Indonesia-Korea Relation

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Muhammad Anis
Anis.JPG
Name in Latin Alphabet: Muhammad Anis
Nationality: Indonesian
Affiliation: Interim Rector, Universitas Indonesia

INTRODUCTION

Since 1996 when it is first established, the relations between Indonesia and Republic of Korea has been going stronger and deeper amid regional and global changes. Followed by the opening of diplomatic relations in 1973, the relations has been expanded to many areas including economic development, information technology, foreign workers, energy, maritime and fisheries, forestry, tourism, small and medium enterprises as well as science and technology.


RELATION IN POLITICAL AFFAIRS

Begin with the establishment of Korean Consulate General Office in Jakarta in 1966 followed by Indonesian Consulate General Office in Seoul in 1968, Diplomatic relations between South Korea and Indonesia officially created. Since then, the relations of both countries increased and it is reflected from the quantity of the official visits and also cooperation related to Economy, Education and Cultural sectors broadens.

The good relations in Politics affairs of both countries are shown through the participations in some international conferences since 1980s. One of them is the visit of President Chun Doo-hwan with purpose to strengthen the position of South Korea in Non-Aligned Movement. The visit of Roh Tae-woo (November 1988), Kim Young Sam (November 1994, APEC Summit in Bogor), Kim Dae-jung (2000), Roh Moo-Hyun (2003, ASEAN Summit +3 in Bali; 2006) and Lee Myung-bak (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), And also the current President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye who visits Indonesia last October 2013. On the other hand, from the Indonesia side, President Soeharto visited Korea in in October 1982, President Abdurrahman Wahid (February 2000), Megawati Sukarnoputri (2002) and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (November 2005, APEC Summit; 2007; 2009) ROK – ASEAN Summit; 2010, G-20 Summit; 2012) and recently Joko Widodo visited Korea in December 2014.

The Political affairs between two countries have been going on really well. South Korean government supports and respects completely Indonesian integrity and democratic improvement. Vice versa, Indonesian government consistently encourages the unity of two Koreas through reconciliation. As an implementation, our government is keen to facilitate and host a discussion in condition of willingness from both countries. Indonesian commitment and initiative to continuously attempt the reconciliation through negotiation like sending elite delegates at the time when the termination of North Korea’s nuclear crisis has been stuck turns out to be well appreciated by the South Korean government, mostly when the communication between the two countries at a complete loss. (Je Seong Jeon and Yuwanto, 2014).


RELATION IN DIPLOMATIC AFFAIRS

Relations between the two countries were accelerated under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Roh Moo-hyun. High-level visits were intensified and the two leaders signed Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership to promote Friendship and Cooperation in the 21st Century in Jakarta on 4 December 2006. The two countries share common interests not only for peace, stability and progress, but also for democratic value and mutually benefited relations. This strategic partnership status expands the relations to include security cooperation, science-technology and socio-cultural engagements. This was a new momentum that was used by the two countries to take advantage of each other’s strength for common purposes. Under this agreement, Indonesia started to import defense equipment from Korea, especially for warships. Bilateral cooperation between Indonesian and Korean navies has been established since 1996. The Strategic partnership agreement opens the path for the two countries to enhance the ‘navy-to-navy talk’ to a more practical cooperation in combating pirates and terrorism; the arms purchase is the most significant development in the security relations. This purchase includes an agreement for technological transfer from Korea to Indonesia.

In 2013, Indonesia and Korea celebrated the 40th Anniversary of their diplomatic relations. Some remarkable landmarks have been achieved. Korea is now one of the most important countries for Indonesian international trade and source of investment. The purchase of the warships has also placed Korea as an Indonesia strategic partner in maintaining security. It is a new step in the relations but this development is in line with the interests of the two countries that have to deal with recent geopolitical changes in Asia and the world. The development in socio and cultural sector is also a very important in the relations especially because it involves not only people-to-people contacts but also the youth. In the document of Country Partnership Strategy with Republic of Indonesia 2012-2015, the Government of Korea has directed its ODA to assist Indonesia in achieving its goals as a modern industrialized country by 2025. Thus, with the deepening and the widening development of the relations, Indonesia and Korea currently have a mature relation that can be used not only to advance the two’s countries interest bilaterally but also in regional and global settings.


