Jakarta. Foreign Affairs Minister Sugiono said Friday that Indonesia was hoping to cool down the global economic rivalry by joining the Russia and China-led BRICS.

The statement also came as the government’s attempt to dismiss worries that its BRICS membership could put Jakarta’s trade ties with Washington at risk amidst its sharpening competition with China, especially now that the world is nearing to US President-Elect Donald Trump’s return.

Indonesia’s new status has sparked concerns that the country was drifting away from its so-called “free and active” foreign policy with its BRICS membership. This policy puts Indonesia to not align with any superpower, and it does not bind Southeast Asia’s largest country to any military pact. 

In his first-ever annual address as foreign minister, Sugiono defended Indonesia’s BRICS membership.

“Indonesia’s BRICS membership reflects Indonesia’s free and active foreign policy. It is not something that we achieve overnight, but it is the fruit of decades-long work of Indonesia’s resilience and consistency in foreign diplomacy,” Sugiono said in Jakarta.

“As a BRICS member, Indonesia wants to become a bridge-builder for the interests of developing economies and the Indo-Pacific nations. We will continue to remain active in preventing further escalations to geoeconomic and geopolitical rivalry,” he said.

BRICS originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and eventually, South Africa. In 2024, BRICS formally accepted new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Indonesia officially snagged a ticket into the group earlier this week after formally applying to BRICS in late October.

Prabowo claimed that he had been eyeing a seat in BRICS since running for president in 2014. Prabowo was going against Former President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the time. He lost again to Jokowi in the 2019 presidential race. In 2023, his predecessor Jokowi said he did not want to rush into submitting a letter of interest to BRICS and preferred to make some calculations first.

Prabowo rose to power last October after securing a landslide victory and having Jokowi’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as his vice president. Just days after his inauguration, he sent Sugiono to the BRICS Summit in Kazan to officially announce Indonesia’s BRICS candidacy.

On several occasions, Prabowo had said that his interest in BRICS was part of his intention to have Indonesia befriend everyone. His diplomatic approach is synonymous with the old saying “A thousand friends is too few. One enemy is too many.” 

In response to the BRICS membership, Prabowo’s senior economic advisor Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan recently said Indonesia is "too big to lean on any country”. In other words, Indonesia does not need to worry about ruffling the US’ feathers by being part of BRICS.

Trump’s return to the White House is expected to worsen the US trade war with China. Trump is eyeing to increase the tariffs on US-bound Chinese goods after being inaugurated. He has also threatened 100-percent tariffs on BRICS members should the group decide to challenge the dollar by creating a new currency.

At present, Indonesia is already trying to reduce its reliance on the dollar in its international trade transactions. For instance, its bilateral trade with China already has the option to use rupiah or yuan.

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