How Indonesia Can Better Navigate Globalization

Abstraksi

Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation and Asia’s fifth largest economy, is a sprawling, 3,000-year-old civilization with more than 360 ethnicities, 707 languages and dozens of religions. Perhaps this diversity and openness to trade and exchange contribute to Indonesians’ surprising embrace of globalization: A 2016 international poll found that 72 percent of Indonesians agreed with the statement that globalization is “a force for good” – one of the highest percentages of any country surveyed. In addition, a 2017 Australian-led survey found that 53 percent of Indonesians polled “favor” international trade agreements, while 20 percent opposed them and 28 percent took a neutral position. The same survey also found that 74 percent of Indonesians polled disagreed when asked if their country would be “better off in isolation and did not concern itself with the problems in other part of the world” – only 26 percent agreed. However, with the pressures of economic nationalism, price controls, and worries about foreign workers competing for jobs. Indonesians also legitimately worry about debt, overwhelming controls and major cultural changes. Through socioeconomic structural transformations, capacity advancement, and furnishing international educational opportunities, this paper elucidates how Indonesia can better navigate globalization to ensure all segments of society will benefit, as the economy is on pace to enter the world’s top five economies before 2050.