB) : Skuadron Udara 17 VIP Wing 1 Pangkalan Udara Tentara Nasional Angkatan Udara (TNI AU) menjadi tempat Letnal Kolonel Penerbang (Letkol Pnb) Firman Wirayuda dan Letkol Pnb Ali Gusman bertugas sebelum menjadi calon penerbang pesawat kepresidenan. Dulunya, skuadron itu berasal dari Skuadron Udara IV. Tugasnya sama, yaitu menerbangkan para pejabat negara.

Pada 1963, nama Skuadron Udara IV diubah menjadi Skuadron Udara 17 berdasarkan keputusan Menteri/Panglima Angkatan Udara No 31. Angka 17 diambil dari tanggal proklamasi kemerdekaan negara Republik Indonesia pada 17 Agustus 1945.

Dalam sejarahnya, Skuadron Udara 17 pernah menerbangkan Sekretaris Jenderal Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa, Ban Ki-moon, dengan menggunakan pesawat Boeing 737. Perjalanan melintasi benua itu bertolak dari markas di Pangkalan Udara TNI AU Halim Perdanakusuma dan diawaki langsung oleh Letkol Pnb Bambang Gunarto, komandan yang ke-25 dari Skuadron Udara yang berlambangkan kereta kencana ini.

Skuadron udara sayap tetap TNI AU ini punya tugas seperti Presidential Airlift Group 89th Airlift Wing Angkatan Udara Amerika Serikat, yang terkenal dengan Air Force One-nya.

Di dalam peralatan skuadron udara itu terdaftar Boeing B-737 400, C-130 H Hercules, dan F-27 Friendship. Dulu juga terdaftar AS-332 Super Puma, tetapi sejak dua tahun lalu dibentuk Skuadron Udara 45 TNI AU dengan tugas utama penerbangan VIP pesawat terbang sayap putar alias helikopter.

Letkol Pnb Firman Wirayuda kemudian menggantikan Bambang Gunardo sebagai Komandan Skuadron Udara 17. Agustus tahun lalu, Letkol Pnb Ali Gusman menjadi komandan yang baru dari skuadron militer penerbangan khusus itu,

Firman lahir di Madiun, Jawa Timur, tahun 1974. Ia lulusan Akademi Angkatan Udara (AAU) pada 1995, Sekolah Penerbang TNI AU Angkatan 54 tahun 1997, dan lulusan terbaik Sekolah Kesatuan Komando TNI Angkatan 76 tahun 2004. Sedangkan Ali asal Padang, Sumatra Barat, juga lulusan AAU 1995 dan Sekolah Penerbangan 1997.

Sumber : Tempo

The Regional Implications Of Indonesia's Rise

As it tallies votes from Wednesday’s election, Indonesia’s economic outlook is strong. What does that mean for the region?
 

BEIJING-(IDB) : Despite a mild economic slowdown amidst China’s economic rebalancing and the U.S. Federal Reserve tapering—and despite a dip in Indonesian shares following a surprisingly weak performance by the favorites in Wednesday’s parliamentary election—the general direction of Indonesia’s economy seems clear: onwards and upwards. Since the Asian Financial Crisis and the fall of Suharto, Jakarta has learned lessons, expedited political reforms, and taken economic strides that today constitute a platform from which Southeast Asia’s largest country can continue to build on what it has achieved to date. That’s not to say corruption, infrastructure deficiencies and inequality do not remain problems for whoever takes the political baton after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, but Indonesia’s economic trajectory is bending sharply in the right direction.

Since the turn of the century, Indonesia’s economy has been one of the world’s best-performing and most consistent. Since 2001, the country has averaged 5.4 percent growth, far faster than the global average, despite the shocks of the global financial downturn. That growth has facilitated the fall of gross government debt from 95.1 percent of GDP in 2000 to around 26 percent today, the lowest of any ASEAN member-state except Brunei Darussalam, and enough for Fitch and Moody’s to grant Indonesia’s debt investment grade status. Indonesia has gone from being the world’s 27th largest economy in 2000 (nominal GDP) to the 16th largest today—an impressive leap in just fifteen years.

Much more is expected to come. Indonesia is forecast to have the world’s seventh largest economy by 2030, surpassing the U.K. and Germany according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute, and the fourth largest in 2040 according to a Citibank report, trailing only China, India and the United States. While such projections are often over-reliant on extrapolating current trends, there is little doubt that Indonesia stands to benefit immensely from a rebalancing of the global economy towards the Asia-Pacific and from the demographic dividend of the country’s young population. The former will ensure relatively high ubiquity of capital, technology and demand in Indonesian markets, while the latter will ensure that the workforce will be able to maintain productivity and a low dependency ratio between workers and dependents, thereby setting the foundation for decades of robust growth and healthy public finances.

The regional implications of this economic rise will be very significant, even if gradual.

