Below is an article that discusses why President-elect Obama should make
Indonesia the country he gives his address to the Islamic world. Michael
Fullilove, the program director for global issues at the Lowy Institute in
Sydney, Australia, is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. The
article can also be found here.
Mr. Obama's First Trip
By MICHAEL FULLILOVE
Published: December 15, 2008
Washington
DURING the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised that in the first 100
days of his administration he would "travel to a major Islamic forum and
deliver an address to redefine our struggle."
Egypt, Turkey and Qatar have been suggested as possible sites for such a
speech. But the best candidate is the country in which Mr. Obama lived as a
child: Indonesia.
Choosing Indonesia would throw light on the diversity and richness of Islam,
which is not, contrary to lingering perceptions, practiced solely by Arabs or
only in the Middle East. The country, home to the world's largest Muslim
population, does a reasonable job of managing its considerable religious
heterogeneity. Going there would help Mr. Obama to reframe the debate in the
West about Islam and terrorism.
An Indonesian audience would also make sense. Indonesians have been both
victims and perpetrators of terrorist attacks, including the deadly Bali
bombings. The government in Jakarta is an important partner in the effort
against terrorism.
Selecting Indonesia would demonstrate that Mr. Obama takes democracy seriously,
given that Indonesia is a rowdy democracy — the third-largest in the world. It
would show that President Bush's misshapen democratization agenda has not
turned his successor into an icy realist.
Reminding the world of Mr. Obama's origins could help counter anti-Americanism.
Who would have thought the United States would elect a president with memories
of wandering barefoot through rice paddies and "the muezzin's call at night"?
Finally, a trip to Indonesia would indicate that Mr. Obama was serious about
rebalancing America's foreign policy. It would show that he understands the
shift of global power eastward, and telegraph that Washington was finally going
to take the nation - the linchpin of Southeast Asia - seriously.
Mr. Obama was criticized in the campaign as offering speeches rather than
solutions. Cynics will say this time that you can't fight terrorism with cue
cards. But there is no better way to make an argument than with a speech - and
for this speech, there is no better place to make that argument than Indonesia.
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