US-China competition over critical minerals governance creates opportunities for Indonesia to strengthen its role as a major producer of nickel and other strategic minerals. This paper proposes proactive multilateral rule-shaping through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the establishment of the Jakarta Forum on Critical Minerals as a platform for producer-count…
Indonesia’s concentrated export markets and exposure to global economic disruptions highlight the need to diversify trade partnerships. South Africa presents an opportunity to expand Indonesia’s non-oil-and-gas exports and strengthen economic engagement with Southern Africa. This policy brief recommends a dual-track strategy that uses South Africa as a political anchor while engaging the So…
Indonesia’s regional diplomacy remains underutilized due to ad hoc provincial partnerships, uneven local government capacity, fragmented reporting, and limited alignment with national economic diplomacy priorities. Despite an established legal framework for coordinating foreign affairs, many sister-city and sister-province agreements have yet to produce tangible outcomes. This policy brief re…
Indonesia’s foreign policy faces challenges of institutional incoherence amid US–China rivalry and expanding sectoral diplomacy. This paper proposes a Disciplined Ideocracy model to strengthen the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ role in maintaining consistent foreign policy based on the principle of bebas aktif. The proposed reforms include a 48-hour rapid clearance protocol, a specialized l…
Digital transformation in Indonesian diplomacy requires stronger sovereign control over communication between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseas missions. The Overseas Diplomatic Communication System (SKD) plays a crucial role in transmitting diplomatic instructions, coordinating crisis responses, and protecting Indonesian citizens abroad. This paper proposes strengthening SKD as an i…
The Indonesia–Australia Treaty on Common Security 2026 provides an opportunity to strengthen bilateral security cooperation, national resilience, and Indonesia’s regional leadership amid intensifying great-power competition. However, its effectiveness depends on implementation that preserves Indonesia’s bebas aktif foreign policy, reinforces ASEAN centrality, and avoids strategic polariza…
The Timor Sea holds strategic significance for Indonesia in safeguarding maritime sovereignty, strengthening regional security, and advancing economic interests in its southern maritime region. Although Indonesia and Australia have established their maritime boundaries through a series of agreements, unresolved aspects of maritime delimitation with Timor-Leste and the absence of a trilateral co…
President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Islamabad in December 2025 marked a strategic opportunity to strengthen Indonesia–Pakistan bilateral relations, particularly in the economic sector. Both countries committed to advancing the Indonesia–Pakistan Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by 2027. The commitments include preferential t…
Protection diplomacy is a key pillar of Indonesia’s foreign policy in safeguarding the safety and rights of Indonesian citizens abroad. Increasing cross-border mobility, geopolitical competition, weakening multilateral institutions, and the growing frequency of transnational crises have heightened the risks faced by Indonesian citizens, particularly migrant workers employed in vulnerable sect…
Rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait amid intensifying US–China competition pose significant risks to Indonesia’s trade, supply chains, and the safety of Indonesian nationals in Taiwan. Indonesia’s reactive approach and fragmented inter-agency coordination could hinder timely responses to a regional crisis. This policy brief recommends establishing an Integrated Diplomatic Readiness Frame…