February 3, 2026
JAKARTA – Amid intensifying regional conflicts across the globe, President Prabowo Subianto has maintained Indonesia’s non-bloc, non-alignment foreign policy but hinted at the harsh realities of global politics, which might have compelled him to take sides on some international political issues.
During a national coordination meeting for governors, mayors and regents in Bogor, West Java, on Monday, Prabowo delivered a 90-minute speech before more than 4,000 participants comprising his cabinet members and regional heads from Aceh to Papua.
The speech saw the President boasting of his administration’s achievements and targets this year, including his flagship programs like free meals for schoolchildren and lactating mothers nationwide.
Prabowo also warned that Indonesia was standing in a precarious position amid mounting tensions between rival global powers and the looming risk of world war, drawing on his recent discussion with world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“There has been worry at the international level over a [potential] World War III involving nuclear [weapons]. If it happens, Indonesia could be affected even though we are not involved [in the conflict],” Prabowo said on Monday, warning of a nuclear winter that could affect the country environmentally.
Despite the volatile state of the world, the President reaffirmed Indonesia’s non-alignment and non-bloc foreign policy, declaring that the country “would not join any military pact”.
“My foreign policy philosophy is 1,000 friends are too few, one enemy is too many,” he added.
However, the President warned that strict adherence to the non-alignment principle could leave Indonesia vulnerable to foreign powers, noting that the nation must stand on its own.
“If we want to be truly non-bloc, if we want to befriend everyone, that means we are on our own. If we are threatened or attacked, nobody is going to help us,” Prabowo said. “The reality today is that the strong [nations] will rule, and the weak will suffer […] so it is my duty as president to protect this nation.”
Contradictions
Analysts have noted that the remarks appeared to reflect Prabowo’s recent foreign policy maneuvers, including Indonesia’s membership of the Board of Peace, a United States-led initiative to rebuild Gaza that has met a backlash over its lack of Palestinian involvement.
The move has been criticized as “hasty”, with analysts questioning whether Jakarta could be coerced into the position as it continues to negotiate an ongoing tariff trade deal with Washington.
International relations expert Andrea Abdul Rahman Azzqy of Budi Luhur University questioned the President’s portrayal of non-alignment as strategic isolation, saying that today’s international system was multipolar.
“Saying that nobody could help Indonesia if we are truly non-bloc is not completely true, […] middle powers can be flexible and pragmatic,” Andrea told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
What Andrea took issue with is the choice of alliances that Indonesia has made, noting that the government should have chosen “arenas that benefit Indonesia’s national interests”.
“With the Board of Peace, the President is actually committing an act that clearly violates one of our Constitution’s focal points,” he added, citing the 1945 Constitution’s stipulation rejecting all forms of colonialism in the world.
International relations expert Ahmad Rizky M. Umar echoed a similar sentiment, noting that the Board of Peace actually positioned Indonesia closer to the US than most countries opposing the project, despite Prabowo’s non-alignment declaration.
“In many ways, Indonesia has been steered and pressured geopolitically by the US. [US President] Donald Trump has done this through the tariffs, making many demands on what Indonesia must do,” Ahmad said.
“This is the risk that arises when Prabowo later says that a thousand friends are too few and one enemy is too many,” Ahmad said.
In his speech, Prabowo said the answer to global uncertainty lay in national self-reliance, noting that food and energy self-sufficiency are the country’s future foundations if it wants to “stand on [its] own feet”.
Among the factors he deemed strategic was the country’s palm oil sector, which he said could help Indonesia rid itself of dependency on other countries.
“There are groups who keep jeering at me, asking ‘What’s Prabowo’s [deal with] palm oil?’” Prabawo said, “But I’ve visited several countries around the world, and almost all the heads of state asked Indonesia to help supply them with palm oil.”
Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil and the Prabowo administration plans to take over up to 5 million hectares of oil palm plantations operating illegally in forest areas this year, which many fear could increase global prices due to disrupted production.