Paradiplomacy Of Denpasar City (Bali) Through Sister City Cooperation With The City Of Perth Australia: Opportunities And Challenges – OpEd

Paradiplomacy can be understood in general as an activity carried out by actors or subnational entities both at the provincial and city levels, in establishing relationships and collaborating with actors from other countries’ sub-nationals. This is because the state is too big to deal with work and small things, and the state is too small to take care of big jobs and things (Bell, 1989). Therefore, the state is no longer the dominant and sole actor, but the role of sub-national actors has now taken over the role of the state in managing the interests of their respective regions or regions, because after all, it is the sub-national actors themselves who know the potential better. and local needs than the central government. Meanwhile, sister city is one of the steps taken by the city government in carrying out para-diplomacy activities. Sister City  also known as twin cities, is a form of long-term cooperation between two cities from different countries, the aim of which is to create mutual understanding, expand international connections and can be mutually beneficial economically through culture and education.

Denpasar is the capital of the province of Bali which is one of the favorite destinations not only for local tourists, but also travelers from all over the world. An extraordinary masterpiece of God, like heaven that stretches across the equator, the beauty and natural panorama of Bali is able to anesthetize every pair of eyes that see it. Besides being famous for its tourism, Bali is also often the venue for holding various events internationally in 2021 and 2022. Among them, the Badminton Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament (23-28 November 2021), the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tour Final tournament (1-5 December 2021), and in 2022, Bali will host the High Level Conference (Summit) G-20.

Denpasar has officially established a Cooperation with the City of Perth which was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU), on December 14, 2020 in Denpasar City. This is a follow-up to the signing of the Letter of Intent in Perth City on November 26, 2018. In this agreement, the scope of the cooperation has been agreed, including tourism and creative economy, business incubator program and curriculum, as well as knowledge transfer and technology development. In addition, both the cities of Denpasar and Perth are both being hit by a crisis as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic which has an impact on the community’s economy. So, with this collaboration, it is hoped that it will be able to restore the economic situation between the two cities.

Stages in Establishing Sister City Cooperation Denpasar-Perth

There are several stages in establishing cooperation sister city, which must be taken by both cities, in this case Denpasar and Perth. The first is the initiation process. Denpasar and Perth took the initiative to start this collaboration. The second stage is exploration, which is carried out by visiting the two cities respectively by the institution concerned, in this case the mayor of Denpasar or a representative from Perth. Third, the signing of the Letter of Intent (LoI). Next is the preparation of a plan based on the scope, benefits and expected outputs, which will then be submitted to the House of Representative of Bali for verification. After that, draw up an MoU which will then be submitted to the central government for approval and verification.

Opportunities and Benefits of Sister City Cooperation

The essence and purpose of holding this cooperation sister city is to achieve mutually beneficial opportunities economically through culture and education between the two parties. The first layer is the economy, that in order to contribute to national economic development, Denpasar can have the opportunity to develop a creative economy, regional products, empowering micro, small and medium enterprises, through this collaboration. Especially in restoring the economy due to the pandemic. In addition, Perth has potential startup promising, so that Denpasar can learn a lot, to be able to create more start-ups in building other economic pillars apart from the tourism sector. The second layer is culture, technology and education. Denpasar can have the opportunity to promote and introduce its culture through cultural exchange cooperation, so that the authentic culture of Denpasar can be known by the world community, especially in the city of Perth, so that Denpasar is not only known for its natural beauty, but also its cultural wisdom. In the fields of education and technology, the two cities have agreed to include a business incubator program and curriculum. In this case, Denpasar has been involved as a facilitator in West Tech Festival Perth’s annual prior to the signing of the MoU in 2020. The task and role of the Denpasar government is to bridge the gap for Denpasar academics and students to interact with the Perth community in order to produce more young entrepreneurs who creative. In addition, as an effort to implement the MoU Sister City Denpasar-Perth, the Denpasar city government has held an online masterclass animation building workshop which was held virtually last October, in order to create innovations for recovery in economic of Denpasar, as well as to create independent talents who have the power creativity, art and creativity through human resource capacity development. With this sister city collaboration, it can also be a momentum for Denpasar to study Perth city practices and policies in improving public services, which will have an impact on the satisfaction and welfare of the Denpasar community.

Challenges in Sister City Cooperation

Even though the collaboration that was built could provide benefits and advantages for both parties, this was in line with the challenges faced, so that this could be an obstacle to the implementation of cooperation between the two cities. First, limited human resources. Denpasar government staff have different skills and expertise from the central government, especially in terms of foreign languages ​​(English), this is of course the main key in establishing cooperation at the international level, because having the skills and fluency in mastering foreign languages ​​will be a weapon in facilitate communication of cooperation with foreign partners. Second, since the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread, this has affected the implementation of the cooperation sister city, especially in terms of reallocation of funds and community participation and participation. Previously, both the Denpasar and Perth city governments planned to carry out visits and programs, but this was shifted to virtual implementation due to the reallocation of the budget. In addition, the lack of public participation, this is due to the covid-19 pandemic, which requires the virtual implementation of various activities, which only involve the government, such as the online masterclass animation building workshop which was held virtually last October. Especially Denpasar in establishing this collaboration to create long-term benefits in supporting the city branding as a “smart city”. City branding can be an identity for Denpasar that distinguishes it from other cities. Thus, participation and outreach to the community is very important, considering that the community is the main object in the implementation and implementation of cooperation in the sister city.

*Amiruddin, is an International Relation Students (5th semester) Islamic University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

References

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Baliilu.com. (2021). “Denpasar- Perth Jalin Kerjasama, Laksanakan Animation Skill Building Workshop”. Accessed on December, 25^th 2021.  https://baliilu.com/denpasar-perth-jalin-kerjasama-laksanakan-animation-skill-building-workshop/ 

Bell, D. (1989). The third technological revolution and its possible socioeconomic consequences. Dissent, 36(2), 167. 

Intentilia, A. A. M., & Surya Putra, A. A. B. N. A. (2021). “From Local to Global: Examining Sister City Cooperation as Paradiplomacy Practice in Denpasar City, Bali, Indonesia”. Jurnal Bina Praja. 13 (2), 357–367. https://doi.org/10.21787/ jbp.13.2021.357-367. 

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