How will Indonesia’s presidential election reshape its foreign policy?

By Hangga Fathana, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) Yogyakarta

The three candidates running in Indonesia’s presidential election – Anies Baswedan, Ganjar Pranowo and Prabowo Subianto – are in the last week of campaigning before the February 14 poll.

As current President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo approaches the end of his second term in office, questions about the trajectory of Indonesia’s foreign policy have also emerged, particularly whether his successor will continue or change the country’s relations with China, the US and its neighbours.

Continuing the tradition of his predecessors, Jokowi has emphasised Indonesia’s “free and active” foreign policy, a peace-promoting and non-alignment approach introduced in 1948 by the country’s first vice president, Mohamad Hatta.

In 2022, Jokowi attempted to be a peacebroker in the Russia–Ukraine war. He visited both countries and invited Ukraine to attend the G20 summit in Bali.

At a regional level, the ASEAN bloc, under Indonesia’s chairmanship this year, is trying to maintain a neutral relationship between the United States and China, continuing to prevent any potential conflicts from arising and ensuring regional stability.

So far, the three presidential candidates running in this year’s election have said they will maintain Indonesia’s “free and active” foreign policy tradition. But are there any areas where they differ?

Anies: no more pragmatism

Anies is an academic-turned-politician and former governor of Jakarta, who was widely believed to be backed by Islamist conservative groups during his governorship election campaign.

When presenting his foreign policy platform, he criticised the government’s current approach, calling it “excessively pragmatic and transactional”.

After Jokowi secured the presidency in 2014, he departed from his predecessor’s policy of embracing multilateralism, which he believed had brought little benefit to the Indonesian economy.

This is why he decided not to attend several prestigious international forums and focused more on economic diplomacy and improving bilateral relationships with countries, thinking this would bring more economic benefits to Indonesia.

In contrast to Jokowi’s pragmatic approach, Anies wants to “globalise” Indonesia by taking more leadership roles in addressing global issues.

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