Indonesia and International Institutions: Treading New Territory

Since gaining national sovereignty in 1949, Indonesia has been actively engaged in international institutions. It joined the United Nations (UN) in 1950 and was an early and instrumental participant in its provision of peacemaking forces. It was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961, and in 1992 chaired the NAM Summit in Jakarta, which was credited for revitalizing the Movement.1 In 1967, Indonesia was a founding member of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), created to maintain security and stability in Southeast Asia, with the ASEAN Secretariat headquartered in Jakarta. In the post-Cold War period, Indonesia was a founding member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 1989 and hosted the APEC Summit in 1994, which resulted in the Bogor Goals, that measured objectives for reducing barriers to trade and investment. In 1999, after the onset of the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98, Indonesia was invited to join the Group of Twenty (G-20), a select assembly of advanced and emerging economies that has become a critical forum for global economic governance.