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Analysis: BRICS makes for bad optics for non-aligned Indonesia
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Foreign Minister Sugiono (rear, second left) poses for a group photo with (front, from left to right) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other participants in the outreach/BRICS Plus format meeting during the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on Oct. 24, 2024. (AFP/Alexander Nemenov/Pool)
W
hen Indonesia formally became a full member of BRICS, an intergovernmental organization that seeks to change the Western-dominated global financial system, many at home and abroad questioned whether Jakarta was shedding its non-alignment principle. They warned that Indonesia may have to pay a high for being perceived as taking sides in the world increasingly polarized between one bloc led by the United States and another led by China and Russia.
The government of President Prabowo Subianto has been at pains to stress, though not convincingly, that joining BRICS is not only a reiteration of its non-alignment position in the big power rivalry, but it also presents an opportunity for Indonesia to exercise its “free and active” foreign policy. Through BRICS, middle-power Indonesia could play the role of bridging countries in the Global South and developed north, Foreign Minister Sugiono argued.
Founded in 2009 by emerging market economies Brazil, Russia, India and China, and joined by South Africa in 2010 (hence the five-letter acronym), BRICS has expanded, with Indonesia being the latest to bring it to 11 members. From its original goal to reform the global economic system dominated by the West, the group’s summits and meetings have increasingly taken on political overtones, as a bloc in the polarized geopolitical landscape.
Indonesia’s swift admission, announced by Brazil on Jan. 6, raises speculation about BRICS’ political motivation. Apparently, the early admission came at the suggestion of Russia.
Indonesia was singled out from among seven countries, including neighboring Malaysia and Thailand, that were admitted as partners at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, in October. At the time, BRICS said it would have to figure out the mechanism on admitting new members, and awarded all seven partner status in the meantime. Now it made an exception for Indonesia.
President Prabowo surprised the nation just three days after his Oct. 20 inauguration, when he sent Sugiono to Kazan and to express Indonesia’s interest in joining BRICS.
His predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had politely turned down BRICS’ repeated invitations to join although in many of his speeches, including at a BRICS summit in South Africa in 2023, he said Indonesia shared the group’s main agenda of reforming the global financial institutions to end the domination of the developed countries of the West.
