Why spend valuable diplomatic capital on a problem that did not affect Indonesia directly? Jokowis ad hoc leadership style exacerbates the weaknesses of Indonesian foreign policy. Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are embroiled in long-runningand sometimes violent conflicts with separatist groups. Delivered Wednesday. I am keen to raise the profile of Southeast Asia and Indonesia in theUK and help the Indo-Pacific Tilt move from policy planning to reality. Theyre wrong. Many analysts had expected great things from the Indonesian economy. Delivered Wednesday. As a child I would downplay all of that, trying to fit in and not wanting to seem in any way different. The UK should put Indonesia at the heart of its intensified engagement with Southeast Asiabecause Indonesia is so important and the UK-Indonesia relationship has so much room togrow. It was an incredible turnaround for a simple boy from a simple family, in a country where politics has long been dominated by dynasties, tycoons and the military. "Such a charmer Ben!" The first challenge, which the Foreign Secretary has started to address, is to increase highlevelpolitical engagement with Indonesia. The two also discussed climate cooperation with China, the road to COP28, and much else. 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Ben's creative industry experience includes working with dozens of local startups, agencies and industry 21. Nationalism and protectionism were already on the rise when COVID-19 shut down global supply chains. It comes after Ben joined BBC Breakfast as a business correspondent, with Naga Munchetty and Jon Kay left thrilled by the big news - and fans were just as excited. If the UK government is serious about competing with China, it has endless avenues to workwith both governments and civil society in Southeast Asia to demonstrate the benefits ofengaging with democracies that respect human rights, value environmental protections andembrace transparency and openness. He cheekily added: "(*creative licence may have been used in this description)". That prompted me to think about my name and whether I should change it for clarity and to avoid confusion.. In the 1920s, his paternal grandmother (my great-grandmother) decided and convinced my great-grandfather that with violent anti-Semitism on the rise across Europe, it would be wise for them to change the family name of Blumenthal with its overtly Jewish-Germanic links. It took only a short while, however, for complaints to emerge. Webbend someone's ear. Delivered Thursday. Download the FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. In Myanmar, the juntais struggling to govern the country, despite being in nominal control, and the spectre of anescalating multi-front conflict looms large. I am the author of two acclaimed books on Asian politics, the most recent being Man ofContradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia (Penguin Random House,2020), the first English-language political biography of Indonesias president. I have a longstanding interest in Indonesia, having lived inJakarta, studied Indonesian and built relationships with key players across the political andbusiness communities. Extract from Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia by Ben Bland, a Lowy Institute Paper published by Penguin Random House on 1 September 2020, RRP $12.99. 36. Ben Bland - the south-east Asia expert - congratulated his former namesake on his new identity. In discussing it with my father, to make sure he would not be offended or upset by it, he reminded me that Bland itself was a chosen name. Although most of the challenges facing Southeast Asia are domestic, the region also risksdestabilisation because of external factors, chiefly the growing rivalry between the US andChina. 8. And what happens if the United States and China continue down a path of decoupling? d provide massive tax credits to programs investing in clean energy. The idea would later be exalted by foreign governments from the United States to China as a kind of manifesto for Indonesia to play a much bigger role in the increasingly thorny diplomacy of the region. Bland highlights many of Jokowis actions which have undermined Indonesias already flawed democracy notably, diluting the nations anti-corruption agency, creating his own family political dynasty, and his appeasement of conservative Islam and intolerance and of violence towards religious minorities and the LGBT community. My first book,Generation HK: Seeking Identity in Chinas Shadow (Penguin Random House, 2017), was astudy of the young Hong Kongers pushing back against Beijings pressures on the city. LELO sexpert Kate Moyle has shared the spicy bedroom crazes that we need to look out for in 2023 but will you be adding any of these trends to your bucket list? The British government should focus on economic cooperation with Indonesia,people-to-people links and support for civil society. There are 40+ professionals named "Ben Bland", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. He is the author of Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia and Generation HK: Seeking Identity in Chinas Shadow. He was taking an ever more muscular approach, with the goal of building a hegemonic position for Beijing in the region. Indonesia, sadly, is littleknown in the UK. The key to success will be understanding the real challenges of doing business in Indonesia, rather than wishing them away, so thatcompanies, with the support of government, are better placed to overcome them. Extract from Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia by Ben Bland, a Lowy Institute Paper published by Penguin Random House on 1 September 2020, RRP $12.99. Think about it from the perspective of a furniture exporter, he said. 38. The UK should also work more closely with Indonesia on issues of global economicgovernance. A vibrant region of more than 650 million people, Southeast Asia presents manyopportunities for the UK. I still speak and understand Arabic conversationally, although I have never learned to read and write the language (it remains an ambition to be tackled sometime). Has Joko Widodos Power Peaked in Indonesia? Twitter. Ben Boulos nee Bland Anyone follow this 37 year old BBC News commentator. This would bea great channel to deepen the strategic and practical conversations between the twocountries. The pandemic has highlighted the woeful state of the countrys health system. People-to-people linksare the foundation stone of the most successful bilateral relationships. Done correctly, therefore,enhanced engagement with ASEAN, as an organisation, and Southeast Asian governments,in their own right, should be mutually reinforcing. