WASHINGTON Indonesia's new President Prabowo Subianto visited China on Friday for his first international trip as president.
From Beijing, I will take a direct flight to Washington, DC, at the invitation of the US President, Prabowo said as he left Jakarta. Indonesians often refer to public figures by their first name.
His tour aims to cultivate good relations with all parties, Prabowo said. He declared his ambition to raise Indonesia's international profile and took early foreign policy steps, including a surprise decision to join Southeast Asia's largest economy in the BRICS bloc.
BRICS, which represents Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a growing group of emerging economies and is seen as a counterweight to the West. In October, the group added Indonesia among its 13 new partner countries.
The move is a departure from the stance taken by Prabowo's predecessor, Joko Widodo, who received massive amounts of infrastructure investment from Beijing but remained largely geopolitically unaligned.
Prabowo's visit comes during a period of transition at the White House, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's new administration in January. The White House has not officially announced the visit; However, Jakarta said Prabowo was scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden at the White House early next week.
Indonesian diplomatic sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said VOA that Prabowo requested a meeting with Trump. The Trump team did not respond VOAwonders if it will be granted. A meeting was also requested to meet Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate.
New period for US-Indonesian relations
Starting in January, both countries will be under democratically elected leaders who have resorted to authoritarian rhetoric, at a time when Washington is focused on its rivalry with China's authoritarian regime of Xi Jinping.
Like Trump, Prabowo made a historic political comeback under unlikely circumstances. He won a landslide victory after two failed attempts, 26 years after his father-in-law, President Suharto, was ousted from power. This, despite Prabowo admitting that Suharto ordered him in 1998 to kidnap activists protesting the regime.
Washington was aware of Prabowo's involvement, and the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations denied Prabowo entry to the United States, citing human rights concerns. The Trump administration lifted the visa ban, and then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper invited then-Defense Secretary Prabowo to Washington in 2020.
With Trump in the White House, analysts say, Jakarta could see more opportunities to expand its ties with Washington if Prabowo can talk to the right people to get the right incentives, given Trump's history of relies more on personal relationships than on institutional relationships.
Personal Connections
Jakarta's point person for Washington during the first Trump administration was Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, a businessman and retired four-star army general who later served as Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment .
Luhut developed close ties with Adam Boehler, director of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and a former college roommate of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. In 2020, Boehler dangled a $2 billion investment in Indonesia's planned sovereign wealth fund.
The project failed because the price, recognition of Israel under the Trump administration's Abraham Accords, was too high for Jakarta, according to an interview Boehler gave to Bloomberg in late 2020.
In the Prabowos administration, Luhut serves as head of the National Economic Council and special advisor for investment affairs. But in a cabinet of more than 100 civil servants, his influence has diminished.
The deck is being shuffled and we don't yet know where the cards will fall, said Yeremia Lalisang, assistant professor of international relations at the University of Indonesia. What is clear, said Lalisang VOAis that the pragmatic Prabowo will be happy to be welcomed by Trump after being called a human rights criminal by previous US administrations.
One possibility for strengthening ties under Trump would be for Prabowo to capitalize on the connections among billionaires in Trump's inner circle. This would include Trump's richest backer, Elon Musk, and Hary Tanoesoedibjo, an Indonesian tycoon who has partnered with the Trump family on several real estate projects in Indonesia. Both were at Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, on Tuesday evening to celebrate his election victory.
Tanoesoedibjo, who usually goes by his initials HT, did not confirm whether he would facilitate a Trump-Prabowo meeting next week. However, he added, Trump's victory would bring positive hope to Indonesia.
Trump's favorable understanding of Indonesia should be maximized for the economic benefit of both countries, especially for Indonesia's economic interests, HT said. VOA.
Investing in nickel
Under Jokowis' administration, Jakarta has courted Musk, head of SpaceX and Tesla, to invest in two key areas: satellites and electric vehicle batteries. Earlier this year, Musk launched SpaceX's satellite internet service, Starlink, in Bali and the Moluccas.
Possessing the world's largest nickel reserves, Indonesia is eager to develop its electric vehicle battery industry, and Prabowo is expected to continue his predecessor's efforts to entice Tesla to invest.
The Biden administration has set aside tens of billions of dollars in tax credits to boost the U.S. electric vehicle industry, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, its signature climate and energy legislation. To qualify for the credit, 40% of the minerals used to produce electric vehicle batteries sold in the United States must be mined or processed domestically or at one of its free trade partners.
Jakarta is pushing for a limited free trade deal that would allow it to benefit from IRA tax credits. However, its nickel industry is buoyed by investment from Chinese companies and besieged by environmental concerns, limiting its access to the U.S. market.
We could see some of that calculus change over the course of the Trump administration, said Andreyka Natalegawa, associate research fellow for the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Trump has pledged to ease environmental restrictions.
U.S.-Indonesia nickel cooperation is a goal, said Ann Marie Murphy, a senior fellow at Columbia University's Weatherhead East Asian Institute. If it doesn't come to fruition, I think it could be disappointing for both parties, she said. VOA.
However, Trump, who has made high tariffs on China a central theme of his campaign, will closely examine the impact of tariffs on the electric vehicle industry. He has pledged to reduce tax credits available to electric vehicle buyers in the United States.
It will also monitor bilateral trade deficits. In 2017, his administration placed Indonesia on a watch list of countries with a large trade surplus, threatening Jakarta with unspecified consequences if trade was not balanced.
There are a lot of question marks here that we still have to wait and see for answers, Natalegawa said. VOA.
Yuni Salim contributed to this report.
The News Lens was granted permission to publish this article fromVoice of America.
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