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The tales of Palestine, Indonesia and a forgotten colony

Bobby Anderson (The Jakarta Post)

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Jakarta

Fri, February 15, 2019 Published on Feb. 15, 2019 Published on 2019-02-15T11:09:54+07:00

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo receives Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. The meeting was held to discuss the support of the Indonesian government and people for the state of Palestine. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)

P

resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo recently declared, at a meeting of ulema from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia, that Palestine was on “each Indonesian’s breath.”

In December of 2017, he stated “anything related to providing support to Palestine is part of the commitment of our country and our people.” In 2016 Indonesia hosted the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Fifth Extraordinary Summit of Palestine and Al-Quds Al Sharif in Jakarta.

At that conference, sub-titled “A just solution for Palestine”, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi expressed concern over Israel’s use of force against Palestinian civilians, as well as the changing demographics of Jerusalem in favor of Jewish settlers: Jokowi, for his part, urged unity in the struggle for Palestinian rights. Indeed, an independent Palestinian state is one of Jokowi’s only recognizable foreign policy interests.

These pro-Palestinian positions are nominally in line with the Indonesian government’s image of itself as a state that, once colonized, can now speak for the still-colonized.