Discussing the implications of the 2024 General Elections and the country’s 2045 Vision, the Indonesia Programme conducted a webinar titled “Post-2024 General Elections and Indonesia 2045 Vision: Strategic Challenges and Opportunities” on 15 March 2024. It also examined the geopolitical dynamics and strategic challenges surrounding the fulfilment of the vision. Participants discussed the influence of domestic politics as well as geopolitical dynamics to the realisation of the 2045 Vision.
Dr Yohanes Sulaiman, an Associate Professor at University of Jenderal Achmad Yani, started the discussion by examining Indonesia’s strategic challenges and opportunities, particularly in relation to the country’s vision for 2045. He began by outlining the key pillars of the 2045 vision, which include strengthening human resources, promoting pluralism, becoming a centre for education and technology, having a clean government free from corruption, achieving equitable infrastructure development, maintaining independence, and becoming a benchmark for global economic growth. He presented optimistic and pessimistic scenarios on the progress of the Indonesia 2045 Vision under Prabowo Subianto’s presidency. The optimistic view projected Prabowo prioritising economic growth, internal reforms, and maintaining democracy to attract investors. While under the pessimistic scenario, Dr Sulaiman outlined the threat of an unpredictable presidency.
Ms Edna Caroline, a journalist at Kompas daily newspaper and co-Founder of Indonesia Strategic and Defence Studies (ISDS), focused on Indonesia’s challenges as an emerging middle power to navigate the dynamic geopolitical landscape of the Asia-Pacific region. In her conclusion, Ms Edna highlighted Indonesia’s desire to amplify its middle power profile through multi-directional engagement with major powers. However, such aspiration requires Indonesian policymakers to strike balance between fulfilling strategic interests and avoiding excessive provocation of any great power.
The discussion continued with a Q&A session where the participants asked about future trajectories of Indonesia’s defence and foreign policy. In their closing statements, both speakers discussed the potential political and bureaucratic challenges that Prabowo might face during his time as president.
