 "Indonesian president's visit as Republic Day guest marks the centrality of Delhi-Jakarta ties")
President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto will be the chief guest on India’s 76th Republic Day. Both nations share warm and friendly ties spanning over millennia. As a comprehensive strategic partner, Indonesia is an important pillar in India’s Act East Policy and central to its vision of the Indo-Pacific. It comes close to the Singapore President’s state visit to India from January 14 to 18, 2025, again a testament to India’s growing strategic relations with ASEAN nations.
India and Indonesia had civilisational connections for more than two thousand years. Owing to their common struggle for independence, both became chief votaries of the independence of Asian and African countries and actively participated in the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. Since the adoption of India’s ‘Look East Policy’ in 1991, there has been a rapid development of bilateral relations in political, security, defence, commercial, and cultural fields. The invitation given to Indonesia reflects on the significance India attaches to its strategic, diplomatic, economic, and political ties with Jakarta.
The forthcoming visit of Prabowo on January 25-26 is the fourth time Indonesia’s head of state has been invited as guest of honour at the Republic Day celebrations. Interestingly, Sukarno—Indonesia’s first president—was the guest of honour during the first Republic Day of India in 1950.
‘The visit of President Prabowo, as both countries are culminating the 75th anniversary celebrations of the establishment of diplomatic relations, is a significant milestone. Both countries have similar domestic and foreign policy objectives. Indonesia aims to be a developed country by 2045 and India by 2047. Both believe in an independent foreign policy without being part of any alliances. Our countries exhibit unique convergences and similar aspirations opening up the field for greater mutually rewarding collaborations. We expect the visit of President Prabowo to open new vistas of bilateral cooperation.’ - says Sandeep Chakravorty, India’s ambassador to Indonesia.
Prabowo’s visit was officially announced just 10 days before his arrival. Typically, the guest of honour for Republic Day is confirmed in December. A potential reason for this delay was India’s displeasure and its subsequent efforts to dissuade President Prabowo from conjoining his visits to New Delhi and Islamabad in the same tour. Last time Indonesia’s President Jokowi, who was part of the ASEAN Heads of State as chief guest in 2018, chose to visit Pakistan after the republic day celebrations in New Delhi. This time around, to avoid bad optics in New Delhi, the Indonesian president will not be travelling to Pakistan right after his India trip. This asserts India’s policy of ‘de-hyphenating’ relations with Pakistan and reflects on its rising prominence and respect for New Delhi’s sentiments by Jakarta.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe economic relations between India and Indonesia have grown significantly. Bilateral trade between the two jumped from $4.3 billion in 2005-06 to $29.4 billion in 2023-24. Indonesia has risen to become the second largest trading partner of India in the ASEAN region after Singapore and our eighth largest trading partner overall. India is the second largest buyer of coal and crude palm oil from Indonesia and imports minerals, rubber, and hydrocarbon reserves.
India exports refined petroleum products, commercial vehicles, telecommunication equipment, and agricultural commodities to Indonesia. The commencement of the India-Indonesia Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD Dialogue) in 2023 aims to enhance collaboration between the two nations. Taking the momentum forward, several agreements on health, education, digital and technology, security, and maritime might be signed during the upcoming visit.
Being maritime neighbours and strategic partners, defence and security cooperation between the two has also increased over the past years. India is developing its maiden deep seaport in Sabang in Indonesia’s Aceh province that lies close to India’s southernmost territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The port will be key to India’s Indo-Pacific strategy as it gives India better access to the Southeast Asian markets and provides a strategic hedge to China’s increasing presence across the Strait of Malacca and the larger Indian Ocean region.
In 2012, both sides initiated the ‘Defence Ministers Dialogue,’ followed by a defence cooperation agreement in 2018 during PM Modi’s visit that further elevated their defence and security cooperation. On one hand, Indonesia seeks closer defence ties with India and is keen to buy the Indian-made BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, giving it a strong defence posture against China in the South China Sea. On the other hand, Indonesia is critical to India’s Act East Policy and its engagement in the ASEAN region as its largest country by economy, population, and land size.
The shared culture, colonial history, and post-independence goals of political sovereignty and independent foreign policy have a significant effect on bilateral relations. President Prabowo’s visit should provide an opportunity for the leaders to undertake a comprehensive review of their ties as well as to discuss regional and global issues of mutual interest. It could further boost tourism and cultural and academic cooperation between the two. In specific, they must redeem blue economy opportunities based on geopolitical and geostrategic positions in their respective seas and oceans, leveraging their maritime resources for sustainable and win-win economic growth for both nations.
Mohit Anand is Professor of International Business and Strategy at EMLYON Business School, France. Rajesh Mehta is a leading consultant and columnist working on market entry, innovation and public policy. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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