Jakarta. US President Donald Trump on Sunday thanked his Indonesian counterpart and “friend”, President Prabowo Subianto, again for his help in the efforts to secure peace in the war-torn Gaza.

Both presidents are currently in Kuala Lumpur for the closely watched 47th ASEAN Summit, which saw Trump brokering an expanded truce to the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia. Speaking in a session with the ASEAN leaders, Trump claimed that his second term had put an end to eight conflicts so far, including the years-long Israel-Hamas conflict. According to Trump, Prabowo has helped him in resolving the Gaza war.

“Today’s signing [of the Thailand-Cambodia truce] represents just one of the eight conflicts that we have ended in the eight months of the Trump presidency. I’m very honored to have done it. We have saved millions of lives,” Trump said over the weekend. 

He added: “That also includes the end of the war in Gaza. We have signed a very strong agreement. We have 59 countries involved. We have numerous of them right here at this table, like, as an example, Indonesia, my new friend. Thank you very much for helping. We appreciate it.”

Trump, who has been stepping into foreign conflicts, went on to call Prabowo a “friend” for the second time.

“I want to thank Malaysia, Brunei, as well as my friend President Prabowo of Indonesia, for their incredible support for these efforts to secure a new day for the Middle East. It really is a new day. There has never been a period of time like this. The Middle East will have peace after 3,000 years,” Trump told the conference.

He also called Southeast Asia home to "some of America's most important allies".

This was not the first time for Trump to speak highly of Prabowo, as the latter had been present in some of his peacebroker endeavors.

Prabowo was the only ASEAN leader to come to the Gaza summit taking place in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh a few weeks ago. The US and its mediating partners -- Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey -- had signed a declaration that day, calling for a “sustained dialogue” to resolve the Gaza war. It was then that Trump described Prabowo as a “very incredible man”, while referring to Indonesia as a “big and powerful country”.

Trump had also invited Prabowo, alongside other leaders of Muslim-majority nations, for a Gaza-related gathering on the margins of the UN Summit in late September. 

A fragile Gaza ceasefire deal went into effect on Oct. 10. Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas had exchanged some prisoners and hostages, on top of a pause to the fighting. 

Shortly after the US-ASEAN Summit, Prabowo told the press that he was happy to see Washington continuing to engage with the 11-member bloc.  

“The engagement has been very positive for ASEAN and the US. We are very happy to see the US mediate the Thailand-Cambodia conflict. So yeah, a very positive outcome,” Prabowo said. 

It remains unclear whether Prabowo and Trump will have a pull-aside meeting in Kuala Lumpur despite the leaders getting closer with one another. Prior to Prabowo’s flight, his foreign ministry only said that Jakarta was still “exploring the possibility of arranging bilateral meetings” during his overseas trip. However, the two will fly to South Korea for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit later this week.

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