Palestinians carry sacks of flour and boxes of supplies as they gather amid the rubble to collect humanitarian aid in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on October 12. The first convoy of aid trucks carrying essential food, medicine, and drinking water entered Gaza through the Kerem Abu Salem border crossing as part of the ceasefire agreement. Photo / Getty Images
When United States President Donald Trump proclaimed an end to the war in Gaza, he was flanked by leaders from the Middle East and Europe as well as, at the corner of that historic stage in Egypt, a guest from elsewhere: Prabowo Subianto, the President of Indonesia.
Despite being an ocean away from the conflict, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation is looking to play a more active role in Gaza’s peace process, which has so far largely been shaped by Arab and Western leaders, say Indonesian officials and analysts working on Middle East policy.
The Government says it’s prepared to send its largest deployment ever of peacekeepers to Gaza and to maintain a long-term aid presence there.
“We are ready and we are willing to contribute,” said Ade Padmo Sarwono, Indonesia’s ambassador to Jordan, where Indonesian aid sits in warehouses, ready to enter Gaza, and Indonesian students prepare to support Palestinian refugees.
“This is a very sensitive situation and the Arab states … know their own region best,” said Ade. “But I believe we are able to serve a role. The Indonesian people want us to.”
There are more than 240 million Muslims in Indonesia, most of whom have watched the destruction of Gaza with rising horror and supported their Government doing more to staunch the bloodshed, say political analysts.
Indonesia’s heightened profile on Gaza has also been steered in no small part by Prabowo, a former general with US military training looking to assert Indonesia’s influence on the global stage.
Elected last year, Prabowo has been a fixture in Indonesian politics for decades.
He shares a personal friendship with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, having spent time in the 1990s living in the Middle East after he was discharged from the Indonesian military for his alleged involvement in the abduction of pro-democracy activists.
As president, he has departed from Indonesia’s typically insular approach to foreign policy, analysts say, racking up more international trips in his first year than any of his predecessors.
Indonesia, which does not formally recognise Israel, has supported Palestinian statehood since its own independence in 1945.
“Where Prabowo is different is the extent to which he wants Indonesia to play a role. And a role not just in advocacy but in terms of contributing actively on the ground,” said Dino Patti Djalal, head of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia and a former Indonesian ambassador to the US.
In recent months, this effort has also collided with Prabowo’s campaign to foster closer ties to Trump.
Prabowo was the only leader from Southeast Asia present for what Trump billed as a “peace summit” at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
Following Trump’s remarks, Prabowo was caught on a hot mic talking to the US President about the location of an unnamed project and asking about meeting his son, Eric.
Trump said, “I’ll have Eric call. Should I do that? He’s such a good boy. I’ll have Eric call.”
Prabowo replied, “We’ll look for a better place,” to which Trump said again, “I’ll have Eric call you.”
It was not immediately clear what project Prabowo was referring to and whether it was a project by the US Government or the Trump family businesses.
The State Department did not respond to inquiries. Yvonne Elizabeth Mewengkang, chief of staff to Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, did not specify what project Prabowo was describing but told the Post yesterday that he and Trump “have a close relationship” and “certainly discussed issues beyond formal state matters”.
At the United Nations General Assembly last month, Prabowo delivered a speech offering as many as 20,000 troops for United Nations peacekeeping efforts and announcing - to the surprise of some officials even in his own Government - that Indonesia would formally recognise Israel if Israel recognised Palestinian statehood.
His statement was publicly praised by Trump, who invited Prabowo to be part of a closed-door meeting with only seven others to discuss Gaza on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
“You did a great job banging on that table. You did a great job,” Trump told Prabowo in front of reporters in New York.
The UN has not yet issued a mandate for foreign governments to send peacekeepers into Gaza. But Indonesian government agencies last week held meetings to discuss a potential deployment, said Frega Wenas Inkiriwang, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence.
The Indonesian military’s peacekeeping centre is on standby, said Frega, and generals are discussing which brigades could possibly be the first to go.
Indonesia is the sixth-largest contributor to UN peacekeeping efforts and currently has a unit of more than 1000 personnel in Lebanon, according to the UN.
The country can play a more “neutral” role in Gaza than some others in the Middle East, who may also be tentative about a large troop deployment on the ground, said a senior Foreign Ministry official in Jakarta.
“Even among the Gulf countries, there are differences between them in how they would deal with a lot of things. Indonesia is not seen as having a hidden agenda so we can act as a trusted arbiter,” he said.
Many details remain uncertain, including how Indonesia can play a peacekeeping role if it does not recognise Israel.
Citing an unnamed source, the Times of Israel on Tuesday reported that Prabowo would become the first sitting Indonesian president to visit Israel.
As outrage spread among Indonesians back home, officials in Jakarta denied the report, saying on Wednesday that there had never been any such plan. Prabowo’s political party called the Israeli report a “hoax”.
The episode showed how sensitive public opinion in Indonesia is on the issue of Palestine and how it can complicate Prabowo’s ability to manoeuvre in the Middle East, said Evan Laksmana, the senior fellow for Southeast Asian Security and Defence at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“This is not going to be straightforward,” he said. “Is Prabowo actually willing to spend his political capital on this? On something that’s going to be a huge domestic debate? That’s where the test is.”
It’s also unclear, analysts say, whether Indonesia has the capacity to follow through on its pledges.
The largest number of peacekeepers that Indonesia has ever deployed at any one time is under 4000. Frega did not respond to questions on whether Indonesia has the ability to provide 20,000 troops, saying only that “in different UN missions, we have deployed various numbers”.
Shafiah Muhibat, deputy executive director for research at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Indonesia, said she’s doubtful.
“The motivation is there, the ambition of the President is there. But realistically speaking, we don’t have the resources,” she said.
Indonesia has a nominal GDP per capita about one-20th that of the US, according to World Bank data, and is not typically a top contributor to global relief efforts.
In the last two years, however, footage of the war in Gaza broadcast on television and social media, in schools and at mosques, has sustained an unprecedented level of donations from citizens, said KH Noor Achmad, chairman of BAZNAS, Indonesia’s National Alms Agency.
“This movement is something I have never seen in the history of working in community help in Indonesia,” Noor said.
Both private and government-backed aid groups in Indonesia, which have been funnelling relief through narrow channels into Gaza, are now discussing ways to be involved in the reconstruction of schools, hospitals and mosques.
Dompet Dhuafa, one of the country’s largest private aid groups, said that it has two ambulances waiting at the Rafah border in Egypt, ready to enter once permits are given.
Over the last year, 14 of the organisation’s 15 ambulances in Gaza were destroyed by Israeli forces, and an immediate goal is to replenish them, said Dian Mulyadi, Dompet Dhuafa’s deputy corporate secretary.
Dompet Dhuafa is also talking to Gaza’s Health Ministry about building a mobile clinic and drawing up plans for a public kitchen.
The devastation in Gaza is profound and “requires a long-term commitment”, Dian said. “We are prepared for that. We will be there.”
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