INDONESIAN DIASPORA IN SOUTH KOREA AS THE AGENTS OF CULTURAL DIPLOMACY (2013 – 2018)

Abstract

In this modern era, the actor of diplomatic activities among states are not only high officials such as diplomats or ambassadors of each countries. Some changes happened in the term of transnationalism, hence, there are some changes also in the roles of the citizens, specifically those who conduct their activities and reside out of the country, although in fact they are not the formal ambassador of one country. Apparently, as the time goes by, the Korean wave phenomenon is currently spreading wider and wider, which shows that the utilization of cultural diplomacy as the soft power of South Korea, is a success. This is due to both formal and informal ambassadors of South Korea. Indonesia itself is one of the country that is gladly receiving the influence from the Korean culture. Talking about cultural diplomacy, Indonesia also using its culture as its soft power, however, the writer think that Indonesian culture as a tool for diplomacy is not yet used optimally compared to South Korea, there are still many rooms for improvement, especially in the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Indonesia and Republic of Korea which will be discussed in this thesis. The writer of this thesis will mainly focus on analyzing the roles of Indonesian diaspora which consists of Indonesian migrant workers, Indonesian students, and Indonesian marriage immigrants who are residing in South Korea as well as their efforts in supporting the government on Indonesian cultural diplomacy in South Korea from 2013 to 2018. In this thesis, the author used qualitative research method in order to answer the research question. Meanwhile the theories used in this thesis are people to people diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, as well as transnational activities. Through this research, the author conclude that the efforts of the Indonesian diaspora in South Korea has made the Indonesian culture known to the local citizens of South Korea. The activities of the diaspora have been a great complement to the government’s effort in Indonesian cultural diplomacy