The ceremony saw envoys from Palestine, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Greece, Lebanon and Saint Lucia formally begin their time in Indonesia, after reports said that some unnamed incoming envoys had been waiting for up to eight months to submit their letters.

“The President received the letters of credence of eight newly appointed ambassadors. On this occasion, the envoys expressed their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations and expanding cooperation with Indonesia across a range of sectors,” a statement from the Presidential Secretariat said.

After the ceremony, Prabowo held a closed-door meeting with the new ambassadors.

Scrutiny over the President’s diplomatic conduct has intensified over the past week, amid mounting public frustration over what many see as excessive and ineffective overseas visits, followed by government defenses and widely circulated claims of an underperforming diplomatic apparatus.

Read also: Delayed credentials for foreign envoys raise red flags

The commotion primarily centered around a public back-and-forth between former Indonesian ambassador to the United States Dino Patti Djalal, who previously criticized the government’s foreign policy, and Prabowo’s close aide Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya. It reached its latest flashpoint last week after Dino said on X that he had received accounts from unnamed foreign ambassadors struggling to start their roles in Indonesia.

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