In his address to the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington, D.C., President Prabowo Subianto provided a comprehensive overview of Indonesia’s rising profile in diplomacy. His core argument was simple: Indonesia must embody both the moral imperative for peace, especially regarding humanitarian crises like the situation in Gaza, and pragmatic intentions for engaging in conflict resolution and embracing both morality and pragmatism positions Indonesia at the vantage point of balancing principal concerns and strategic considerations, suggesting that morality and self-interest are intertwined. The address has one overarching aim: to enhance Indonesia’s role as a bulwark against increasing instability in the international affairs sphere, but also acknowledge the daunting challenges the country must navigate.

Gaza appeared to be the core case study in Prabowo’s address. The President reiterated Indonesia’s long-standing commitment to the two-state solution that would allow both Israelis and Palestinians to have a state of their own. However, such an announcement suggests that the issue is far more complex than a simple declaration. The world’s most significant powers have avoided engaging with a framework that secures justice for the Palestinian people. Thus, Indonesia appears to have encountered the challenge of transforming its moral advocacy into actual power in a geopolitical landscape where such humanitarian concerns rarely shape international policy.

Beyond Gaza, Prabowo used his address to position Indonesia as a conduit between Global South nations and the world’s most prominent power structures. He was adamant that peace can never be dictated by a few powerful actors and that dialogue is required to achieve it equitably. Indonesia appears to be following in the footsteps of historical non-aligned nations, such as the ASEAN organisation it co-founded and, even further back, those who attended the Bandung Conference of 1955. Still, it must be acknowledged that the geopolitical landscape has changed profoundly since such........

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