Jakarta. Indonesia could stand up on its own feet as it tried to remain unfazed by the USAID freeze fiasco, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump wants to dismantle the country's primary overseas aid agency USAID, which has disbursed over $800 million to Indonesia since 2020. On his first day back at the White House, Trump inked an executive order to pause all foreign aid for 90 days to assess whether it is consistent with the US foreign policy.

The US Supreme Court recently rejected the Trump administration's bid to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid. But USAID's future continues to hang in limbo to this day, raising uncertainty for its development programs across the globe.

Foreign Affairs Ministry's spokesman Rolliansyah "Roy" Soemirat revealed that Indonesia had not received any official notification from the US government regarding USAID's fate and which part of the funding will get terminated. Roy also claimed that Indonesia only considered international assistance as being "supplementary" to its funds. He said Indonesia believes it has the financial capacity to sustain its development without the need to heavily rely on foreign money.

"From what we have heard, [the US] is still reviewing the USAID. But all this time, the Indonesian government has always considered international funding -- regardless of where they come from -- as something that is supplementary. The main source of funding has always been our state budget," Roy told a press briefing in Jakarta.

As Indonesia's economy thrives, the country is currently transitioning from being a beneficiary to a donor, according to Roy.

"We will keep communicating with the relevant government bodies to make sure that everything goes well, with or without the supplementary assistance from other countries," Roy said.

The USAID money has flown into a wide range of projects in Indonesia.

In 2023, the agency unveiled a $70 million program aimed at improving Indonesia's tuberculosis detection and prevention. It also launched a $50 million investment that same year to provide over 1 million Indonesians access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2027. USAID pledged to mobilize $300 million for Indonesia's water and sanitation sector while strengthening 100 of such institutions.

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