The recent controversy over the visit of a German Embassy staffer to the headquarters of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) shows what happens when a diplomatic event has a brush with domestic politics. Here is what we know. On Dec. 17, 2020, an employee of the German Embassy visited the FPI headquarters in Petamburan, Central Jakarta. Her entry into the compound and the car she arrived in, which bore a diplomatic license plate, was photographed, most likely by an intelligence officer assigned to watch the goings-on at the compound. Two days later, FPI secretary-general Munarman confirmed her visit to the media and the incident went viral. Reports began to surface that the woman in question was a member of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND).

Pandemi Covid-19 telah mengubah perspektif pemerintah maupun pelaku industri dalam berbagai aspek, terutama dalam menjamin ketahanan kesehatan publik, pembangunan ekonomi, dan stabilitas politik. Di bidang ekonomi, setidaknya ada dua implikasi yang harus dicermati dalam mengantisipasi perubahan akibat dampak pandemi. Pertama, pandemi ini telah mendorong evaluasi terhadap global supply chain yang selama ini terpusat di beberapa negara tertentu.

As if COVID-19 and the economic recession were not enough, the world today has to bear with a wrangle between France and the Islamic world, sparked by controversy over President Emmanuel Macron’s recent statements about Islam. Macron made his comments after the gruesome beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad to his students as part of a class discussion.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has given a series of speeches attacking China. His speeches present some new themes: they aim specifically at the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), they frame China as an ideological threat (constantly referring to “Communist China,” not just China) and they adopt a blanket (rather than a la carte) attack against China: on the coronavirus, trade, investment, technology, TikTok, the World Health Organization, the South China Sea, Chinese companies and students, democracy, human rights, climate change – the list goes on. It seems that for the Trump administration, it has become a taboo to say anything remotely positive about China. Indeed, as Pompeo stated, “securing our freedom from the CCP is the mission of our time and America is in a perfect position to lead.”

Earlier this month, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) selected Suga Yoshihide to replace the outgoing Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, following his resignation due to ill health. With Abe’s sudden exit in the throes of a global pandemic, the appointment of Suga, who took office on September 17 after serving as Abe’s chief cabinet secretary throughout his second term, is the LDP’s means of ensuring a degree of continuity on Abe’s major policy initiatives. Suga has himself made this bias for stability explicit, vowing to maintain the tenets of “Abenomics” in economic policy, and continue the country’s coronavirus measures.

Japan has elected Yoshihide Suga the new prime minister, replacing Shinzo Abe who resigned amid a global pandemic. Suga’s appointment is the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s way to ensure continuity of Abe’s major policies. Suga himself has shown his keenness toward stability, vowing to maintain the ongoing Abenomics economic policy and coronavirus response during his campaign.

Amid the pandemic, it has been said that Indonesia has found itself fighting two viruses. The first being the coronavirus pandemic, and the second being the “virus” of religious radicalization. The lethal combination of an ailing global economy combined with the strain on healthcare systems has pushed people to find other outlets to obtain the resources and support they need. Unfortunately, one outlet in Indonesia and the Philippines appears to be militant Islamic online radicalization through increased internet saturation, fueled by a need for a sense of community amidst the calls for self-isolation during the pandemic.

Undoubtedly, COVID-19 pandemic has a profound impact on Inter-Korean ties. The past 2 years’ negotiation between North Korea and South Korea, also with the United States, have not shown any positive results and is disrupted by the pandemic. North Korean leaders have even appeared with a worsening tone of diplomacy.

Earlier this year, Beijing’s ‘mask diplomacy’ gained traction for its suspected geopolitical intentions as the rest of the world was making do with a dwindling supply of face masks and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). Beijing’s swooping gesture of goodwill to the suffering global community was quite an opportunity to seize, and one that allowed China to earn points from the international community.

Devising cooperative programs on “technical, scientific and environment” matters is easier than dealing with “resource” issues, and much more difficult than dealing with “territorial claims and jurisdictional issues” in the South China Sea (SCS).

I know many of us got this wrong in the past, but I am willing to bet my house that President Donald J. Trump is finished. Either by a small or large margin, the incumbent will lose the US elections in November. It will not be Joe Biden that will beat Trump: Donald Trump is the cause of his own demise. His unmistakable “authenticity”, an asset that distinguished him from his political competitors in the past, is now a liability. His notorious claim of invincibility – that he could “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still get elected” – no longer holds weight today.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only drastically affected the way we live our lives, but it has thrust many countries into having to decide when to transition from sheltering to reopening –sometimes precipitating harmful partisan domestic battles.

By way of example, the United States and Brazil, although somewhat distinct, are both suffering greatly from COVID-19 and are considering reopening. Both are led by aggressive populists who rose to power as antielite and anti-establishment figures. Their leaders are prone to reject the opinions of scientists, promote conspiracy theories and undermine media that oppose them. Yet now they seek to avoid blame for any failure to ameliorate COVID-19 damage.

As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic is not only affecting the global health and economic situation, but it has also tested the political leadership of all countries no matter what their political system is. Either they are Republic with Presidential System (Indonesia) and Parliamentary System (India), Absolute Monarchy (Saudi Arabia), Constitutional Monarchy (Japan, United Kingdom), or One-party State (China). Many even say, Democracy? Autocracy? coronavirus doesn’t care.

A significant percentage of all ASEAN workers consist of migrant labor, whose remittances contribute a substantial proportion of GDP in many nations around the region. In light of COVID-19, however, the impact on these migrant workers has been significantly higher — and the consequences devastating. Migrant workers are often the most overlooked population during a crisis such as the pandemic, and they are now being viewed as the primary cause for second-wave infections. If issues involving marginalized communities such as migrant workers are not addressed, this will fuel more virus containment obstacles going forward.

The preferred policy response of every country threatened by COVID-19 seems to be a lockdown, or severely restricting movement (of people, goods and services) into and out of cities or countries. For now, this is undoubtedly the best way to slow down, contain and hopefully roll back the spread of the novel coronavirus within and between nations. But beating COVID-19 will require much more than a lockdowns, social distancing and travel bans. Even if China, South Korea and Japan succeed in scaling back the virus, that does not mean much if the rest of the world catches it.

If you asked me which country Indonesia had grown closest to in the last five years, my answer would be: China. Indonesia has developed many “partnerships” with other countries — more than a dozen of them. Yet, no matter how you label them (“strategic”,”special, comprehensive”, “21st century” etc.), Indonesia’s partnership with China is perhaps the most substantial.