Southeast Asian Perspectives on Security

5. National versus Regional Resilience? An Indonesian Perspective

Indonesia: National vs Regional Resilience? 81© 2000 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 5 National versus Regional Resilience? An Indonesian Perspective Dewi Fortuna Anwar INTRODUCTION The title “National Versus Regional Resilience” might suggest that the two concepts are inherently incompatible with each other. It implies that national resilience does not necessarily lead to regional resilience, and conversely regional resilience might not support the pursuit of national resilience. However, within ASEAN, national and regional resilience are seen to be bound together in a virtuous circle of cause and effect. National resilience is regarded as a prerequisite for regional resilience. Without the development of national resilience it is difficult to attain regional resilience. After all, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The presence of a weak and fractured state within a region, which can easily invite interventions from its immediate neighbours as well as from extra-regional powers, will clearly be detrimental to the security of the region as a whole. This was certainly demonstrated by the long drawn-out Cambodian conflict. At the same time, the existence of regional resilience allows each regional member to focus on its respective internal development, regarded as a prerequisite for national resilience. An unstable region will naturally make the members more concerned about possible threats from outside, forcing them to devote more of their scarce resources, which in many cases they can hardly afford, for the purposes of conventional defence. In countries where the most immediate security problems are internal in nature — which can be caused by a combination of factors, such as a weak sense of nationhood, a fragile political system and economic backwardness — diverting scarce resources from internal development programmes to ISEAS DOCUMENT DELIVERY SERVICE. No reproduction without permission of the publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, SINGAPORE 119614. FAX: (65)7756259; TEL: (65) 8702447; E-MAIL: publish@iseas.edu.sg 82 Dewi Fortuna Anwar© 2000 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore support a strong military structure can actually lead to greater national instability and insecurity. On the other hand, when the regional environment is peaceful and stable, the regional members can focus their attention and resources on addressing domestic problems. In this way, regional resilience clearly facilitates the development of national resilience. The ASEAN states formally adopted the concept of national and regional resilience as a primary objective of regional co-operation at the first ASEAN summit in Bali in 1976. According to the Declaration of ASEAN Concord, “The stability of each member state and of the ASEAN region is an essential contribution to international peace and security. Each member state resolves to eliminate threats posed by subversion to its stability, thus strengthening national and ASEAN resilience.”1 The Declaration of ASEAN Concord clearly sees no contradiction between national and regional resilience. The development of national resilience is seen as a step towards the strengthening of regional resilience which, in turn, will contribute to international peace and security. Nevertheless, it must also be recognized that while regional resilience must be built upon national resilience, the latter does not automatically lead to the former. Regional resilience is not simply the sum total of all national resilience in a particular sub-region. National resilience can only be harnessed towards the development of regional resilience if there is close regional co-operation among all of the regional states. Without such co-operation the individual pursuit of national resilience may actually lead to regional tension and instability. THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL RESILIENCE CONCEPT The concept of national resilience within ASEAN was first developed by Indonesia during the late 1960s, just a few years after the coming to power of the New Order government under President Soeharto. The concept, which in Indonesia is better known as ketahanan nasional, was developed by the military as a holistic security doctrine in response to the existing political and economic chaos in the country. This concept is very similar to the doctrine of comprehensive security in its multidimensional approach to security. Security is not merely seen in military terms, but encompasses a much wider spectrum, including economic, political and social aspects. The national resilience concept has two main characteristics. Firstly, it is basically an inward-looking security doctrine. The multi-dimensional security approach is not primarily directed against threats emanating from Indonesia: National vs Regional Resilience? 83© 2000 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore outside the country...