Indonesia’s Jokowi mostly ignored diplomacy, gave UNGA miss; President-elect Prabowo may not

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has decided to pass on his final opportunity to speak directly to an annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York.

During the decade of his presidency, the leader of the world’s third-largest democracy has not made a single in-person appearance during Leaders’ Week at the U.N. General Assembly, which is currently underway.

Jokowi steps down in less than a month to make way for his successor, Prabowo Subianto.

The outgoing president’s reluctance to engage in multilateral diplomacy reflects his broader governance philosophy, foreign policy analyst Mohamad Rosyidin told BenarNews.

“Jokowi has always prioritized tangible outcomes, like infrastructure projects, over diplomatic symbolism,” Rosyidin said.

“He sees bilateral forums as more beneficial, where concrete deals can be made.”

Pragmatism and a focus on bilateral economic agreements have characterized Jokowi’s performance on the international stage – a significant departure from Indonesia’s traditional vibrant diplomatic engagement.

“He tends to prioritize forums such as the G20 and APEC, which offer opportunities for economic deals, over the more politically focused U.N. General Assembly,” said Rosyidin, who teaches at Diponegoro University in Semarang.

Prabowo, meanwhile, will stay on the path of non-alignment, one of Indonesia’s foundational principles, but the ex-army general’s approach to foreign policy is expected to be radically different from his predecessor’s, analysts say.

International relations expert Agus Haryanto believes, for instance, that “Prabowo has a vision for Indonesia as a key player in global affairs.”

“I believe there’s a strong likelihood Prabowo will personally attend and deliver a speech at the U.N. next year,” Agus, who teaches at Soedirman University, told BenarNews.

Jokowi has in fact addressed the General Assembly on two occasions – but without stepping foot in the great hall at U.N. headquarters.

He delivered virtual speeches to the UNGA during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

However, in subsequent years, he returned to delegating the role, citing the need to focus on domestic agendas.

During Jokowi’s first term (2014-19), international duties such as representing Indonesia at the General Assembly, were performed by then-Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

And during his second term, the country’s top diplomat, Retno Marsudi, has been representing Indonesia at the world body. She will again this year, and is scheduled to address the UNGA on Saturday.

BenarNews contacted Jokowi’s aides to ask about his recurring absence from the U.N. General Assembly, but they declined to comment.

In 2020, the head of the Presidential Secretariat, Heru Budi Hartono, had said that Jokowi “prioritized domestic projects requiring his attention.” The virtual format of addressing the UNGA (in 2020 and 2021) allowed the president to “maintain his strategic agenda at home,” Heru added.

Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, Prabowo’s spokesperson, also did not respond to requests for comments on the president-elect’s foreign policy.

Prabowo has already visited at least 20 countries since becoming president-elect.

This includes all member-states of the ASEAN regional bloc, of which Indonesia is a founding member.

His first trip, to China, raised eyebrows in Jakarta because no future president had ever undertaken such a trip abroad before being sworn in.

Although he has yet to officially begin presidential duties, no less than ex-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), a diplomacy doyen, bestowed a stamp of approval on Prabowo’s foreign policy.

“Mr. Prabowo, ‘you are on the right track’ and you have become a ‘foreign policy president.’ Good luck and carry on,” SBY posted on X (formerly Twitter) in June after the Indonesian president-elect addressed the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.

In his speech there, Prabowo offered to send peacekeeping troops to Gaza to enforce a potential Israel ceasefire, which he said was urgently needed.

Prabowo has underscored the importance of cultivating international friendships, quoting SBY when saying, “A thousand friends are too few, one enemy is too many.”

The president-elect has also frequently reaffirmed he is a firm believer in non-alignment. It was possible to navigate the intricate dynamics of global power blocs without aligning too closely with either the United States or China, he has said.

For instance, while his visit as president-elect was to China, he could not be accused of tilting towards the Asian superpower, because from there he went straight to Japan, a firm ally of the other superpower, the U.S.

Still, it will be a complex task maintaining equilibrium with Indonesia’s economic links to China versus its security interests with the U.S. and other Western powers, said Dafri Agussalim, an international relations scholar at Gadjah Mada University.

“Balancing is not easy. Being too cosy with China might not sit well with the U.S.,” Dafri told BenarNews.

Some observers say the perception is Jokowi tilted China-wards, which along with his absence on the international stage has been detrimental for Indonesia.

Indonesia has relied too heavily on Beijing, especially for funding the outgoing president’s signature infrastructure projects, which has constrained its diplomatic leverage, said international security expert Poltak Partogi Nainggola.

“[Indonesia] has been unable to maintain balanced relationships with the U.S. and Europe and pressure Russia and Israel, making it harder to influence major issues like the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East,” Poltak, from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), told BenarNews.

Prabowo isn’t unaware of Indonesia’s vast investment needs, but his election platform emphasized the use of diplomacy to attain economic stability.

For Dafri Agussalim of Gadjah Mada University, the so-called pragmatic foreign policy of Jokowi reflected not only his focus on economic outcomes, but a lack of confidence in his diplomatic abilities. 

“Jokowi’s absence from multilateral forums may also stem from a lack of skill in international diplomacy,” said Dafri.

“He has appeared at global forums before, but his ideas were criticized as not being sufficiently substantive or argumentatively strong.”

And while he speaks English, which is the lingua franca for diplomacy among many, his rendition is halting and he often appears ill-at-ease.

By contrast, Prabowo, who spent most of his childhood abroad, is comfortable not just in English, but Dutch, French and German.

Nazarudin Latif in Jakarta contributed to this report.