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. However, that did not prevent Western nations including the United States and Australia from erroneously framing it as a signal of Indonesian intent to stand up in the world, just as they had done with the global maritime fulcrum. European and Asian leaders began to call the IRA unfair competition and protectionist. One unlikely but highly damaging scenario would be armed conflict between theworlds two leading powers over a flashpoint such as Taiwan, or the South or East China Seas. 43. Jokowis foreign policy has always been unpredictable, seesawing between nationalism and globalism. In a later video, Ben told the camera: "Well, here is one last clue. But it was, like so many political speeches, heavy on buzzwords, thin on policy and designed to be all things to all people. 25. Am a bit concerned that my abuse meter will rise now though.. Despite its importance, the region remains woefully under-covered by UKuniversities and think-tanks, with not a single full-time research fellow dedicated toSoutheast Asia at the various leading think-tanks based in London. But as Bland quite rightly points out, Jokowi has no time for great power politics. Delivered Friday. Keep up with the world without stopping yours. Ben was previously an award-winning correspondent for the Financial Times in Indonesia, China and Vietnam. It is not a substitute for much-needed economic reforms or a consistent trade policy, but it has no doubt helped the country maintain a decent flow of foreign investment and lending, allowing it to sustain growth and cover the annual budget deficits. He wrote: "Its been a while but due to huge, unprecedented, overwhelming public demand* Ill be back in the chair tomorrow (Friday) on @bbcnews channel/@bbctwo from 0900GMT & BBC World News from 1000GMT. The two also discussed climate cooperation with China, the road to COP28, and much else. She can't read an autocue, has no facial expressions, speaks in a monotone (obviously listens to Andy Murray a lot! Some ASEAN member-states remain sceptical about the UKs commitment to the region, soBritish ministers will need to maintain their recent pace of visits to Southeast Asia if theywant to be seen as more serious long-term partners. Indeed, rather than rising to the challenge Jokowi has struggled under the immense pressure. At times, he has demonstrated a steeliness that took outsiders by surprise. Ben Bland is the director of the Southeast Asia program at the Lowy Institute. Please, and moving back to London after 14 years, The end of Fortress Australia?, a first birthday for Man of Contradictions, why writing is thinking, and the other love of my life, The UK's Indo-Pacific Tilt, mutual (mis)understanding between Australia and Indonesia, and what Franz Kafka tells us about Hong Kong's legal system, COVID-19 runs rampant in Indonesia, ASEAN's Rorschach test in Myanmar, the long struggle in Hong Kong and the women who changed war reporting, From a royal slipper thrown at Sir Francis Walsingham to Saddam Hussein's non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction, via Napoleon's love of OSINT and, The two faces of Indonesian democracy, Beijing's inevitable squeeze in Hong Kong, and the Washington method in Southeast Asia. Australia needs to have a much better understanding of these limits, and learn to cooperate more effectively and realistically with its important neighbour. The panelists included Anne Richards, CEO of Fidelity International; Carmine Di Sibio, CEO of Ernst & Young; Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore; and Lubna S. Olayan, chair of the executive committee of Olayan Financing Company. How does industry define morality? What have we learned so fShow morear, and how can we apply those lessons to make sure we dont sleepwalk into yet another war? The journalist has explained that he will now use the name Ben Boulos in his professional and daily life, and has changed his name across his social media accounts. 12. It is partly a function of Indonesias size, its strategic location in the midst of key global shipping lanes and its history of, at times, demonstrating leadership potential. FPs Winter 2023 print issue brings together 12 experts to help us answer those questions. Sharing a snap of him sitting at a desk at BBC News, Ben was grinning at the camera while rifling through his notes, a glass of water prepared at his side. Ben has a twenty-year career split between London and Belfast, working within agencies, small-to-medium size businesses, NGOs, and as a freelancer. More likely is that jockeying between the two great powers makes it even harder for ASEANto adopt a cohesive response to shared challenges; or that growing economic linkagesbetween China and its neighbours in Southeast Asia create a path dependency that leavesSoutheast Asia enmeshed in a Beijing-dominated sphere of influence. That is even more so in the case of Jokowi. Of late, we at FP have been wondering: What can Russias war in Ukraine teach the world going forward? 4. In just nine years, he went from small-town businessman to president of the worlds fourth most populous nation. Ben's creative industry experience includes working with dozens of local startups, agencies and industry bodies. The expansion of the Indonesian middleclass will offer many opportunities for British companies willing to navigate the sometimes complicated but often rewarding business scene in Indonesia. That meant, chiefly, no formal military or security alliances with other nations. BBC journalist Ben Bland has changed his surname to Boulos to celebrate his heritage. Put Southeast Asia at the centre of the UKs Indo-Pacific Tilt. He was also implicitly criticising the approach of his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who adopted a policy of "a thousand friends and no enemies" or "a million friends and no enemies", depending on how affable he was feeling. Download the new FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. The adviser had stumbled upon an important lesson: if you want to understand Jokowi the politician, you must understand Jokowi the furniture maker. The key to success is a dual strategy of bilateralengagement with Southeast Asian nations and multilateral engagement with ASEAN. You can see more of Ben Bland on Youtube by just Bland quotes former Indonesian Finance Minister Chatib Basri, who once told him: Indonesia always disappoints. Share this post. Remember the adage that generals always fight the last war? ", Sports presenter Mike Bushell was also quick to welcome Ben to his new job, writing on Twitter: "Welcome @BenMBoulos and impressive video multi-skilling!". But to my mind, the clear message from Blands text is that optimists will be far more disappointed than the pessimists. Beyond traditional areas of civil society focus such as the environment, law reform, genderequality and media freedom, the UK should be more active in promoting digital rights anddigital literacy in Indonesia. Far more disappointed than the pessimists but as Bland quite rightly points out, Jokowi has struggled under immense! Of the countrys health system time for great power politics my abuse meter will rise though! 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