What will change with Indonesia's entry into BRICS? DW 01/07/2025

Indonesia officially became a member of BRICS on Monday, adding Southeast Asia's largest economy and the region's most populous country to the bloc.

Formally founded by Brazil, Russia, China and India in 2009, BRICS has gained importance as an international forum for developing countries. South Africa joined shortly after the first summit, and Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates became members in 2024.

With their new members, BRICS is now seeking to consolidate its reputation as an alternative to the US-led G7 group of major economies.

“We have repeatedly reiterated that BRICS provides an important platform for Indonesia to strengthen South-South cooperation and ensure that the voices and aspirations of countries in the South are well represented in global decision-making processes” , said Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Rolliansyah Soemirat. DW.

Jakarta is “committed to contributing to the programs discussed by BRICS, including efforts to promote economic resilience, technological cooperation and public health,” according to the spokesperson.

Subianto takes the plunge

Former Indonesian President Joko Widodo refused to join his country in BRICS in 2023, saying Jakarta was still weighing the pros and cons and did not want to “rush into it”. New President Prabowo Subianto, winner of the 2024 general elections, has no such concerns.

But the change in Jakarta signals more than just a change of government. As the Western-led world order is seen as politically frayed, weakened by economic turmoil and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, countries in the South are increasingly willing to move closer to Beijing and Moscow and risk angering Washington. More than 30 countries, including Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, have now expressed interest or formally applied to join BRICS.

A “multipolar” world

BRICS' evolution into a larger geopolitical bloc has also been driven by China's rise as a global economic and political force. The Chinese government frequently calls for a “multipolar” world order, a security and financial infrastructure that is not exclusively dominated by the United States. BRICS members also often discuss the global dominance of the US dollar and the need for alternative financial frameworks between countries.

Diplomatically, BRICS is important to both China and Russia as a symbol of this emerging multipolar landscape, with the 2024 forum hosted by Vladimir Putin showing that Moscow still had many friends around the world despite sanctions Western.

Commenting on Indonesia's decision to join BRICS, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun hailed the South Asian nation as “a major developing country and an important force in the Global South.”

It is important to note, however, that BRICS is not an overtly anti-Western club. Indonesia, like founding BRICS member India, has good relations with Western countries and is unlikely to take sides in the geopolitical confrontation between the United States and its rivals.

Indonesia as a balancing force?

“Indonesia has no intention of separating itself from the West, whether slowly or immediately,” Mr Habib Abiyan Dzakwan, a researcher at the international relations department at the Center for Strategic and Strategic Studies, told DW. (CSIS) of Indonesia.

“In the DNA of Indonesian foreign policy, all are friends, as stated [President Subianto] Prabowo too,” he said, emphasizing that Jakarta “just wants to increase its playing field.”

“If Indonesia can maintain its non-aligned position and influence the BRICS agenda with its inclusive vision of not excluding or negating the West, I believe it will do so. [membership] “may not have much impact on our relations with the West,” according to the expert.

Teuku Rezasyah, another international relations expert and professor at Padjadjaran University in West Java, told DW that Indonesia could play the role of a “balancer” within BRICS, while maintaining its ties with the US and EU.

“As a middle power, being a member of BRICS gives Indonesia leverage in the global order,” he said.

The Trump effect

As United States President-elect Donald Trump takes office later this month, the United States is widely expected to withdraw from multilateral engagement.

Targeting BRICS, Trump in November threatened members of the bloc to be cut off from the US economy if a “BRICS currency” was created.

Alexander Raymond Arisanto, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), believes that a more transactional approach by the Trump administration could provide Indonesia with the opportunity to build stronger partnerships in the within regional organizations.

“Forging mutually beneficial partnerships with other Southeast Asian countries will not only strengthen the region's non-aligned position in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical order, but also strengthen Indonesia's status as a leader of ASEAN as well as its multilateral credentials at a time when the United States is moving towards unilateralism,” Arisanto wrote in a recent article.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic

With additional reporting by Prita Kusumaputri of DW's Indonesian department