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Lawmakers demand Indonesian leadership as Ukraine crisis splits G20
Lawmakers are putting pressure on the government to show leadership in mediating the faraway Rusia-Ukraine conflict.
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A man crosses a street with several dead bodies on the ground in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, as Ukraine says Russian forces are retreating from areas around the capital on April 2. (AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt)
Lawmakers want the government to play a bigger role in mediating differences among members of the Group of 20 largest economies, as Indonesia looks to press on with its leadership agenda under the long shadow of conflict.
As the current president of the G20, Indonesia has refused to follow the path of more advanced nations from the West in punishing Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February that has sparked wide condemnation and harsh economic and political sanctions.
Instead, the government has focused on calling for an end to hostilities and deploying its diplomatic network to bring home stranded Indonesians while doubling down on its own priority items for the global economic forum.
While the House of Representatives has lauded efforts to evacuate Indonesian citizens from the conflict zone, some lawmakers serving on House Commission I overseeing foreign affairs are calling on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to step up his leadership of the G20, especially as it relates to the split opinion on what to do with Russia.
Effendi Simbolon, a member of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), suggested that Jokowi play a more proactive role in mediating the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
He bemoaned the fact that Indonesia was being overshadowed by other countries like Turkey, China and Israel, whose leaders have each taken a more visible role in mediating the two warring parties.
AFP reported last week that Ukraine wanted all three countries – as well as seven others – to become guarantor nations, as Kyiv mulls over potentially abandoning its ambition to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a point of great contention for the Russian side.
