8 July 2013

Hassan Wirajuda on Indonesia’s Foreign Policy

Hassan Wirajuda

The outcome of Indonesia's 2014 presidential election will obviously impact the future trajectory of its foreign policy, but Hassan Wirajuda believes that the opposite is also true – i.e., the nation's current foreign policy will also shape the outcome of the elections. In today's podcast, Indonesia's former foreign minister discusses why this is true.

On 20 June, our colleagues NCCR Democracy and the Forum-Aussenpolitik (FORAUS) hosted a presentation at the University of Zürich by Indonesia’s former Foreign Minister and current member of the country’s Presidential Advisory Council (Wantimpres), Hassan Wirajuda. In the following podcast, he 1) outlines the thinking behind Indonesia’s current ‘free and active’ foreign policy (bebas aktif) and how it is shaping its relationships with the US, China and other ASEAN states, and 2) as already noted, how the policy might impact the country’s 2014 presidential election.