Jakarta. The Indonesian government has dismissed worries about the late ceremonies to officially welcome foreign ambassadors, saying that Jakarta is still close with its partners.

In his latest jab at Indonesia’s foreign policy handling, ex-senior diplomat Dino Patti Djalal revealed that 17 ambassadors of undisclosed countries had already arrived in Jakarta. However, they have been waiting -- some for 8 months -- to be able to present their so-called “letters of credence” to President Prabowo Subianto. These diplomats can’t officially act as ambassadors before this ceremony takes place.

Asked about these criticisms, Foreign Minister Sugiono revealed he had met with “most of these envoys” in informal settings.

“With all due respect, our cooperation [with these countries] is still going well. The same goes for our communications,”  Sugiono told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday evening.

He also gave his word that the government would “resolve the protocol matters”, including by having a ceremony slated for this week. Sugiono did not say the home countries of the next group of ambassadors.

According to Sugiono, the last time Prabowo held such ceremonies was back in November 2025, when the latter welcomed German and Spanish envoys, among others.

Pressed about what took Indonesia so long to hold the next batch, Sugiono replied: “Since November, the new envoys had come [to Indonesia] in phases. It's also a gradual process.”.

In his post, Dino -- Indonesia’s former US envoy and ex-deputy minister for foreign affairs -- wrote that an envoy from an unnamed ASEAN nation had been waiting for half a year.

“This leaves a bad impression on our friendly nations who have sent their ambassadors, especially since our ambassadors can quickly present the letters of credence to the host country,” Dino said.

“Without pointing fingers at anyone, the palace should resolve this issue immediately because it deals with our diplomatic reputation.”

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