The Kennedy Administration's Policy Towards Indonesia

After the Second World War, along with the American economy and the military power expansion, the United States began seeking world hegemony and its ambition became big. Its foreign policy rapidly changes from prewar isolationism to global expansion, capturing the world supremacy with Soviet Union. The Southeast Asia, because its important of politics, economy and the Geography strategy, gradually becomes an important section of American's world hegemony system. Indonesia as the biggest country in Southeast Asia, attracting American's interest with its important geographical position and the rich strategic resources, takes an important position in the American's global strategy and the national interest, becomes the American Asia strategy specially its Southeast Asia strategy's important constituent. This article studies Kennedy Administration's policy towards Indonesian, from this article we can better understanding the American's policy towards Southeast Asia in the Cold War , discovering the true motive from American formulating and implementing foreign policies, better explaining that as the rich diplomatic experience and the hegemony country, the American's foreign policy is continuity and stability. This article is divided into four parts to study the Kennedy Administration's policy towards Indonesia.In first part of the article, I simply introduced the Truman Administration and Eisenhower Administration's policy towards Indonesian, in order to better understand the Kennedy Administration's policy. Kennedy basically followed the former leader's Cold War thought, adapting the Cold War., both the Eisenhower Administration and the Kennedy Administration, their policies toward Indonesia were preventing Indonesia fall into the communist party's hand or entered the socialist camp. In second part of the article, I study the Kennedy Administration and the peaceful settlement of West Man (West New Guinea) issue. The West Irian issue is a territory dispute between Indonesian and Holland. the In the early days after President Kennedy's inauguration, he changed the Eisenhower Administration's neutral manner in West Irian issue and requested the American government officers reach a consensus on the issue of West Irian. Simultaneously, the United States overcame the pressure from the Western allies. US overcame has come from the western allied country pressure, through invited Sukarno to visit USA and dispatched Robert Kennedy to visited Indonesia and Holland, US has positively played a mediator's role, finally solved the west Irian issue peacefully.In third part of the article, I discuss the Kennedy Administration's aid policy towards Indonesia as the political weapon. The Kennedy Administration held the proper time when successful solved the west Irian issue and the relations between American and Indonesia changes better, Kennedy attempted to change Indonesia's national attention from overseas to its own country, through the aid solve the Indonesian domestic serious economy and social questions, affect Indonesian by the economic policy, establish a stable, independent and pro-western Indonesia. The Kennedy Administration believed that, in order to maintain political and economic stability in Indonesia, only to modernized Indonesia with the aid policy, prevented the Indonesian communist party randomly seizes power or the Indonesian entered the communism camp. The Kennedy Administration wanted to guide Indonesia to close with the western nation in politics, causing Indonesia to become the American's main supporters in the Southeast Asia area and even the entire Asia.In fourth part of the article, I study the Kennedy Administration's policy towards Indonesian during the confrontation between the Indonesia and the Malaysian. The American's diplomatic decision-making was in a dilemma in whether supported allied country England to establish the Malaysian federation or to aid Indonesia. Facing the Malaysian crisis escalating, in order to avoid the major difficulty in Southeast Asia the Kennedy Administration try to avoid using high-pressured towards Indonesia, the Kennedy administration seeks the feasible means to reverse American and Indonesia's relations, distracted Sukarno from the path which was possibility resistance the American. Therefore the president Kennedy wanted to visit Indonesia to solute the question. However the Kennedy was assassinated, leaved the Indonesia's problem to the next president of the United States.The author concludes that the American's policy towards Indonesia during the Kennedy Administration has manifested the US foreign policy historical continuity. The Kennedy Administration's policy towards Indonesia was formulated and effected by the cold war thought. However compares with the Eisenhower Administration, the Kennedy's cold war thought also has its own characteristics, Kennedy takes more attention to the diplomacy with the third world. Kennedy believed that, the third world is easiest to have revolution and easily impacted by the communism, it also an area easiest to be affected by the American's advice. The Kennedy Administration hoped to use "the modernization" theory to aid Indonesia, guiding the third world's nationalism influence to close with the west, capture the third world with the Soviet Union, containment communism expansion in the Southeast Asia, causes the condition from the latent communism victory to American victory.Study the American's policy towards Indonesia, which is the country in Southeast Asia, provides us an angle to view the Cold War development process in Asia and Southeast Asia. And further inspects how American involved in Southeast Asia. And study Kennedy Administration's policy towards Indonesia, we can better analysis the American foreign policy formulation to the Indonesian ,further better understand how American and the third world relations development. In brief, we study the Kennedy Administration's policy towards Indonesia have a quite big practical significance. We must inspect the Kennedy Administration's policy towards Indonesian in the Cold War background, leaving this background we would not able to understand the Kennedy administration's policy towards Indonesian very well.