Indonesia's Foreign Policy

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INDONESIA’S FOREIGN POLICY As Indonesia celebrated its 67th independence day on August 17th 2012, it is also trying to reorient its foreign policy goals to emerge as a responsible power in the Southeast Asian region. The two continuous terms of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have given a new direction to Indonesia’s foreign policy. Soekarno and Soeharto, the iconic leaders of Indonesia, had pursued contrasting approaches and power affiliations in every possible Way. The principles underlying Indonesia's foreign policy were mentioned for the first time by Mohammad Hatta on September 2, 1948 at Yogyakarta in Central Java. In a session of the Working Group of the Central National Committee of Indonesia (KNPI). The independent and active foreign policy are the foundation of Indonesia's foreign policy. The policy is independent because Indonesia does not side with world powers. As a matter of principle, so doing would be incompatible with the country's national philosophy and identity as implied in Pancasila. The foreign policy is active to the extent that Indonesia does not maintain a passive or reactive stand on international issues but seeks active participation in their settlement. In other words, Indonesia's independent and active policy is not a neutral policy, but it is one that does not align Indonesia with the super powers nor does it bind the country to any military pact. Essentially, it is a policy designed to serve the national interest while simultaneously allowing Indonesia to cooperate with other nations to abolish colonialism and imperialism in all their forms and manifestations for the sake of world peace and social justice. This explains why Indonesia was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement. The orientation of policy encompasses national, regional, as well as international. As a new modern nation state, it learn to be assertive,
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