Joe Biden is confirmed to have won the election to become the 46th president of the United States based on the results of the US general election with a total of 290 electoral votes.
By
HIKMAHANTO JUWANA
·6 minutes read
AP PHOTO/CAROLYN KASTER
President-elect Joe Biden speaks Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris listens.
Joe Biden is confirmed to have won the election to become the 46th president of the United States based on the results of the US general election with a total of 290 electoral votes.
A lot of history was recorded in Biden’s victory. First, more voters voted for him than any other presidential candidate in the history of US presidential elections, namely 74,446,452. Second, with this victory, Kamala Harris became the first woman to hold the position of US vice president. Third, Harris is also listed as the first black individual to hold the position of vice president.
Unusually, President Donald Trump has not yet congratulated Biden. Trump insisted that the general election that just ended was riddled with fraud and corruption, resulting in the theft of his votes. Therefore, he is currently fighting back by sending his lawyers to contest the election results at court in a number of states.
Domestic
Many Trump supporters do not accept the election results. In several places there were physical clashes among supporters.
Regardless of Trump\'s efforts, if Biden is finally declared president, a number of formidable challenges must be resolved.
Domestically, Biden is expected to unite the people of the United States, who for the past four years have been divided, and post-election divisions have become sharper. Many Trump supporters do not accept the election results. In several places there were physical clashes among supporters.
Besides that, Biden is expected to be able to control the spread of Covid-19 in the United States and make various efforts to reduce the death rate. The United States economy also needs to be a handled as a priority, including providing economic stimulus to stakeholders. Biden will certainly deal with racial issues, police brutality, prohibition of possessing weapons, immigration and other social problems.
Kompas
People walk past a bank\'s electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index at Hong Kong Stock Exchange Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. Asian shares rose Monday on relief the U.S. presidential election results were finally decided, with Joe Biden the president-elect.
These tasks will certainly not be easy to overcome. Moreover, public expectations in the United States are very high with the election of Biden and Harris. Many of them want quick changes that are not necessarily able to be done.
Here are the important things for Biden and Harris to manage the expectations of their supporters. Even Biden and Harris have had to deal with the disappointment of Trump\'s supporters. They cannot be left without attention. Biden and Harris must find a formulation to immediately end the divisions of the people in the United States.
Foreign policies
For the foreign policies, Biden is expected by the world community to return the United States to the United States before Trump became president. The United States is asked to be an inspiration for democracy in various countries, respect for human rights, multilateral cooperation and even take a position as the world police.
Therefore, there are four important things that Biden must do. First, the United States must start thinking again about the welfare of the world rather than itself.
Before Trump became president, the values adopted by the United States were to improve the welfare of the world so that the United States would prosper, to boost the world economy so that the United States economy would grow, to secure the world so that the security of the United States was maintained, even to balance the existing powers in the world so that the United States would become a world leader.
In the Trump era, these values were abandoned. Trump increasingly focuses on building the United States by ignoring the world. If necessary, it has to be in head-to-head conflicts with a number of countries that are considered detrimental.
Trump built a gigantic wall that borders Mexico to prevent Mexican workers from taking American jobs. Meanwhile with China, Trump imposed high tariffs on products made in that country. A trade war between the two countries was inevitable.
Second, the United States is expected not to make more surprises in its foreign policies. Under Trump, many foreign policies have taken the international community by surprise, especially allies of the United States.
There are a number of examples, such as when Trump held a meeting with Kim Jong-un. Trump declared that the United States would leave the World Health Organization (WHO). Trump even moved his embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He also unilaterally ended the results of Iran negotiations with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany regarding Iran\'s nuclear development.
Third, Biden is expected to listen to and implement the foreign policies of the United States that have been drafted for a long time and in detail by US bureaucrats.
In the United States government system, there are two important elements in managing state policies, namely politicians and bureaucracy. Politicians have the final say, while the bureaucracy designs and ensures that US policies are maintained over time.
AFP/AHMAD GHARABLI
A Palestinian man reads the front page of Al-Quds newspaper, headlined in Arabic "Joe Biden the new US President" in front of the Dome of the Rock in the al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam\'s third holiest site, in the old city of Jerusalem on November 8, 2020.
Politicians naturally come and go every four years. Not so with bureaucracy. Bureaucracy can be said to be static considering that the policy baton will continue to be passed on to its successors. In the Trump era, Trump frequently fought against policies that his bureaucracy had designed. His resistance was carried out through tweets and also replacement of bureaucrats who were not in line with Trump. The world\'s hope is that Biden will hear more, decide and implement various policies that have been designed in detail by the US bureaucracy.
Finally, the world hopes that the United States will no longer be a source of inspiration for elements of society in various countries to enhance the extreme right and white supremacists. The United States under Biden is expected to return the values to respect pluralism, human rights and not to humiliate a nation and its civilization. Biden is also expected to make policies so that the US will return to being a member of the WHO and become a member of the Paris Climate Agreement again.
US-Indonesia Relations
United States-Indonesia relations under Joe Biden are unlikely to change significantly. For Indonesia, of course, it must be able to cooperate with whoever is elected president of the US. The choice of president is the sovereignty of the US and the right of the people of the US.
Even if there is something that needs to be adjusted, it lies more in the emphasis of the issue. In contrast to Trump, Biden, who comes from the Democratic Party, will focus more on human rights and environmental issues. These two issues become the platform for the Democratic Party.
Kompas
Hikmahanto Juwana
With regard to the promises made by US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo when he came to Indonesia and US Defense Secretary Mark Esper when receiving the visit of Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, the United States will continue to implement them. This is because these policies were designed by US bureaucrats. US bureaucrats see that Indonesia\'s closeness to China would make Indonesia "fall" into Chinese hands.
With Biden\'s victory, it seems as if the world is saying “Welcome Back America”
Hikmahanto Juwana, Rector of Jenderal Achmad Yani University.
