The IEA-Indonesia Energy Transition Alliance: Towards Indonesia’s Leadership in Global Energy Governance?

The IEA-Indonesia Energy Transition Alliance: Towards Indonesia’s Leadership in Global Energy Governance?

Vol. II / No. 5 | April 2021

Authors:
Aji Fajri (Master student, Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po)

Summary

A few weeks ago, Indonesia and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have signed an agreement to establish the IEA Indonesia Energy Transition Alliance. The Alliance will be the platform for both parties to enhance collaboration in developing energy policy, mobilizing high-level political engagement, and accelerating the energy transition. But regardless of its technocratic measures, there is a more important political mission underlying the establishment of The Alliance, which is Indonesia’s aspiring leadership in global energy governance. As stated in the IEA’s press release, the Alliance will allow the IEA and Indonesia to build new partnerships and workstreams to support Indonesia’s international energy leadership (IEA, 2021). Can Indonesia be successful in carrying out this mission? The normative answer is that only the time will tell, but Indonesia certainly has the potential to be so. Ensuring that it has political and economic influence will be crucial should Indonesia aspires to a leadership role in the global energy governance.

Keywords: The Alliance, leadership, Indonesia, the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy transition, political and economic influence

The IEA-Indonesia Energy Transition Alliance: Towards Indonesia’s Leadership in Global Energy Governance?

Giving the Floor to the Responsible Great Power: China as the Key Player to Solve Myanmar Crisis

Vol. II / No. 4 | April 2021

Authors:
Mireille Marcia Karman, Rizky Widian
(Lecturers at the Department of International Relations, Parahyangan Catholic University)

Summary

The ongoing crisis in Myanmar has attracted various negative responses from the international community. As a fellow member of ASEAN, Indonesia has tried to solve the problem by persuading ASEAN member states and ASEAN’s partners, including the United States and China, to bring this issue to the upcoming ASEAN meeting. While seeking to maintain the ASEAN centrality, this effort is also seen as a strategy to prevent the possibility of turning the Myanmar crisis into a proxy battle between the United States and China. In this article, we offer an alternative suggestion that Indonesia should not only rely on ASEAN mechanism but also allow China to be the responsible great power by solving the crisis in Myanmar through a more involved direct diplomacy with Myanmar. In doing so, China would be the key player in maintaining the regional stability. By offering such suggestion, we believe that first, it is improbable to turn Myanmar’s issue into proxy battle between the 2 great powers since both countries have different level of interest in Myanmar. While China has a rather a lot at stake in Myanmar, United States does not partake any vital interest in or related to Myanmar. Moreover, Myanmar is not perceived as the most significant actor in the region and hence, encouraging China to play a bigger role in solving this crisis may not be seen as an immense threat to the United States’ position in the region.

Keywords: Myanmar, ASEAN, China, great power competition, regional stability

Accessibility