By Anindya Bakrie

Article in The Wall Street Journal

President Barack Obama’s third postponement of a visit to Indonesia and Australia this month is understandable. American voters are his primary constituency, and many would have been aghast had he decided to leave on a foreign tour when the Gulf Coast faces the worst oil spill in living memory. Yet the White House also has to balance the fact that the symbolism of a visit abroad matters just as much the president’s physical presence.

The Obama administration has signaled its interest in renewing its Asia-Pacific ties. Hillary Clinton made Japan her first foreign stop as Secretary of State, and Mr. Obama himself spent nine days in the region last November, including three days in China. Southeast Asians hope that the administration will follow up on these trips by engaging the region substantively and stepping up dialogues with China, Burma and North Korea. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke’s op-ed on these pages last week reinforced the administration’s specific business interests in Indonesia.

Yet Mr. Obama’s second cancellation this year sends the opposite signal, and comes at an awkward time. Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd is expected to call an election in the coming months, and an American presidential visit in the middle of a campaign wouldn’t be ideal. In Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is early into his second term and looking to consolidate domestic economic reforms and his own party’s political influence.

The longer the United States waits to demonstrate its interest in renewing ties in its backyard, the easier it will be for China to fill in the gaps. Beijing has already inked a free-trade agreement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Chinese investment capital is pouring into Indonesia to build much-needed infrastructure. For example, China’s state-owned energy and investment firms are reportedly looking at Indonesia for takeover targets and joint venture partners. Beijing has been a strong proponent of giving Jakarta, already a member of the Group of 20, a stronger voice in international economic fora.

This is a positive development. China’s economic integration with the rest of the world has lead to increasing prosperity for millions of people. But South Asian nations like Indonesia also realize that American engagement in Asia-Pacific is an important balancer to Beijing, both in terms of economic clout and security.

As a man who spent some of his childhood in Indonesia, Mr. Obama has a unique opportunity to reassert America’s influence over this important Southeast Asian nation. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority democracy, and an exemplary example of tolerance for its Middle Eastern peers. Using Indonesia as a platform to address issues related to the Muslim world would help create trust in an America that is, as Mr. Obama put it in a speech in Cairo last year, “respected, not just feared, and an America that listens and leads.”

The bottom line is that all politics is local. But what is local for a small country is basically what happens within its borders. By contrast, what is local for a superpower like America lies well outside its borders. If U.S. foreign policy keeps getting superseded by a narrow view of domestic policy, others will get the message and make arrangements accordingly. Accusations that the U.S. turns away from the rest of the world surface largely during Democratic administrations.

President Obama just has to get on the plane to disprove this perception, and even better, to correct it.