Author: Bernard K. Gordon, University of New Hampshire

President Obama’s twice-deferred trip to Indonesia is now scheduled for the week after next, and will be combined with a visit to Australia. In the familiar phrase, these visits come at the ‘best of times and the worst of times.’ It is the best of times because US relations with both Jakarta and Canberra have never been better. In 2008, President Yudhoyono announced his ‘Comprehensive Partnership with the US‘ — a sea-change for Jakarta—and it will be further formalised and intensified during Obama’s three-day visit.

The goal will be both to ‘catch up’ in sectors that have been relatively neglected in recent years, and to open up new fields for Indonesia-US cooperation. Read more…