THE COMBINATION OF DIASPORA AND MUSIC TO ENHANCE INDONESIA’S CULTURAL DIPLOMACY (CASE STUDY OF HOUSE OF ANGKLUNG WASHINGTON DC 2011-2014)

Abstract

As an effort of maintaining its relations with another country, it is necessary for a country to build and maintain a positive image. The Republic of Indonesia, continuously gives effort on the conduct of public diplomacy, including using culture as an instrument. However, the reality shows that Indonesia is still facing challenges due to the limitation of the government’s capability to maximally conduct cultural diplomacy, like limited budget, lack of concrete regulations, and human resource. Indonesian government has to be aware to use all of its potential that can make the conduct of cultural diplomacy become greater and achieve a better outcome. In the past few years, diaspora has become a phenomenon for Indonesia, following the spread of Indonesian people abroad. The government have been fully recognized diaspora and started to conduct a unit to manage diaspora and empower it to support national interest, especially in the conduct of diplomacy. Music on the other side, lies in the core of every culture in this world. Music has the ability to transcend boundaries of places, time, people with different cultural backgrounds. Diaspora and music are both playing a crucial role in the country’s conduct of diplomacy. When combined, diaspora and music is believed to be able to enhance Indonesia’s cultural diplomacy. The combination of diaspora and music can provide a better outcome on the conduct cultural diplomacy even though it is based on the limited capability of the government.