Government Media,and Society:Indonesian Perspectives On China's Belt And Road Initiative

China's Belt and Road Initiative has been considered as multifaceted economic,diplomatic and geopolitical undertaking to enhance economic interconnectivity.That is why this Initiative has attracted a great number of countries to involve in this mega project.Nonetheless,some scholars argue that the Belt and Road Initiative is a China's strategy to expand its global leadership ambitions throughout almost a half of world's countries,including Indonesia.As an archipelagic country,Indonesia has its own maritime policy and diplomacy known as Global Maritime Fulcrum.This policy is definitely in China's interest as China also plans to establish 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road through the Belt and Road Initiative.Both of these policies have a similar interest which is promoting collaborative network and building economic development.However,anti-sentiment Chinese in Indonesia.especially in the case of Indonesian Communist Party during cold war era,has been a problem since long time ago.Discrimination and violence against people of Chinese descent in Indonesia is a great challenge to establish closer relation to China.Therefore,this raises question:how is Indonesian perspectives on China's Belt and Road Initiative?This question will be examined by three different views:from government perspective,media perspective which is examined by interaction survey,and the perception of Indonesian society which is examined through public opinion.This research uses an in-deep interview to unearth the government perspective on the Belt and Road Initiative.The author interview Indonesian Minister of Industry,The Coordinator Minister of Maritime Affairs,the Presidential Staff,and some other related stakeholders.Moreover,the author also analyses the perspective through World Event Interaction Survey which is developed by Charles McClelland in 1976.Furthermore,the author conducts the survey and spread the questioners to 1543 respondents in Indonesia to figure out the perception from Indonesian society.This study is initially conceived of in order to delve on Indonesian government perspective and Indonesian society perception about the Belt and Road Initiative,and then compares the content analysis from the media.This paper demonstrates the converse of the government view from society's perception.Furthermore,this research paper can be perceived as presenting a somewhat different view of Indonesian perspective from different actors.The author underscores that Indonesia and China should play more important role in public diplomacy and strengthen people-to-people contact.The result of this paper can be used to formulate a comprehensive strategy to strengthen cooperation and partnership between Indonesia and China,especially in the establishment of the Belt and Road Initiative in Indonesia.