Jakarta. Indonesia is looking forward to ASEAN’s expansion with Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea possibly joining the Southeast Asian bloc, according to President Prabowo Subianto.

Southeast Asian leaders are currently in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur for the two-day ASEAN Summit. A transcript of Prabowo’s speech at the plenary session showed that the Indonesian leader sought the group’s enlargement. He mentioned Papua New Guinea as well as Timor-Leste, which was now getting closer to a full-fledged membership. Timor-Leste’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao was also in the room at the time.

“We welcome Timor-Leste’s participation, and we support [them] becoming a full ASEAN member as soon as possible, if possible, [within] this year,” Prabowo said.

He added: “We would like to propose the participation of a close neighbor of ours, that is Papua New Guinea. They have expressed their desire to join ASEAN. In the current situation of geopolitical uncertainty, the stronger ASEAN is, the more we will be heard in the discourse of the great powers."

Prabowo said that a 12-member ASEAN could enhance the club’s role in the world. He even revealed that ASEAN was already “as big as the entire European Union (EU)” from a population standpoint. However, official estimates showed that the EU was home to over 448 million people, while ASEAN's population already topped 670 million inhabitants. Indonesia’s Prabowo also told the high-profile conference that ASEAN’s economic growth was the “fastest on the planet,” while calling his counterparts to not “underestimate” the region’s strength and power. 

Timor-Leste first applied to join ASEAN in 2011, but it only saw major progress about a decade later. In 2022, ASEAN agreed “in principle” to admit Timor-Leste as the club’s 11th member. Since then, work got underway for Timor-Leste to secure a seat at the ASEAN grouping, including having the half-island nation meet the criteria outlined in its membership roadmap. Malaysian top diplomat Mohamad Hasan recently said that Timor-Leste could become a full member by October, according to AFP. Dili’s lackluster infrastructure development, inequality, among others, have set obstacles to its membership process.

Papua New Guinea first attended the regional group’s meeting in Manila as an observer back in 1976. Media reports showed that Papua New Guinea’s geographical location became a major hindrance to its ASEAN accession. The so-called ASEAN Charter states that the group requires its new members to meet certain criteria, including being located in Southeast Asia. Papua New Guinea is geographically part of Oceania.