RELATION IN ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Indonesia and Korea have focused on economic relations. In 1970s, both countries were at the developing stage and striving to survive within the context of the Cold War. At that time, the two have a similar approach to focus on economic development while holding back political one. In Indonesia, Suharto’s Government tried to liberalize Indonesian economy and embraced the industrialization. In Korea, Jeonghee Park led his people to embark on Industrialization and Economic Development (Jacobs, 1985). Despite similar goals and programs, the two countries appear in different level of economic development since 1990s. Korea has emerged as one of strong industrialized and high income countries in East Asia –member of the OECD in 1996- whereas Indonesia has kept struggling to overcome poverty and middle-income trap. Economic relations between the two countries grew stronger in term of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). Korea has become the third biggest investors in Indonesia. In addition, after being devastated by the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Indonesia and Korean, together with China, Japan and ASEAN countries (the ASEAN Plus Three or APT countries) established the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) that has integrated the economy of Indonesia and Korea further.

South Korea and Indonesia relation in economics has been improving. Bilateral relations in economy can be said as a mutual relation. Both have realized their potential and capacity as resources to supply raw materials and the markets. Therefore, South Korea and Indonesia has signed agreements to expand cooperation in technology and commerce in August 1971 that is 2 months before these two countries has been diplomatically associated.

Korea and Indonesia have been benefitting from the ASEAN – Korea FTA (AKFTA), under which the Agreement on Trade in Goods came into force in June 2007. While the AKFTA and other institutions of wider coverage including the WTO, forged a common ground to strengthen their economic relation, there remain considerable opportunities to further enhance bilateral trade and economic ties through a bilateral FTA. In this context, the governments of Korea and Indonesia agreed to mandate a Joint Study Group (JSG) to conduct a joint feasibility study for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).


RELATION IN CULTURAL AFFAIRS

Another cooperative sector that has grown robustly after the Strategic Partnership status is in socio-culture. This area covers not only Korean support for Indonesian development through its overseas development assistance (ODA) undertaken by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Korean Overseas Volunteer, but also Indonesian openness for incoming students and cultural commodities from Korea. In the last decades, universities in Indonesia, including University of Indonesia, have received a drastic increase of students from Korea especially for undergraduate studies either for exchange or full-degree program. In addition to the education channel, the socio-cultural engagement among people from the two countries takes place in the forms of arts. In the last decade, Indonesian people and households have gotten acquaintance with Korean cultures and life styles through movies, TV dramas and music. The Korean wave has also swept over Indonesia.


RELATION IN EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS (ESPECIALLY WITH UI)

The advancement of Indonesia and South Korean relation globally, gives a fine impact to the relation in education matters. Universitas Indonesia has significantly increasing cooperation with universities in Korea. Until 2015, Universitas Indonesia has 28 cooperation with universities in Korea. The subject of cooperation is mostly in Student Exchange Program. Since 1979, UI has started the cooperation with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) by sending lecturers to teach Bahasa Indonesia in HUFS. In 2015, we have received 30 Korean students for Non degree program studying in UI in the scheme of Student Exchange and Study Abroad Program. Most of the students come from HUFS. The students can speak Bahasa Indonesia very well since HUFS provide courses in Indonesian Studies and therefore many of Korean students who learn Korean Studies come to Indonesia to improve their Bahasa Indonesia. It shows many young generations in South Korea are interested in Indonesia.

South Korea’s relations with Indonesia are increasing widespread, not only in the fields of politics and economics. Since 1979 a formal relationship was established between Universitas Indonesia (UI) and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) which was marked by sending Indonesian language teachers from UI to HUFS. Relations in the field of education have advanced even further ever since the establishment of the Korean Studies Program at Universitas Indonesia in 2006. The growing interest of the Indonesian society in Korea is evident in the sharp increase in the number of students applying to the Korean Studies program shows that the competition to get into the Korean Studies Program at UI is becoming more intense.

Since 2009 UI has received about 100 students for Korea applying degree program in UI. The favourite majors chosen are Indonesian Literature, Law, Economics, International Relations, Communications, etc. Some Korean students who are capable to speak Bahasa Indonesia fluently prefers Regular Program while those that doesn’t know Bahasa well, apply for International Class Program. While in 2015 UI has received 30 students from Korea participated in student exchange program and study abroad program and 26 of them are from HUFS. Additionally, in ‘Indonesia for Non-Native Speakers program’ (BIPA), most of the students are from Korea, there are 319 students this year.

