Relations between Indonesia and the United States are probably at their historic best, and the planned visit of President Barack Obama to Indonesia this month, which is now postponed, would have signaled the recognition in Washington of the growing role that Indonesia plays in world affairs.

Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra of the Jakarta State Islamic University, politician Bara Hasibuan of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Endy M. Bayuni of The Jakarta Post traveled to Washington last week to gauge the sentiments of the US government toward Indonesia.

The announcement of President Obama's decision to postpone his trip to Indonesia was a major disappointment not only for many in the hosting country, but also among many Americans who had hoped to see large payoffs that the visit would bring to the relations between the two countries Many in the government, particularly in the Department of State and the White House, had worked hard these past few months preparing for the visit. Before Friday's announcement, they had worked with enthusiasm, believing that the visit would launch a new era of a closer partnership between the United States and a more confident Indonesia.

While some may inevitably have played up the emotional link that President Obama has with the country he spent four years as a child in, those who have closely followed the relations between Indonesia and the United States know that other factors are also at work in bringing the two countries closer together.

Indonesia has stood out in Asia, most particularly in Southeast Asia, economically as well as politically, to an extent that it is hard for those working in the foreign policy circle here not to notice the implications it has on the US strategic interests in the region. Indonesia is a success story and we want to see it remaining that way," says a senior official at the State Department who requested anonymity.

Indonesia may not be on the radar screen of the American public who is more familiar with China, Japan, India and South Korea, but in the corridors of the government here, they are beginning to pay attention to Southeast Asia's largest country.

Regular briefings on Indonesia by the State Department now are well attended to by many more other government branches outside the usual and obvious ones like the State, Defense and Commerce departments. Nowadays, they include the Environment Protection Agency, as well as agencies dealing with energy security, food security and maritime affairs and others, which in the past had no or little interest in Indonesia.

We've had to move to a bigger conference room," says a State Department official.

The political and economic reforms over the last 12 years have certainly helped to improve Indonesia's profile and global standing. Indonesia is now in the G20 of major world economies, and has taken some of its own initiatives, whether in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or on global issues like climate change.

Indonesia's pledge last year to cut its carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2020 with International assistance and last month for a moratorium on deforestation were seen as bold and deserved international support, including from the United States.

Indonesia is now also championing the cause of freedom, human rights and democracy through the annual Bali Peace and Democracy Forum of Asia-Pacific governments and is actively promoting dialogue between people of different faiths within and across regions. Jakarta even convinced Washington to bring religion into the diplomatic table. The inaugural Indonesia-US interfaith dialogue was launched in January.

While the fight against terrorism and the threat from radical Islamic groups remain important, surprisingly they never came up in the separate discussions that the Indonesian group held with officials from the State and Defense departments and the National Security Council last week. Two years ago, these would have been the only questions they asked.

Instead, the one question that was consistently raised at these meetings last week was the impact of the departure of reformist finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on the overall anticorruption campaign in Indonesia.

Mulyani is certainly a popular figure in Washington, especially after her appearances at G20 finance ministers meetings, but the question was asked more as a reflection of a major shift on the issues that concern Washington the most, that is a shift from terrorism and the threat from radical Islamic groups to governance and economic reforms. (Mulyani arrived in Washington a week earlier to start her new job as managing director at the World Bank).

There is also a major shift in the way United States approaches Indonesia.

As recently as three years ago, one US Embassy staffer in Jakarta was complaining about how hard it was to get folks in Washington interested in Indonesia because Jakarta was doing fine with its reforms and counterterrorism campaign. This was in contrast to the 1990s when Indonesia caught the attention of people in Washington for its human rights atrocities and its occupation of East Timor.

Now, Indonesia is once again getting Washington's attention, but this time for the right reasons.

It is probably no coincidence that relations between Jakarta and Washington improved along with Indonesia's own growing confidence on the international stage.

The United States has embraced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's proposal to work on a comprehensive partnership agreement and the two countries have been working on the details as well as ironing out remaining differences for the document to be signed by the two leaders, if and when Obama eventually visits Indonesia.

We are happy with the partnership, which is based on mutually beneficial relations rather than an alliance," says a State department official.

Things are already happening even as the two governments prepare to finalize the agreement. On the "soft-power" diplomacy, the United States has increased the size of its education grant to Indonesia and raised the number of Indonesian student intakes on the Fulbright scholarship program. This year sees the return of young Americans working under the banner of the Peace Corp, and later in the year, the US Embassy is launching the "American Space" program in Jakarta, which provides access to information and educational resources.

In terms of hard-power diplomacy, the two countries have almost fully restored the ties that suffered following a US ban on all military cooperation imposed in the 1990s for Indonesia's policies in East Timor. One issue that remains is that the US government is banned by Congress to engage in cooperation with the Indonesian Army's Special Forces (Kopassus).

With the two countries working jointly on so many sectors at the same time, it is unlikely that one single issue could undermine the entire relationship. Indonesia and the United States, for example, do not see eye to eye on issues like the Middle East, but the flotilla tragedy last week would not have been likely to spoil the atmosphere even if Obama had decided to come. The issue would certainly have been raised and there were plans of protests to greet Obama, but that would have been more as a display of Indonesia's vibrant democracy and its ability to have an open discussion on sensitive and contentious issues.

Obama's postponement to visit Indonesia for a third time may not go down well among people in both countries, but it has not taken away the fact that the two countries have made significant progress in building their relations.

President Obama's visit, if and when it takes place, would be more of a symbol, an important one given his Indonesian childhood years, rather than one that would trigger this process. The visit would have been more like putting the icing on the cake, and a delay of a few months isn't likely to spoil the cake.

We just have to keep baking the cake in the meantime," a senior State Department official says.