More blessed to give than to receive but…
Josh Hong
When the latest earthquake hit the Indian Ocean early this week, the region had just marked the fourth month after the deadly tsunami that claimed as many as 300,000 lives last December. Since the catastrophe, there has been intense diplomatic maneuver on the part of a number of major countries to enhance their international images for all kinds of reasons and purposes.
Some are more vocal than others in spelling out their objectives, and even naively and whimsically so. Taiwan, for one, made no attempt to conceal the hope of increasing ‘its international visibility’ and shoring up diplomatic support by pledging US$50 million to the tsunami-stricken countries.
Others have been, of course, rather discreet. Germany and Japan, with securing a permanent seat on the UN Security Council in mind, have been profusely active in the post-tsunami reconstruction. Japan, in particular, is a deep pocket and a complaisant paymaster that the US - from the Iraq war to the aftermath of the tsunami disaster – can ever rely on. The ‘generosity’ of the Koizumi administration has come to some fruition, as Kofi Annan has allegedly thrown his weight behind Tokyo’s bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council.
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The jingoistic Koizumi must have wished to commit Japanese troops to the region too, but he is held back by the Peace Constitution that disallows overseas troop deployment – for now.
Not to be outdone by Japan, Gerhard Schroeder, the German Chancellor, raised his nation’s contribution to the tsunami fund to 500 million euros, making Germany the top donor among all.
China came across a rather surprisingly generous donor. Exactly two years ago this time, the power-wannabe had a hard time coping with the Sars outbreak, and its records on post-disaster mechanism, whether in an earthquake or mine explosion, have rarely been exemplary.
China versus Taiwan
For many a die-hard China fan, whatever diplomatic move by Beijing must be bona fide and, hence, morally justifiable, while hidden agenda remains always a proprietary of the West and Japan. Too bad, that hard facts and realities suggest otherwise.
In the case of the recent tsunami, Beijing was prompted into greater and more concrete action the moment it realised that its ‘renegade province’ of Taiwan was seeking to make use of the opportunity to score popularity points. The irredentist streak of the Communist Party dictates that Beijing must be constantly on a lookout to snuff out any move by Taipei to gain diplomatic mileage.
Closer to home, the Bolehland is not doing too badly either. Despite that the Barisan Nasional government has been fighting a losing battle, it seems, to keep the perennially chaotic traffic in KL in order, and never mind that the same BN authorities in Johor Baru have done much to disrupt the city life with their never-ending ‘beautification’ project, the know-it-all officials in Putrajaya gladly offered to draw up a redevelopment master plan for Banda Aceh. Haven’t we all underestimated Malaysia’s pull with the Indonesians?
Of course, the donor list will never be complete without the zealous participation of the United States. For a country that first tarnished its image with the invasion of Iraq and then undermined its moral position with the abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war in the Abu Ghraib jail, the tsunami presented Washington with a golden opportunity for a diplomatic facelift.
With 1,500 US troops stationed in Sri Lanka for humanitarian mission, a re-orientation of Washington policy in South Asia is afoot. There will surely be greater things to come.
Blessed by his father George Bush Sr. and his predecessor Bill Clinton, a debonair President Bush stated that ‘the good folks of Indonesia’ now see a different America. Quite clearly, for those who do not share Bush’s optimism, they must be on the wrong side of history.
The Indian Ocean disaster has enabled the US to find a footstool with which to expand its influence in a region that was once deeply suspicious of and persistently resistant to American hegemony in the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon. That the US-Indonesian ties have been elevated on to a higher plane is evidenced by Washington’s decision to end a 14-year-old freeze on military ties with Jakarta by resuming the International Military Education and Training (IMET) grants to Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI).
Simple message
IMET grants were suspended in 1992 following an army massacre in the previous year in which hundreds of East Timorese demonstrators in Dili were brutally killed by TNI. Just when one thought the US did what it did out of indignation, Senator Patrich Leahy, overseeing the Pentagon’s relations with TNI, hoped that ‘the Bush administration has not forgotten that two of the murder victims were Americans’.
Well, as for non-American victims, justice could come late, or even be impeded.
Marie T Huhtala, a former US ambassador to Malaysia and now a Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, only has all the complimentary words to say of TNI for the latter’s performance in the post-tsunami relief operation, choosing to downplay its appalling human rights records.
The US revived interest in Indonesia is not just driven by the fact that Jakarta should remain a mainstay of stability in the war against global terror; it is also informed by the possible rise of China in not too distant a future to challenge US role in Southeast Asia. Seen in this light, it is thus natural for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the soaring black hawk, to reaffirm Japan’s central role in US global strategic plan.
As Martin Wight, arguably the most influential English realist, once said, ‘A foreign minister is chosen and paid to look after the interests of his country, and not to be a delegate of the human race.’
A simple message, loud, clear, and still ringing true in the case of Rice.
The tsunami has indeed opened all the possibilities for major countries to engage in the regions of South and Southeast Asia, not least the US. It is no doubt more blessed to give than to receive. But politics is anything but charity. When one is parting with the good one has produced, one ought to get something in return.
The Bush administration never bothers to look deep into itself why it is worse thought of than it deserves. As for others, have there been better times in recent years when one can openly and passionately engage in the region of South and Southeast Asia without generating too much suspicion on the part of the host countries?
