The frequent-flier president: High-stakes global tour
Trading traditional consensus building for high-stakes presidential dealmaking, Prabowo has transformed Indonesian diplomacy into a high-wire act of transactional multi-alignment where soaring global ambition collides with mounting geopolitical risks.
President Prabowo Subianto's presidency has transformed Indonesian diplomacy into a high-stakes game of transactional diplomacy, moving away from the traditional nonalignment approach. Over the past two years, Jakarta's international engagement has shifted to a personalized, highly assertive style driven directly from the presidency.
This top-down activism has increased Indonesia's global visibility but also brought unprecedented strategic risks, institutional friction, and foreign policy shocks. Prabowo has shown a preference for direct leader-to-leader dealmaking over established diplomatic channels, with more than 50 foreign trips covering over 30 countries in just two years.
Despite displaying trust issues with the Foreign Ministry, he entrusts it to Sugiono, a loyal political aide with little diplomatic experience. This approach has sidelined institutional advice, leaving career diplomats to manage the fallout from presidential statements made abroad.
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
