February 3, 2025
JAKARTA – Through 10 state visits he embarked upon during the first 100 days of his presidency, President Prabowo Subianto appears to send a clear message to the world.
As viewed by analysts, the former Army general was telling the world that he was a foreign policy president with a strong nationalist foundation. He also shows himself as comfortable with taking on the spotlight on the global stage, boosting Indonesia’s global standing and going where his immediate predecessor would not.
“There was a promise of continuity on the [domestic] political front, but it’s clear that Prabowo is no Jokowi on the international stage,” said international relations expert Dafri Agussalim at Gadjah Mada University.
“He’s very comfortable on the global stage; many of his moves are seemingly intuitive in nature.”
In the past three months, Prabowo, who won last year’s presidential election on a populist platform to spur the national economy and eradicate hunger, kept his schedule busy with high-level visits around the globe. The President regularly flew abroad to reaffirm Jakarta’s foreign cooperation and promote its economic interests.
The list of countries he visited since his inauguration in October includes China, the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India.
But the long list extended beyond those countries, as the former general’s global campaign already started months before being sworn in as Indonesia’s president.
After the preliminary results of February’s election showed his imminent victory, Prabowo, who served as Jokowi’s defense minister, traveled to several major nations across Asia, Europe and the Middle East on a tour that experts dubbed as his bid to establish an international presence before officially taking office.
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Installing key ally
Prabowo cemented his persona as a foreign policy president by installing Sugiono, a member of his Gerindra Party, to lead the traditionally professional Foreign Ministry. A day after the ministerial inauguration, Prabowo sent the new top diplomat to a BRICS summit in Russia as his first assignment.
The Russian assignment was then followed by a decision by Prabowo for Indonesia to join the economic grouping, which resulted in Indonesia joining as a full member as announced by Brazil in early January. Such a commitment contrasted years-long subtle messaging from Jokowi’s administration that indicated Jakarta’s reluctance to hop on the BRICS wagon.
Concerns then surfaced that the BRICS move may potentially sour Indonesia’s relationship with the United States after President Donald Trump took office for the second time. But the Foreign Ministry reiterated on several occasions that Jakarta’s membership in the economic grouping was incentivized by economic benefits.
Emphasizing its non-aligned position, the ministry reasserted that the BRICS move was a manifestation of a bolder free-and-active policy.
Read also: Indonesia sees full BRICS membership as ‘valuable’ for Global South cooperation
“Prabowo is highly interested in geopolitics, and his foreign policy is reflective of his vision of what Indonesia ought to be seen as,” Dafri said.
“The Foreign Ministry simply facilitates this vision that he tends toward being a solo player,” he continued.
‘Visionary’ diplomacy
The ministry made clear how Indonesia ought to be seen in Foreign Minister Sugiono’s first annual speech in early January, with his diplomatic corps aiming to put Indonesia on the global stage “in line with its stature as a great nation” by, among other efforts, practicing “anticipatory, progressive and visionary” diplomacy.
Analysts previously noted that Prabowo’s diplomacy had been centered on economy, like Jokowi’s. But the sitting president is significantly more influenced by a nationalist ideology compared to his predecessor.
Instead of measuring Jakarta’s diplomatic effectiveness through indicators such as trade and export numbers, Prabowo has been motivated by a belief that Indonesia as a resource-rich country must be self-sufficient, respected and well-networked.
Read also: Prabowo looks set to continue high int’l engagements in 2025
But such an ideology inspired Prabowo to make eyebrow-raising moves, including when he agreed through a joint statement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to kick-start joint development in so-called “disputed” areas of the South China Sea following a November meeting between the leaders in Beijing.
The statement triggered a diplomatic brouhaha for Jakarta, which later had to issue several statements underlining its unchanged position on the South China Sea, despite apparently nodding at Beijing’s illegal dispute claim.
“The South China Sea agreement was clearly his way of using our natural resources as leverage for dealing with Beijing, all while reaping economic benefits. However, it’s also impossible to ignore other crucial geopolitical contexts,” said Yose Rizal Damuri, executive director for Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The researcher called on Prabowo to be “a little more sensitive to these issues”, while conveying his hope that the President could integrate institutional and professional knowledge of the Foreign Ministry into his diplomacy efforts.