When Michael Buehler saw that his name was trending on Twitter, he realised an all-out vilification campaign against him had reached a new level. Dr. Buehler, a lecturer in comparative politics at the School of Oriental & African Studies (Soas), University of London, did not foresee the hostility he would face when he posted a short article on Indonesian politics on a little-known academic blog called New Mandala, in November.
It raised questions about alleged covert lobbying by Indonesia ahead of a visit by its president, Joko Widodo, to the White House to meet Barack Obama in late October. Dr. Buehler revealed that $80,000 (Rs.53.6 lakh) had been paid by a Singapore consultant to a Las Vegas PR firm to lobby on behalf of Indonesia, according to papers filed with the US department of justice.
The Swiss academic also highlighted what he saw as the “tepid” reception received by Widodo and the “disappointing” economic returns from the first official US visit by an Indonesian president in 10 years. “The seemingly ill-conceived and poorly executed visit reflects the Indonesian government’s lack of coordination on a foreign policy agenda,” he wrote on November 6.
The story was quickly picked up by the Indonesian media, but was misreported as Dr. Buehler claiming that Indonesia had paid $80,000 for Widodo to secure a meeting with President Obama. “I never said this,” says Buehler, whose research focuses on the politics of South-east Asia.
“All I did in my article was to suggest that the lobbying company was hired without the knowledge of the ministry of foreign affairs.” He adds that there’s “nothing illegal about employing lobbyists”.
However, the distorted story was shared more than 10,000 times on social media, prompting Indonesian officials to hold press conferences to denounce Buehler — knocking down what he called their “straw man” story and ignoring the wider implications of his claims. Dr. Buehler found himself criticised by Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry, the Indonesian Embassy in Washington and the US Embassy in Indonesia. Attacks on him also came from various parts of the Indonesian media and academia.
About 100 academic experts on South-east Asian politics have signed a letter in support of Dr. Buehler, while Lawrence Saez, head of Soas’ department of politics and international studies, says his department “unequivocally rejects the attacks and intimidation he has faced… as well as efforts by the government of Indonesia to tarnish his academic integrity”.