The Next Steps in Indonesia's Creative Diplomacy

Despite being a leader in initiating multilateral diplomatic initiatives on creative economy, Indonesia has yet to be a leader in mainstreaming creative diplomacy in its foreign policy.

Indonesia successfully initiated the adoption of the first UN Resolution on creative economy by consensus at the 78th UN General Assembly Session last year. The Resolution is not only an important achievement by Indonesian diplomacy at the UN multilateral forum, but it also continues Indonesia's leadership role in promoting international cooperation in this “culture-based industry”, including through the World Conference on Creative Economy (WCCE) initiative since 2018.

Despite being a leader in initiating these multilateral diplomatic initiatives, Indonesia has yet to be a leader in promoting its culture and creative industries internationally. It is then necessary to discuss the next steps to strengthen Indonesia’s creative diplomacy.

First, synergistic cultural diplomacy based on an organised strategy is a major success factor. While arts and culture are still seen merely as decorative parts of diplomacy in Indonesia, other developing countries have taken rather serious measures. One of the most recent and close examples is Thailand's National Soft Power Strategy Committee, which has agreed on long-term plans to advance Thailand's soft power through culture for economic and social development.

Indonesia can start by forming a working group between government institutions that have the duty of promoting Indonesian culture and its derivative products on the international stage. In that matter, at least three key ministries (namely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, and Ministry of Creative Economy) should be onboard. The legal underpinning for the working group is also necessary in order to regulate coordination mechanisms between involved institutions and affiliated organizations.

Second, there should be a structured agenda to equalize knowledge among government institutions and diplomatic actors abroad regarding how to present Indonesian culture, both in terms of discourse and technical aspects. Currently, the means to promote our culture are up to each institution’s budget and the creativity of Indonesian diplomats abroad. As a result, the presence of Indonesian culture on the international stage is still quite sporadic with inconsistent images.

Take the gastro-diplomacy program Indonesia Spice Up The World, for example, a national program aiming to increase Indonesian culinary exports and restaurants abroad. Learning from successful gastro-diplomacy cases from Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea, consistent branding of their national cuisine is a major success factor. A manual consisting of narratives on Indonesian culinary identity and branding strategy on the focused cuisines should be provided to guide Indonesian consulates, embassies, and diaspora abroad, as well as related ministries and industry associations in the same direction. Each party will then be able to conduct the right outreach and exploration of market opportunities to accelerate the program.

Third, riding the wave of our growing film sector is an opportune move. It is no coincidence that countries with globally acknowledged film sectors are on the top rank of the Global Soft Power Index’s culture pillar. This is because film is a medium where cultural storytelling could be conveyed best.

In the last 5 years, Indonesian movies with a strong cultural identity have won honourable awards in prestigious international film festivals. In addition, accelerated penetration of over-the-top platforms has made cross-border content consumption easier than ever. Production investments by global streaming platforms have made Indonesian content find its audience in dozens of countries in a short amount of time. A recent PwC study even projected that Indonesia will be a market with the highest content industry future growth (8,1%) by 2027, higher than India's (7,1%) and China's (6,3%).

Over the past decade, the Ministry of Education and Culture has had a track record supporting the funding and facilitation of film festivals at international, regional and city levels. At the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, its former minister launched grants for international co-production with Indonesian filmmakers where he expressed his confidence in the film sector as "one of the fastest and best ways of exporting our culture". Several filmmakers' development supports involving global streaming platforms and international film labs have also been provided.

These supports should be leveraged further by the previously mentioned working group. The group can maintain active dialogues with the supported producers and global streaming platforms to exert control over the conveyed image of Indonesia in their production. For example, the Ministry of

Sumber: Kemenparekraf

Creative Economy can provide incentives for the production or distribution of local content with a set of Indonesia’s tourism destinations.

Fourth, strategic partnerships between the government and artists also need to be strengthened on other fronts. More successful cultural diplomatic events have been made possible by collaborations between Indonesian governmental agencies and professional international producing bodies, galleries, and festivals. Recent large-scale international cultural events where Indonesia took centre stage as the country of focus such as the Busan International Film Festival, Frankfurt Book Fair, Europalia, and the International Gamelan Festival, drew on the expertise of individual experts and non-governmental organizations. Hence, supporting international collaboration projects and global expansion of creative ventures will add new sources of cultural diplomatic channels and networks.

The American-born publisher, editor, and translator John McGlynn, for example, has played a massive role in the promotion of Indonesian literature internationally, including the organization of Indonesian participation in international book fairs of note. The special program “Renaissance of Indonesian Cinema” in the latest Busan International Film Festival, was also an initiative from programmers of this largest Asian film festival.

The creative economy is Indonesia’s ‘’hidden” competitive advantage as the sector has long been placed on the sidelines despite the economic contribution, demographic bonus momentum, and the unlimited cultural assets fueling its future growth. The government should begin to direct the development focus on this sector, including through cultural diplomacy.

A stronger commitment to cultural diplomacy can be leveraged to enhance our national branding and soft power. It will support many strategic interests: improving cooperative relations between countries both bilaterally and multilaterally, attracting more foreign tourists, and eventually increasing exports and investment in other sectors.