Indonesia is slowly becoming an active member of the international community in a more international liberalist manner after the expansionist and isolationist years of Sukarno and Suharto. Indonesia has contributed to United Nation deployments in Congo, Cambodia and Senegal amongst others. Yudhoyono earned much of his public profile by commanding Indonesia's forces in Bosnia. A deployment to Lebanon poses many messy political issues for Indonesia but which will probably not deter the new Indonesian internationalist outlook.

Since Indonesia's conversion from autocratic dictatorship to liberal democracy it has viewed itself and its role on the international stage much differently. Sukarno and Suharto were first and foremost expansionists, nabbing East Timor and West Papua. They were also ruthless in how the integrated the military into the civil bureaucracy and maintenance of civil order.

Since Suharto was kicked out, the military's role in civil governance has also been eroded though there has been a recent resurgence in the TNI's political meddling with the West Papua issue and the return of Konfrontasi politics with Australia over the issue.

The establishment of liberal democracy has enabled Indonesia to revisit its view of itself and its role in the international community. For instance an editorial in the Jakarta Post argued for Indonesia to use its role as chair of the D8 to promote moderate Islam, democracy and trade ;

Through the D-8, Indonesia, as the new chair of the grouping, should not only promote trade among member countries, which in itself is a daunting task, but also promote the values of moderate Islam and democracy among other Muslim-majority countries, so that citizens of the world can see Islam in a different light. Only then will this grouping become relevant.

This is a drastic change from the Indonesia of the 1960s and 1970s. It is also a very positive view of Indonesia for Australia.

As the editorial shows, Indonesia sees itself as a positive force amongst Muslim countries in spreading liberal democracy and free trade. It makes rational and consistent sense that the Indonesian government sees itself taking a large role in any peace-keeping deployment to southern Lebanon.

However the politics of public opinion are somewhat messy. There are certainly Muslim groups in Indonesia who take a hard line against Israel and seek to promote Hezbollah and Hamas. I was surprised to see this paragraph in the article, Indonesia should think twice about Peacekeeping in Lebanon ;

It is rightfully consistent in its support for the Palestinian cause. Indonesia refuses to recognize Israel and regards the Jewish state as a flagrant entity with little respect for international institutions and the rights of Palestinians.

Hence by any measure Indonesia is not above the fray, politically or emotionally.

Despite the Indonesian Government's enthusiasm for the deployment, there are detractors in Indonesia, such as, Indonesians urged not to send men but to buy weapons for Hezbollah ;

"There is no need to send men there. I think we should donate more money to help Hezbollah and Hamas fighters buy more weapons," Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) chairman Din Syamsuddin told a gathering of religious leaders, according to the Jakarta Post.

"If needed I will personally hand over the weapons to them," he added.

Malaysia is facing similar inconsistencies in its political stance . While it is promising a couple of hundred troops for the deployment it wants other nations to break off relations with Israel.

I believe Indonesia is on the right path with its current policy despite the hard-line detractors such as Syamsuddin who are arguing the opposite. Indonesia is integrating itself into the political community as a productive and positive member, something that needs to be encouraged as the benefits will flow to our region as well.

Indonesia's growing view of itself as a positive force for moderate Islam, democracy and increased trade also bodes well for Indonesia, the South Pacific and our personal relationship with Indonesia.

In a letter to the Taipei Times Lee Yen-mou argues that it is silly to hold a vote on whether the Republic of China [ROC] should be named Taiwan at the United Nations as the constitution calls the country ROC - not Taiwan. Instead, Yen-mou, argues for the constitution to be changed to call the country Taiwan, in order to give the name consistency and legitimacy.

That is an argument around the constitution providing national identity, and where it contradicts popular sentiment, it weakens the power of both.

Yen-mou argues that there should be a democratic display that the national name is Taiwan, not ROC, and the laws and constitution be amended to reflect that.

It would be ridiculous for us to use the name "ROC" internally, but "Taiwan" externally. A powerful, meaningful and necessary step is to demonstrate that "Taiwan" is our country's name.

The people of Taiwan must express their desire through a democratic referendum or other legal means that can demonstrate our view that we are Taiwan.

With that done, laws and the Constitution can be amended to change our name. This way we might succeed in winning enough international support for our country's name and our country's right to representation within the UN.

In conclusion, the obstacle is not just that China is blocking us, and not just that there is no sufficient support abroad for the issue.

The problem is that we must first change the name of our country to "Taiwan."

In realpolitik terms Taiwan is in a difficult place. They have transitioned to liberal democracy and have been a trading-state far longer than China has, but power is power in realpolitik, and China has more of it than Taiwan.

China is yet to discover how bad war/conflict and political instability are for business. Courtesy of Deming and Statistical Process Control [SPC] a factory is independent of any regional factors. Factories in China can be ripped up and put in southern Mexico, or India, or Indonesia; there will be a capital cost, but SPC guarantees that quality won't suffer.

Americans won't notice that the trinkets they are buying in Walmart are no longer made in China, and instead are coming from Indonesia. It is the nature of global trade.

More reading on China and Taiwan:

• The Amputated Chicken
• Trading Uranium For Chinese Technology
• Dreadful, Positively Painful