This edited collection takes a primary focus on security issues in Oceania, but here the word security is expanded to include such topics as domestic Indonesian and Philippine instability, environmental degradation, the work of international crime syndicates, the generic problem of post-colonial state failure, and the always overhanging concern with China--in short all of the significant troubles roiling Island Asia today.

Using this expanded notion of security and stability, the volume pulls in new anxieties about global warming, which may submerge half of the South Pacific microstates within the next 30 years, and pollution, which covers Indonesia nad Malaysia in thick smoke now visible from space, as well as traversing the more traditional security and economic issues. Vaughn and his contributors describe a 7,000-mile swath of wobbly island states ranging from the world's fourth most populous country to tiny bogus sovereignties in thrall to globalized criminals-through which more than $1 trillion worth of goods move each year. An important resource for scholars, students, researchers, and policy makers involved with Oceania and Asian studies as well as contemporary geo-political concerns.

With a population of 240 million, Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia and the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world. Its size, its emerging democracy and economic vibrancy, and its strategic position across critical sea lanes linking the Middle East with East Asia have led many to consider it an emerging middle-tier power. The U.S. maintains close relations with Indonesia, with considerable security, economic, and trade ties, although human rights concerns about the Indonesian armed forces have long been a thorn in the relationship. In the 12 years since a catastrophic economic crisis led to the fall of longtime President Suharto, Indonesia has undergone a remarkable transformation. It has held two successful direct Presidential elections, both of which were considered largely free and fair, and conducts dozens of actively contested provincial and local elections each year. Its economy regularly posts growth of better than 6% annually, although poverty remains considerable and corruption widespread. Discussion of Indonesia has shifted from speculation about its possible breakup due to separatist sentiments in places such as Aceh, the Malukus, West Papua, and the now independent state of Timor Leste to admiration of its democratic transformation, its relatively strong performance in the ...

Indonesia is the worlds fourth most populous country and the most populous Muslim nation. It is also a moderate Muslim state that is strategically positioned astride key sea lanes that link East Asia with the energy resources of the Middle East. Indonesia is seen by many as a valuable partner in the struggle against radical Islamist militants in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is continuing to democratize and develop its civil society and rule of law under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), who many view as reform-minded. However, a legacy of abuse of human rights by the military that stems from the three-decade reign of former President Suharto, who stepped down in 1998, remains unresolved. The parliamentary elections of 2009 further consolidated Indonesian democracy and marked a continued preference by Indonesian voters for secular-nationalist parties rather than Islamic or Islamist political parties. President Yudhoyonos Democrat party made significant gains due to the voters approval of the president. Observers predict that President Yudhoyono will win the presidential election scheduled for July 2009. U.S. foreign policy concerns have focused on building relations with Indonesia to more effectively counter the rise of militant Islamist extremists, as well as to develop relations with ...

Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and the most populous Muslim nation. It is also a moderate Muslim state which is strategically positioned astride key sea lanes which link East Asia with the energy resources of the Middle East. Indonesia is also seen by many as a valuable partner in the war against radical Islamist militants in Southeast Asia. Jakarta is continuing to democratize and develop its civil society and rule of law under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who many view as effective and reform minded. However, a legacy of abuse of human rights by the military which stems from the era of former President Suharto remains unresolved. United States foreign policy concerns have focused on building relations with Indonesia to more effectively counter the rise of militant Islamist extremists as well as develop relations with a geopolitically important state through which strategic sea lanes link the Middle East and Northeast Asia. The United States has also sought to promote democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in Indonesia in addition to promoting American trade and investment interests there. There have been several cases of avian flu in humans reported in Indonesia, and there ...

Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and the most populous Muslim nation. It is also a moderate Muslim state which is strategically positioned astride key sea lanes which link East Asia with the energy resources of the Middle East. Indonesia is also seen by many as an increasingly valuable partner in the war against radical Islamist militants in Southeast Asia. Jakarta is continuing to democratize and develop its civil society and rule of law under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who many view as effective and reform minded. However, a legacy of abuse of human rights by the military which stems from the era of former President Suharto remains unresolved. United States foreign policy concerns have focused on building relations with Indonesia to more effectively counter the rise of militant Islamist extremists as well as develop relations with a geopolitically important state through which strategic sea lanes link the Middle East and Northeast Asia. The United States has also sought to promote democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in Indonesia in addition to promoting American trade and investment interests there. This report surveys key aspects of Indonesia's domestic politics and strategic dynamics in addition ...

FROM THE AUTHORS: As an academic field in its own right, the topic of border studies is experiencing a revival in university geography courses as well as in wider political commentary. Of course, something about the postmodernist sensibility readily embraces the ambiguity, impermanence, transience, and twilight nature of bordered spaces among the planet's 192 territorially defined states. But we have another motivation in assembling this book, one rooted in contemporary rivalries sited in one of the world's most open regions. Until recently, border studies in contemporary Southeast Asia ap-peared as an afterthought at best to the politics of interstate rivalry and national consolidation. The maps set out all agreed postcolonial lines. Meanwhile, the physical demarcation of these boundaries lagged. Large slices of territory, on land and at sea, eluded definition or delineation. That comforting ambiguity has disappeared. Both evolving tech-nologies and price levels enable rapid resource extraction in places, and in volumes, once scarcely imaginable. The old adage that God really does have a sense of humor ("after all, look where He/She put the oil") holds as true in Southeast Asia as in the Middle East. The beginning of the 21st century's second decade is witnessing an intensifying diplomacy, both state-to-state and commercial, over off-shore petroleum. In particular, the South China Sea has moved from being a rather arcane area of conflict studies to the status of a bellwether issue. Along with other contested areas in the western Pacific and south Asia, the problem increasingly defines China's regional relationships in Asia-and with powers outside the region, especially the United States. Yet intraregional territorial differences also hobble multilat-eral diplomacy to counter Chinese claims. For the region's national governments, the window for submission and adjudication of maritime claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas marks a legal checkpoint, but daily management of borders remains burdened by retrospective baggage. The contributors to this book emphasize this mix of heritage and history as the primary leitmotif for contemporary border rivalries and dynamics. Whether the region's 11 states want it or not, their bor-dered identity is falling into ever sharper definition-if only because of pressure from extraregional states. Chinese state and commercial power dovetails almost seamlessly with Beijing's formal territorial demands. Yet subregional rivalries and latent suspicions also remain firmly in place-as in those among Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, or between Thailand and those states that encircle the kingdom. Tracing back to its history of tributary states, the Chinese colossus has fixed views about all states contiguous to its territory; in some Chinese dialects, Vietnam is still referred to as a "renegade province." We chose to organize the chapters by country to elicit a broad range of thought and approach as much as for the specific areas or nation-states examined in each chapter. For both Southeast Asia and the outside world, the current era portends another unsettled period of border disputes and contentious territorial claims. Complex claims also have unsettled the Arctic and inland seas like the Caspian. The precision we laud in global positioning and tracking systems has also wreaked havoc on the apparent certainties bequeathed by all the carefully surveyed (at least by 19th-century standards) boundaries left behind by the departing colonial powers. Of course, these new uncertainties about the place on the terrain of exact map coordinates can probably remain safely unsettled for a long time-but only so long as no resource discoveries emerge, which can lift the problem from obscurity to prominence in the political equivalent of a heartbeat. Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University (NDU).

Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and the most populous Muslim nation. It is also a moderate Muslim state that is strategically positioned astride key sea lanes that link East Asia with the energy resources of the Middle East. Indonesia is seen by many as a valuable partner in the struggle against radical Islamist militants in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is continuing to democratize and develop its civil society and rule of law under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), who many view as reform-minded. However, a legacy of abuse of human rights by the military that stems from the three-decade reign of former President Suharto, who stepped down in 1998, remains unresolved. The parliamentary elections of 2009 further consolidated Indonesian democracy and marked a continued preference by Indonesian voters for secular-nationalist parties rather than Islamic or Islamist political parties. President Yudhoyono's Democrat party made significant gains due to the voters' approval of the president. President Yudhoyono won the presidential election of July 2009 with a strong mandate. This is thought to enable him to pursue a reformist agenda in his second term as president. U.S. foreign policy concerns have focused on building relations with Indonesia to ...

Indonesia is a very important country to the United States, especially since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Its importance stems from its status as the world's fourth most populous country and the most numerous Islamic country, its political instability, its role as an unwitting host to radical Islamic and terrorist groups, and its geographic position astride key trade routes linking the oil rich Middle East with the developing Far East. This report surveys key aspects of Indonesia's domestic politics and foreign policy orientation. It provides an overview of the bilateral relationship between the United States and Indonesia and examines Indonesia's domestic and international politics. The report provides information on Indonesian issues of ongoing congressional interest, including the war against terror, international military education and training (IMET), human rights, religious freedom, promotion of democracy and good governance, trade, foreign assistance, and regional geopolitical and strategic interests. The report also provides a broader context for understanding the complex interrelated nature of many of these issues. For additional information on Indonesia see the following Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports: CRS Report RS22136, East Timor Potential Issues for Congress by Rhoda Margesson and Bruce Vaughn; CRS Report RS20572, Indonesian Separatist Movement in Aceh, by ...

Since September 2001, the United States has been concerned with radical Islamist groups in Southeast Asia, particularly those in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore that are known to have ties to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Southeast Asia is a base for past, current, and possibly future Al Qaeda operations. For nearly fifteen years, Al Qaeda has penetrated the region by establishing local cells, training Southeast Asians in its camps in Afghanistan, and by financing and cooperating with indigenous radical Islamist groups. Indonesia and the southern Philippines have been particularly vulnerable to penetration by anti-American Islamic terrorist groups. Members of one indigenous network, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), with extensive ties to Al Qaeda, are known to have helped two of the September 11 2001 hijackers and have confessed to plotting and carrying out attacks against Western targets. These include the deadliest terrorist attack since September 2001: the 12 October 2002 bombing in Bali, Indonesia, that killed approximately 200 people, mostly Westerners. On 9 September 2004, a suicide bombing attack thought to be the work of JI struck the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing 10 and wounding around 200. In October 2005, three suicide bombers exploded bombs within minutes of one another in Bali, killing more than 20 people. These attacks suggest that JI remains capable of carrying out relatively large-scale plots against Western targets, despite the arrest or death of hundreds of JI members, including most of its known leadership. To combat the threat, the Bush Administration has pressed countries in the region to arrest suspected terrorist individuals and organisations, deployed over 1,000 troops to the southern Philippines to advise the Philippine military in their fight against the violent Abu Sayyaf Group, launched a Regional Maritime Security Initiative to enhance security in the Straits of Malacca, increased intelligence sharing operations, restarted military-military relations with Indonesia (including restoring International Military Education and Training [IMET]), and provided or requested from Congress over $1 billion in aid to Indonesia and the Philippines. The responses of countries in the region to both the threat and to the U.S. reaction generally have varied with the intensity of their concerns about the threat to their own stability and domestic politics. In general, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines were quick to crack down on militant groups and share intelligence with the United States and Australia, whereas Indonesia began to do so only after attacks or arrests revealed the severity of the threat to their citizens. That said, many governments view increased American pressure and military presence in their region with ambivalence because of the political sensitivity of the issue with both mainstream Islamic and secular nationalist groups. Indonesia and Malaysia are majority Muslim states while the Philippines and Thailand have sizeable, and historically alienated and separatist-minded, Muslim minorities.