ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the process of state transformation, leading to the fragmentation of the state, hinders the coherent enactment of Indonesia’s role conception in the realm of regional trade governance especially in the AEC as well as in RCEP. This chapter argues that Indonesia’s ambition to enact the role of regional leader in Southeast Asia by continuously providing new ideas and direction to regional institution-building has pushed its foreign trade rhetoric to support liberal economic policies. The neoliberal norm underpinning the project has not been well-received by the majority of domestic actors in Indonesia and has only been advocated by economic and technocratic elites. As a result, the enactment of the role of regional leader in the realm of regional trade governance is not thoroughly embraced by policymakers in other ministries.
