Jakarta. It’s about time for Global South nations like Indonesia to ramp up their United Nations sponsorship amid Washington's multilateral exit and funding cuts, according to an ex-envoy.

Former Deputy Foreign Minister Dino Pati Djalal said Saturday that the Global South had been quite vocal about the need to promote multilateral mechanisms. However, the Global South -- a term that brings together developing and least developed economies -- is not as active when it comes to actually spending money on global institutions' operations. 

According to Dino, there is a tendency among the Global South to Western nations, despite some developing economies having the financial capacity to do more to keep the UN afloat. United States President Donald Trump’s funding cuts and exit from key UN agencies, including the World Health Organization and the Human Rights Council, should also be a big wake-up call for more active participation.

“With the US’ retreat from multilateralism and withdrawal of its funding, it’s time for the Global South to step up its funding in multilateral institutions,” Dino told the Conference on Indonesian Foreign Policy (CIFP) in Jakarta.

“I worked in diplomacy before, and there was the attitude of ‘let rich countries pay for it. We either take the aid or we don’t contribute much to it. But, we love multilateralism. … But sorry, pay for it? No, later,” Dino said, mimicking Global South nations’ habit of failing to pay their UN contributions on time.

UN members have to make some mandatory contributions to the group’s budget based on a formula that represents their “capacity to pay”. This is why the UN is charging the US the highest due, totaling around $820.4 million in regular budget payments for this year alone. Washington is facing a $6.5 million peacekeeping commitment, according to the Pew Research Center. China has to pay the next-largest share at $679.8 million for the regular budget.

“The key players in the Global South do have money, [in fact], many of them. There are two Global South countries in the top 10 military spenders. But there is not a single Global South country in the top 10 UN budget contributors. They can afford it. Indonesia, too, can afford it,” Dino said.

In 2024, the world’s military expenditure totaled $2.7 trillion, with India and Saudi Arabia -- both often considered as part of the Global South -- being among the major spenders, think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported. India came in fifth place, splurging $86.1 billion on military. Saudi Arabia ranked seventh with an estimated $80.3 billion. The US topped the list with $997 billion. 

Indonesia has gone on a fighter jet shopping spree under the leadership of retired army general Prabowo Subianto. A few months ago, Southeast Asia's biggest economy inked a contract to buy 48 of the Turkish-made KAAN fighter jets as Prabowo aims to upgrade its military fleet. In 2025, Indonesia is allocating Rp 247.5 trillion ($14.9 billion) -- the biggest chunk of the annual state budget -- for defense.

Multilateralism is currently short of cash. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged members to pay their dues in full and on time, even warning that the organization is nearing “a race to bankruptcy”. As financial woes grow, Guterres has proposed a reduced $3.2 billion budget for 2026, down 15.1 percent year-on-year.

“More uncertainty and any delays in the collection early in this year will force us to reduce spending even more. We will again spend less than the budget in 2026 because we did not collect enough. That will probably lead to a collapse of the regular functioning of our organization,” Guterres said in October.

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