March 25, 2025
JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto appointed 31 new envoys on Monday, consisting of career diplomats and political appointees, while still leaving several key positions vacant, prompting analysts to question the former military general’s long-term plans.
The newly minted ambassadors will be stationed across a wide range of countries from Asia and Europe to the Middle East, some of which double as top spots for international humanitarian agencies under the United Nations.
From the ranks of the diplomatic corps, Foreign Ministry secretary-general Cecep Herawan was appointed to represent the nation in South Korea, stationed in Seoul. Another career diplomat and senior advisor to the foreign minister, Muhsin Syihab, will represent Indonesia in Canada and at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Both men symbolically received their letters of appointment from the President.
Meanwhile, several other appointees have political ties to Prabowo and his immediate predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, including former presidential staffer Siti Ruhaini Dzuhayatin as the next envoy to Uzbekistan, retired senior intelligence official Chandra Sukotjo as the ambassador to Pakistan and former Constitutional Court justice Manahan Sitompul as Indonesian ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
From Prabowo’s own Gerindra Party, former lawmaker Susi M. Bachsin was appointed the country’s new envoy to Portugal, based out of Lisbon.
Meanwhile, keen observers have been keeping tabs.
“There do seem to be shades of Prabowo’s coalition in these ambassadorial spots,” Andrea Abdul Rahman Azzqy, an international relations lecturer at Budi Luhur University, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He was convinced that Susi’s appointment was a “small gift” for the president’s political vehicle.
Andrea also considered the appointment of Junimart Girsang, a former Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker, a small gesture to the party, which has become the de facto lone opposition party to Prabowo’s big-tent coalition.
Junimart was appointed ambassador to Italy, Malta, San Marino, Cyprus and several UN organizations.
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Glaring absence
Monday’s ceremony was the culmination of months of waiting, after two lists of ambassadorial appointments were leaked last year in the transition from the Jokowi administration to that of Prabowo.
However, at least a dozen more diplomatic posts, including in key countries, have yet to be filled since Prabowo took office in October.
Missing envoy appointments include the United States, a long-time strategic partner, as well as Brazil, Russia and China – countries that make up the BRICS bloc, which Indonesia joined as a full member earlier this year.
Even in Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, which is in charge of this year’s ASEAN chairmanship, Indonesia continued to entrust the highest representation to a charge d’affaires.
“Prabowo’s decision to hold off on these spots can be read as a shift in priorities, or even showing a lack of priority at all,” Andrea of Budi Luhur University said, noting that a prolonged absence may cost Indonesia opportunities to engage its partners on trade and defense.
Another analyst, international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana from the University of Indonesia, considered the delay a consequence of Prabowo’s vetting process.
“Prabowo [is probably] taking his time to choose which of his men could be posted to these strategic outposts,” Hikmahanto said.
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Military option?
The ambassadorial vacancies have also prompted analysts to wonder if Prabowo might appoint members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) to support his defense and foreign policy strategies, following the expansion of the military’s global role in the recent TNI Law revision.
Analyst Andrea said the president would “surely be tempted” to put active military personnel on the front line of Indonesia’s global diplomacy drive, highlighting the fact that retired air chief marshal Yuyu Sutisna was also appointed on Monday as an envoy to Morocco.
However, Pieter Pandie, an international relations researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), had some doubt over whether Prabowo would pick a military officer over someone from the Foreign Ministry or from the private sector.
“It’s still hard to say, not to mention that across the globe, the world is already looking at the protests against the revision of our military law,” Pieter said at a discussion in Jakarta on Monday.
“[If ambassador posts] get filled by the military, active or not, it would add to a long list of examples of democratic regression in the country.”
Widespread protests have erupted among students and civil groups in recent days following the swift passage of a contentious revision to the 2004 TNI Law. The protestors object to the military’s expanding role, reminiscent of the authoritarian New Order regime.
Pieter later told the Post that the government owed the public an explanation of the new provisions in the TNI Law, particularly the military’s expanded non-war role of safeguarding national interests overseas.
“It needs to clarify how the military is entitled to this role. Which part is the military’s remit and which is that of the foreign ministry?” he said.