Indonesia’s "free and active" foreign policy must be redefined so it was more strategic and inclusive of the government’s needs, presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo told a public discussion on Tuesday in Jakarta.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) kick-started on Nov. 7 a series of discussions featuring next year’s presidential candidates and their foreign policy platforms.

Ganjar added that amid the complex geopolitical landscape, Indonesian diplomacy must prioritize at least five policies: food security, maritime sovereignty, energy independence, protection of overseas citizens and developing the country into an industrial hub.

The presidential candidate of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who is contesting the 2024 election alongside Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD, took the stage as the CSIS discussion’s first speaker.

Ganjar used the platform to elaborate on the foreign policy views previously published in his campaign documents, which included a proposal to maintain neutrality amid an increasingly polarized world and to modernize the country’s defense system.

“The world is not doing well,” he said as he opened his speech, accompanied by a presentation with images of tanks in Ukraine and Palestine. “It’s common to see Machiavellianism being [adopted] for its practicality.”

He also identified the four problems he deemed as the most pressing: democratic backsliding, global injustice, the global economic downturn and regional conflicts. The former Central Java governor said that against this backdrop, ensuring a steady food supply and increasing the defense budget were necessary to safeguard the relevance of Indonesia’s free and active policy.

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