Foreign Policy and Energy Security Issues in Indonesia – a Book Review.

Foreign Policy and Energy Security Issues in Indonesia – a Book Review.  (Vol 98)

The book “Foreign Policy and Energy Security Issues in Indonesia” (Book) is authored by four research officers from the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) in Jakarta and published in 2017 by Springer Nature of Singapore. The hard cover Book is in English, 130 pages long and also available in soft copy. The target audience for the book are researchers, universities and energy analysists from embassy’s and such.

The Book starts out with a review of the concepts of security issues and foreign relations, then much of the book outlines the background of the Indonesian energy sector. It would appear much of the book was compiled between 2011 to 2015, with much of the data dated up to 2008 and the outline of the regulations and government administrative structure up to around 2011. The book tends to focus more on the oil and gas sector and includes some coal sector material, with only a passing comment on renewables.  This makes the Book useful for looking at the development of the Indonesian energy sector.

The Book is on target with its discussion on Indonesia’s energy policy and energy security. This policy is based on the duality of Indonesia’s energy outlook, to meet national needs and as a commodity to earn export income for the country. Energy security involves a number of issues, including energy availability, accessibility, affordability along with aspects of flexibility in response to the changing domestic and international dynamics etc. The Book goes on to suggest the Indonesian Foreign Affairs ministry develop a special branch to manage international relations in response to Indonesia’s need to import oil and other energy issues.

The book is somewhat dated in that there have been substantial changes to the Indonesian energy sector since the Books preparation. More up to date statistics on energy resources, domestic uses, exports and projections are available from various publications available on the Indonesian Mines Department (ESDM) web site. Regulatory and policy updates are available on various publications, such as the PWC handbook of the Indonesian mining sector, IHS and other commodity analysts etc. However, this Book has a unique focus to link Indonesia’s energy to its foreign policy. The recent changes to the Indonesian energy policy and practices are now of a greater need for an updated review with respect to Indonesia’s foreign policy.