As  the  ASEAN organization  become more  and more  highlighted  in today’s news,  the Jakarta CMOClub was honored enough  to  have H.E.  Djauhari  Oratmangun, Director General of ASEANCooperation Affair, host  the CMO Club20th PowerDinner. Also present at the dinner gathering was Dr.Dino  Patti Djalal, who  gave  a speech that carried the theme, ‘The Strategic Roles ofIndonesia in ASEAN 2010’.

Dr. Dino Patti Djalal is presently a Special Staff forInternational Affairs and Presidential Spokesperson for President SusiloBambang Yudhoyono  –  a position he has held  since  October 2004,  and  extended when SBY was re-elected by a  landslide to a second term in 2009.

 Jenny Poespita, Director of the Jakarta CMO Club, initiatedthe event with a short opening speech and a playback of a video dialogue  between Philip  Kotler  and Hermawan  Kartajaya,  two of  the  tri-founders of  the Philip  Kotler  Center for  ASEAN Marketing  and  JakartaCMO Club.  In  the video, Philip Kotler explained how the roleof Chief Marketing Offcers is very crucial to a company. They are responsible for the identifcation  of  opportunities,  screening of opportunities, choosing the bestopportunities, as well as fguring out how much fund is needed to launch the bestopportu nity. The  Jakarta CMOClub aims  to motivate business leadersand entrepreneurs to promote the strategic roles of marketing in any  company in  the  region and  empower marketing.

 Soon after, Hermawan Kartajaya,Founder & CEO of MarkPlus, Inc., gave his welcoming speech, where heannounced the  launch of his mostsuccessful international book so far. His latest book  that he has writtenwith Philip Kotler  and  Iwan Setiawan, Marketing 3.0,  will  be translated  into  17 non-English languages  and  is the  core  concept of  the Museum Marketing  3.0 that will  be  built in Ubud, Bali. Following Hermawan’s speech, Djauhari gave a shortintroduction speech, explaining the agenda and the topics of what will be discussed by Dr.Dino Patti Djalal. He explained that the topic at the dinner gathering is howto bring ASEAN  to  the business community and how  the businesscommunity will bring ASEAN to the people through its activities. As Dr. DinoPatti Djalal took his place at the podium, he started his speech with a joke,stating that as he entered the room that was flled with music, the frst thoughtthat came to his mind is that the event was much like a glorifed intellectual karaoke session’.

Dr. Dino Patti Djalal’s speech mostly  focused on the evolution of Indonesia’s foreign
policy mindset. As he explains,  the mindset is animportant aspect, because it is a mental and intellectual software of how policy makers  process  events, information  and  trends,both internally as well as externally.

In  the  1950s –  1960s,  we considered  ourselves  as revolutionaries. We  wanted  to
change  the  world, but  have  failed in many cases. We view internationalism in a context of  a socialist  internationalism, with  a siege mentality and a feeling of being surrounded by hostile powers andconspiracies. We were defensive  and  developed an  angry  nationalism, which also resulted in aconfrontational internationalism.

During  the  1970s-1980s, ASEAN,  which was founded  in 1967, grew and  leaned more towards  the  west. We  have  started to  put aside  our confrontational  view  of  theworld and  have  slowly become more modern. We have, instead,  become  very defensive  in  issues regarding democracy and human rights,especially  in East Timor. President Suharto, at that  time,  focused on  international  economic development  as well as  regional, but never reallytook part in world summits.

 As Megawati assumed presidential power in 2001, thecountry’s economic and democ
racy  gave  momentum, which  was  later accelerated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono  from 2004  until  today. It  is  now  anexciting time, where the president is more involved  in  theday-to-day management of  foreignpolicies issues. Assumptions, strategies, as well as tactics are changing, andthe people have gained confdence. 85% of Indonesians believe  that they are on  the  right track after the reformations. Now, we see the world as an opportunityrather than as a threat.

 ASEAN has become the  anchor of  Indonesia’s foreign policy. Tomaintain this equilibrium  in ASEAN, weneed  to minimize  the gap of  political  and economic  development in the ASEANregion.