Introduction: Indonesia and the Dynamics of Regional Financial Cooperation

Abstract

Indonesia has been involving deeply in the development of East Asian financial cooperation, particularly under the umbrella of ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Cooperation. It paid considerable attention to initiatives related to both liquidity support arrangements, bond market development, and financial market integration. Indonesian participation in financial cooperation has been led predominantly by state financial agencies, although there has been growing participation of Indonesian non-state actors as well. As one of important players in the region, Indonesia provides a laboratory to explore the political-economic dynamics of financial regulatory bodies in dealing with financial regionalism in the East Asia region. The participation of Indonesia in the regional financial arrangements not only should be viewed by economic calculation; but also consider political aspects at national and regional levels. In this regard, this study put domestic politics, power relations, and regulatory regionalism as an integrated approach to understand Indonesian responses toward East Asia financial cooperation.