Not only Korean students have interest in studying about Indonesia, the mutual feeling comes from Indonesian students. Most of Indonesian students have special interest about Korea, especially in Korean culture. Since 2006, The Faculty of Humanities established Korean Studies Program following so many impacts from Korean cultures entering Indonesia.

Due to the Increasing number of cooperation between UI and Korean universities, many Indonesian students who want to participate in Student Exchange Program choose Korea to be their destination. Not only because they have interests in Korean language and cultures, but also because the Korean Government provide many scholarships for Indonesian students through Global Korean Scholarship (GKS). GKS provides scholarship that covers stipend for whole program (1 or 2 semester), airfare, and insurance. The universities continually offers program and scholarships for students are SNU, Hanyang University, Yonsei University, Kangwon National University (KNU), Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), Chonnam National University (CNU), Chonbuk National University (CbNU), Kyungpook National University (KNU) etc. Students can earn credits from this program and they can have the credit transferred in UI. Normally UI can send 1 or 2 students to each partner university in Korea.

Besides Student Exchange Program, those universities also offer courses in Summer Program with or without scholarships. Some students who are not able to participate in Student Exchange Program prefer join the short program like summer program, the duration of this program is around two weeks to one month. Given that the courses in the program usually consist of Korean cultures, most of the students who are fond of Korean cultures and would like to experience the traditions from the origin. Some universities also give credits for summer but it depends on each faculty whether they can transfer the credits or not. Not only based on the MoU and the agreement, which provide scholarship for undergraduate students particularly, some universities also allocate scholarship for graduate students or researchers without any agreement needed. Korean Government Scholarship Program (KGSP) gives scholarship for students or faculty member who wants to pursue their study to master or doctoral program in various universities in Korea. The amounts of the scholarship vary due to the length and type of the program.

The big number comes from HUFS is because the university has Indonesian studies and most of the students able to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia or they come to learn Bahasa Indonesia in BIPA and continue joining the regular degree program after completing BIPA. Korean students, who come to study in UI, usually have been previously informed by the other Korean student or the international office of their university. Less information about studying in Indonesia and the main destination of Korean students to study in Europe and USA are the main hindrances for incoming mobility program. The capacity building for the faculty members in Universitas Indonesia is also the main concern for advance internationalization.

In the early establishment of the Korean studies program, institutions such as the Korea Foundation and KOICA supported the program by providing Korean lecturers. In addition, they also assisted by providing text books used in teaching the courses. In the early stages of the establishment of this program several major Korean companies operating in Indonesia also supported the program by awarding scholarships to students of the program. Recently, KOSASA provide 5 scholarships for PhD candidates to take PhD degree in Korea. HIGHLIGHTS

1. Nevertheless, despite those bright sides, there are several challenges in Indonesia-Korea relations. To start with, trade and investment relations between the two countries need to be reshaped in a more fair ground and mutually beneficial so Indonesia does not merely become a market for Korean products. In addition, Korean needs to restrain from using its ODA to serve its economic interests in Indonesia. It is important to increase the non-economic activities in the development assistance as social and environmental problems prevail in Indonesia. Moreover, the two countries’ cooperation needs to pay more attention on human development. Both Indonesia and Korea will be forced to compete globally; the two should be able to tap to each other’s strength for mutual gains. The defense purchase needs to be followed by cooperation in science and technology such as transfer of technology so Indonesia can help maintain and develop the product in the future. Finally, cooperation in academic sector needs to be enhanced more systematically through professor exchange, joint research, collaborative learning and international seminar. The support for people-to-people contacts is expensive and slow but it can develop into soft power that benefits both countries in the future.

2. As countries located in Asia and have Asian cultures, we will need formation that can create Asian empathy and cooperation as a respond to higher value of cultural, economy, and Asian politics. As we know, Asian culture characters are divers and unique. Thus, developed situation that can equally support each culture is practically needed. Through this cooperation, it is expected both countries to advance their potential culture.

3. The education linkage needs to also be further developed. Mirror with UI experiences with various Korean Universities there should be more intensive mobility among them, not just between students but also lecturers, professor and researches. It is believed that all of them are the agent for the future relationship, thus by increasing mobility programs, the common understanding between the two countries will be embedded strongly. It is also expected to have joint research as well as joint publication

Seoul, September 2015


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