Indonesia to Embrace Comprehensive Partnership from Obama

NEW YORK, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia is keen to have a "comprehensive partnership" with the United States which extends beyond mere trade and investments.

Trie Edi Mulyani, Indonesia's consul-general in New York, said this last night, on the sidelines of a farewell reception hosted for her after a three-year stint which ends soon.

There was a large turnout of the consular corps, including Malaysian consul-general Zamruni Khalid, who came to bid her farewell. Mulyani will take up a new posting in the foreign ministry in Jakarta.

"The comprehensive partnership should extend beyond group-to-group cooperation and embrace business-to-business cooperation. Our relationship with the United States has improved considerably," Mulyani said in an interview with Bernama.

One of the pet projects of Indonesian diplomats is the Indonesian visit of US President Barack Obama which was postponed a couple of months ago, because of the healthcare debate which required his presence in Washington DC.

Although she said the exact dates were still being finalised, Mulyani confirmed that Obama was expected to visit Indonesia sometime in June.

She underscored the fact that Indonesia, despite having the world's largest Muslim majority population, represented a "tolerant and moderate face" of Islam which respected other faiths and traditions, as well.

This pitch is not dissimilar to the 1Malaysia policy formulated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's government.

This was Mulyani's second posting to the Big Apple. She first served with Indonesia's permanent mission to the UN in New York from 1988 to 1992.

There are about 100,000 Indonesian nationals living in the United States, though the number is higher because many have acquired US citizenship.

In private conversations with Bernama, US diplomats say that Indonesia remains a linchpin of regional security in Southeast Asia because of its strategic location astride a number of key international maritime straits, particularly the Malacca Strait.