Between diplomacy and trade, Prabowo Subianto’s Indonesia has chosen to raise its voice on the global stage.

In New York, the president of the world’s most populous Islamic country (which, however, was also among the few to partially liberalise conversions to Christianity) amazed the UN with an unexpected appeal to guarantee Israel’s security, just as a historic trade agreement between the archipelago and the European Union was being signed in Bali.

President Prabowo surprises the UN General Assembly

In a rather forceful speech, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto chose the UN General Assembly in New York to redefine his country’s international image.
For the first time after years of absence of an Indonesian leader from the UN podium, Prabowo placed the Israeli-Palestinian issue at the centre of his agenda, taking a tone that many experts read as a real change of pace.

The turning point on peace between Israel and Palestine

In front of the UN delegates, Prabowo declared that Israel’s security must be guaranteed as an indispensable condition for real and concrete peace.

Unexpected words, big tones and a lot of gestures in his speech from the leader of a country that, in fact, still has no diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv.
Prabowo promised that Indonesia will recognise Israel if and when the latter formally recognises the State of Palestine, and concluded with an unprecedented ‘Shalom’, received with surprise and applause in the hall.

Even more surprising was the offer to send up to 20,000 Indonesian blue helmets to crisis zones, from the Middle East to Ukraine, as a sign of Jakarta’s willingness to be a credible player in the field of international security.

The economic bridge towards Europe: a strategic move for Indonesia

In the same hours, a negotiation that had taken almost a decade to conclude in Bali: Indonesia and the European Union signed a free trade agreement liberalising over 90% of each other’s exports.

For Jakarta, this means strengthening access to European markets for strategic products such as palm oil, coffee and garments, while Brussels aims to consolidate its supply chains for critical minerals such as nickel and copper, which are crucial for the green transition.

This agreement comes at a time of global tensions over tariffs, especially for Europeans seeking to disengage from Trump, and of search for alternatives to Beijing, especially by Asians. By the way, by the end of the year an agreement with India should also be reached.
The pact between the European Union and Indonesia, therefore, builds a new trade bridge that in the future may have a strategic value far greater than the savings it will produce in the immediate future (quantifiable in less than a billion a year).

Jakarta in search of a new international role

The double track followed by Prabowo Subianto – diplomatic opening on such a crucial issue as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and economic revival with Europe – represents a rapid and decisive evolution of Indonesia’s international posture.

From being a traditionally cautious country, careful to keep a low profile in major geopolitical disputes, Jakarta now seems determined to present itself as a global player with a role as both political mediator and emerging economic hub .

The message is clear: Indonesia no longer intends to merely observe international balances, but wants to help redesign them.
This new prominence of Jakarta, however, will require delicate management. On the domestic front, the risk of friction is real: Indonesian public opinion is historically sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and Prabowo’s explicit appeal to Israel’s security could generate backlash in domestic politics.

On the foreign front, on the other hand, the challenge will be to consolidate credibility as a reliable interlocutor for both Western partners and Muslim countries, which are watching Jakarta’s choices carefully.

If he succeeds in balancing these two levels, Prabowo will be able to turn his moves into a lasting strategy, capable of strengthening Indonesia’s centrality in the Indo-Pacific and making it a point of reference beyond Southeast Asia.