Presidential candidates Ganjar Pranowo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and opposition figurehead Anies Baswedan are scheduled to give speeches and take part in discussions on Tuesday and Wednesday at the CSIS building in Central Jakarta.

Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party, meanwhile, was supposed to take part in the event series on Monday but dropped out over a scheduling conflict. He is expected to take part sometime in the near future.

Lina Alexandra, head of international relations at the CSIS, said the events would provide a chance for presidential hopefuls to share their foreign policy perspectives and priorities ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

“We are holding this series of discussions because foreign policy is usually the last issue [a presidential candidate talks about]. In reality, domestic issues today, such as food self-sufficiency and economic growth, cannot be separated from foreign policy,” Lina told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Lina said she expected presidential hopefuls to answer questions on their stance on Indonesia’s geopolitical positioning, its ties with global powers, national defense and foreign policy, including climate change, nuclear proliferation and the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

“Indonesia is on course to be a growing power in the world. But if we don’t have a clear direction [in our foreign policy], that will leave a big question mark for the country,” she added.