Indonesia’s decision to join the Board of Peace places it inside a US-dominated body whose approach to Gaza risks prioritising reconstruction over sovereignty, rights and political legitimacy.

History does not always turn on the thunder of war. Sometimes it shifts quietly, with a signature in an alpine hall. When Indonesia joined President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Davos in January 2026, it was far more than a ceremony; it marked a bold experiment in power, reconstruction and control over Gaza’s shattered future.

Indonesia’s decision sits at the intersection of conscience and calculation. As the world’s fourth-largest nation and its largest Muslim-majority democracy, Indonesia has long treated Palestine not as an abstraction but as a moral constant of foreign policy. From Bandung in 1955 to repeated votes at the United Nations, Jakarta has framed Palestinian self-determination as inseparable from its own post-colonial identity.

That history explains why Indonesia’s presence on the Board of Peace matters and why it is fraught with risk.

The humanitarian facts are no longer contested. Gaza’s death toll has surpassed 70,000, more than 95 per cent of the population has been displaced, and entire neighbourhoods have been flattened. The World Bank estimates reconstruction costs at over US$50 billion, a figure that will rise as damage assessments continue. Against this backdrop, the Board of Peace........

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