A bigger and more robust economy means that defense spending will continue to rise, albeit from an extremely low base. Indonesia currently spends less than 1 percent of its GDP on defense, at around $8 billion annually. In comparison, Singapore has a military budget of $12 billion, more than 4 percent of its GDP, while Australia spends $26 billion. By any measure, Indonesia lags well behind its neighbors relative to its size; however, its rapid economic growth has facilitated sharp annual defense budget increases, such as the 9 percent increase announced in August 2013. 

 This much-needed growth comes as Indonesia attempts to increase defense spending to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2015, or a projected $14 billion, as sought by Yudyohono. While this target will not be met by next year, it at least recognizes Indonesia’s military potential and sets a spending benchmark.

Much of this defense budget growth, particularly a $15 billion kit announced in 2010, will be allocated to equipment procurement and modernization. The country’s 2010 Strategic Defence Plan outlined a modernization vision that included 10 jet fighter squadrons, 274 ships and a dozen submarines by 2024—a significant qualitative and quantitative leap from Indonesia’s current military capabilities, even if the targets do not seem entirely realistic. 

Nonetheless, recent purchases are congruent with the vision, such as the purchase of six Sukhoi Su-30MK2s that were delivered last September and which completed a squadron of advanced air-superiority fighters consisting of sixteen Su-27 SKM and Su-30 MK2 jets. Similar major procurements and orders have included dozens of F-16 and Su-35 fighters, advanced air defense systems from Thales, Boeing AH-64 Apache Longbow gunship helicopters and more than hundred world-renowned German Leopard tanks.

As it bolsters its military, Indonesia’s weight and importance in the region’s balance of power will only grow, particularly with respect to the U.S. and China. As Washington and Beijing seem set for an era of strategic rivalry across the Asia-Pacific, bringing Jakarta into one or the other’s sphere of influence becomes ever more appealing. For the U.S., greater security and economic cooperation with Indonesia, at the relative expense of China, helps strengthen and coalesce a grouping of states—which includes Japan, the Philippines and India—that is wary of China’s rise and territorial claims. 

China’s recent claim to the Natuna waters that are part of Indonesia’s Riau Islands could convince some Indonesian policymakers to lean towards Washington and hedge against Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea. On the other hand, the seeming inevitability of China’s rise to great-power status, amidst the uncertainty of the viability and extent of America’s Asia “pivot” and security guarantees, constitutes a good case for Indonesia to move closer to Beijing and leverage China’s unprecedented economic force and growing military heft.

However, the most likely strategic disposition, to use former Vice President Mohammad Hatta’s expression from 1948, remains having a “free and active” Indonesian foreign policy.  As opposed to relatively passive non-alignment during the Cold War, Indonesia—on the back of rapid economic growth and growing power—is increasingly likely to see itself as entitled to a prominent role in the region and the world in its own right, and in light of its own interests and potential. Jakarta is therefore likely to seek prosperity and cooperation equally with both the U.S. and China, as opposed to creating any form of dependency on one power in the face of the other. Moreover, Indonesia might be uniquely positioned in trying to arrest any escalation in the region or prevent the entrenchment of a paradigm of strategic rivalry that could harm its own interests and development priorities.

This independent streak is likely to take Indonesian foreign policy beyond the Asia-Pacific. As recent engagement with the Middle East shows, Indonesia increasingly sees itself as an important actor in the Muslim World. In late January, the country signed a defense cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia—Jakarta’s first such agreement with an Arab state—which covered military industry cooperation, counter-terrorism and joint training. In 2012, Indonesia also co-sponsored UN General Assembly Resolution 67/19 on the statehood of Palestine, with foreign minister Marty Natalegawa delivering a strong speech in defense of the Palestinians’ choices and policies regarding Israel. This seems to be a natural extension of a more confident Indonesia more willing to articulate its population’s solidarity with Middle Eastern causes.

As for Australia, Indonesia’s economic rise will shift the power dynamic and importance of the bilateral relationship. Indonesian GDP, on the basis of purchasing power parity, overtook Australia’s in 2004 and is today thirty percent bigger, and that gap will only expand as Indonesia outgrows Australia by a ratio of 2 to 1, with the IMF predicting 6 percent growth for Indonesia to the end of this decade compared with around 3 percent for Australia. 

This will not only enhance Indonesia’s economic primacy over Australia and entrench Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s maxim of “less Geneva and more Jakarta,” it will also shift the balance of power within the relationship. Australia’s dominance and transactional approach to the relationship will have to give way to a more balanced and strategic one, as Canberra comes to terms with the fact that a burgeoning Asian power of more than 250 million people cradles Australia’s northern borders.

Indonesia’s economic rise will therefore pave the way for significant geopolitical change. The country’s economic growth engine is of such vigor relative to the rest of the world—perhaps surpassed only by China amongst the world’s twenty largest economies—that a military and strategic dividend for Jakarta is inevitable. Projected timeframes and Indonesian goals will shift with movements in the domestic and regional landscape, but the fact remains Indonesia will have more clout in the future than it’s ever had before.




Source : Diplomat