THE ROLE OF INDONESIA AS THE CHAIRMAN OF ASEAN 2011 IN MEDIATING CONFLICT BETWEEN CAMBODIA AND THAILAND

Abstract

Dispute over territory is one of the significant sources of a conflict, which mostly led into armed clashes. This issue then becoming a threat to the security and stability of a state, especially to the neighboring states. The dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over the area surrounding Preah Vihear temple is one of the examples of conflict occurred in Southeast Asia region. The escalation of the conflict into armed clashes in 2011 has threatening and weakening the stability of ASEAN, therefore this research analyze the role of Indonesia as the Chairman of ASEAN in 2011 in mediating both disputed parties. Indonesia held a significant role as a third-party in the conflict resolution over Cambodia-Thailand boundary, as this research aims to study the effectiveness of Indonesian role as a mediator to Cambodia and Thailand. To study the effectiveness, this research emphasizes the role of Indonesia as a mediator in 2011 to the conflict resolution that is differs to the role of an arbitrator. This qualitative research uses descriptive and analytical methods to provide description of the strategies that Indonesia used in the mediation process, and analyze the outcomes of the Indonesian mediation process in the conflict resolution of Cambodia-Thailand boundary. Indonesia has set targets for its mediation process to the Cambodia-Thailand boundary conflict, which based on the ASEAN conflict resolution mechanism. With the mediation process served by Indonesia towards conflict resolution, Cambodia and Thailand have achieved several outcomes that could reduce the tension of the conflict.