President Prabowo’s ‘good neighbour’ policy takes Indonesia beyond Southeast Asia

October 29, 2024

JAKARTA – Indonesian diplomats can stop reciting the now worn-out mantra “ASEAN is the cornerstone of our foreign policy,” because President Prabowo Subianto is not all that hung up on the 10-nation regional group.

As important as ASEAN is, it is becoming a straightjacket for Indonesia’s foreign policy conduct. It’s time for the country’s diplomacy to look beyond Southeast Asia to fulfill its ambitions as a global middle power.

Prabowo’s inauguration speech on Oct. 20 gave us a glimpse of what his foreign policy might look like. While he recited the well-tested principles of non-alignment and independent and active opposition to any military pacts, as well as to any forms of colonization, he omitted the ASEAN mantra which has been standard for any incoming president to reiterate.

Instead, he cited a “good neighbor” policy as the basis of his foreign policy, offering the old proverb that “a thousand friends is too few, one enemy is too many.” In today’s shrinking world, neighbors should also include more distant countries, not just those in Southeast Asia.

Prabowo’s decision to break with the tradition of leaving foreign policy to the experts by choosing a non-career diplomat for his foreign minister is a strong indication of major changes in Indonesia’s foreign policy strategy and conduct.

Sugiono, 45 years old and with a military background, has long been an assistant to Prabowo, so he has the President’s complete trust. Sugiono is not a novice on international relations. As an elected politician for Prabowo’s Gerindra Party, he sat in the House of Representatives’ Commission 1 which deals with foreign policy among other issues.

Prabowo is also restructuring the Foreign Ministry in appointing three vice