The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsStrategic constraints still cloud Prabowo’s global ambitions
After a busy first year of raising its international profile, questions remain over how the Prabowo administration intends to translate its efforts into a coherent foreign policy strategy.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Indonesia's newly appointed Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir (right) and former foreign minister and current Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Sugiono attend a handover ceremony on Oct. 12 in Jakarta. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
T
wo years into Prabowo Subianto’s administration, Indonesia’s diplomacy is disjointed, lacking a clear strategy, institutional coherence and domestic follow-through, analysts have said.
After a busy first year of raising Jakarta’s international profile through extensive overseas visits and new multilateral memberships, questions remain over how the President intends to translate these efforts into a coherent strategy that advances the country’s national interests and long-term goals.
Read also: Strategic void risks muddling Prabowo's global charm offensive
Meanwhile, the stakes are rising, as rivalry between the United States and China sharpens and conflicts in the Middle East and Europe threaten vital energy supplies and shipping routes, adding to Indonesia’s pressure to navigate an increasingly volatile world.
Guided by his “good neighborhood” policy, the Prabowo administration has sought to cultivate amicable ties with as many partners as possible while avoiding antagonizing any, partly in what has been described as a pursuit of global stability. The policy is an extension of Indonesia’s “free and active” foreign policy doctrine, although critics argue it risks becoming passivity dressed as pragmatism.
But central to the administration’s diplomatic agenda, as Prabowo and his officials have repeatedly outlined in public speeches, is the strengthening of national resilience, a goal former foreign minister Sugiono elaborated on during his last major appearance on the international stage.
“For Indonesia, this means building greater self-sufficiency in food, and strengthening our energy security,” Sugiono said at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in September.
