Abstract
While it may be too early to talk about implications of the new leadership in Indonesia to Indonesia's foreign policy, it is apparent that this important question has been aired by many due to Indonesia's current and prospective role in the region. Nonetheless, it is not an easy question to answer due to at least two reasons. First, very few parties have come up with clear foreign policy agenda to pursue should they win the election and become the ruling party. Second, the constituents pay greater focus on how the candidates would address the people's bread-and-butter issues. It implicates into the fact that foreign policy has never been an interesting topic to be campaigned by the candidates. Before addressing that question, it is important to underline that the upcoming leaders/ politicians should have a clear understanding of what challenges they will face ahead immediately after they reach the highest position in this country. Since Indonesia's position has been relatively better compared to when it came out of the political and economic crisis, Indonesia is now located right in the middle of the great powers competition. Domination of China will certainly intensify while other major countries trying to balance this rising to maintain their influence in Asia. Indonesia will also have to struggle with the increasing pressure of free trade as well as regional economic integration which may implicate to the greater push to open up its market for foreign goods and services. Finally, the Asian region will continuously struggle with conflict over resources that overlap with territorial conflicts which are hardly to settle in a short time.