Indonesia’s admission this month to the BRICS developing-country bloc, started by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, marks an expansion of the group to Southeast Asia.
Jakarta’s admission, which follows last year’s addition of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, was announced January 6 by Brazil, the group’s presiding member. In October, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam became partner countries – meaning they are interested in becoming BRICS members but have not yet been accepted for full membership.
Indonesia is the only Southeast Asian country that has been accepted as a full member.
Teuku Rezasyah, a professor of diplomacy and foreign policy at Indonesia’s Universitas Padjajaran, said membership will allow Indonesia to work with other influential countries with substantial populations to reform multilateral organizations such as the United Nations.
“Currently, Russia and China are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. However, BRICS has become a strong foundation for Indonesia to generate support from countries like India, Brazil and South Africa in order to push through reforms of the U.N. Security Council,” he told VOA January 15.
Rezasyah said there have not been significant structural changes in the United Nations for 80 years.
The Security Council’s five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – have veto power and they are “mostly Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian civilizations,” he said.
“The world’s first and fourth largest country by population which is India and Indonesia, who represent large Hindu and Muslim populations, are not always represented well in the Security Council,” he said.
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Roy Soemirat pointed to areas in which Jakarta would like to see changes at the U.N.
“Indonesia continues to push for revitalizing the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. There need to be changes in the working methods, limited use of veto power, and improve the issue of representation at the Security Council. The Security Council was last expanded from 11 to 15 countries in the 1970s. As more countries join the United Nations, the composition of the Security Council needs to change,” he told VOA January 18.
He added that Indonesia has been active in U.N. working groups on U.N. reforms, particularly as a nonpermanent Security Council member from 2019 to 2020. The United Nations unanimously agreed to push for improving regulations on using veto power in 2015. Along with France and Mexico, Indonesia has urged Security Council countries to be more transparent and voluntarily explain their reasons for a veto, Roy added.
Aspirations to reform the United Nations
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Sugiono, in his annual address January 10, cited a lack of respect for international law and the U.N. Charter, saying the global economic architecture does not meet the modern challenges and needs most countries face.
Indonesia was one of the first countries to call for U.N. reforms, in a 1960 speech to the General Assembly by then-President Sukarno.
Mohammad Faisal, executive director of the Center of Reform on Economics, a Jakarta research group, said it will “still be a long way to truly reform the United Nations,” but that “the growing power of the emerging countries, including those under BRICS, will at least, make it more balanced.”
“So, the voices of the emerging and developing countries can be heard more optimally in the global arena,” he said.
Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, a foreign Spokesman of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, was quoted by Antara wire service that he believes that the U.N. Security Council reform is essential because can make decisions that all member states must follow. However, there is no agreement among U.N. member states on a system for change.
Some member states propose changing the veto right, while others propose permanent or semipermanent member status.
Dinna Prapto Raharja, senior policy advisor at Synergy Policies – a public policy consulting firm – and a tenured Associate Professor in international relations noted developing countries’ various positions on U.N. reform.
“Everybody has their own champion of who should be the new permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, for instance. How the U.N. Security Council veto can be ended and who should get veto power. That’s why I think Indonesia has to come up with an idea for U.N. reform that is really feasible to achieve,” she said.
The foreign affairs ministry emphasized the importance of BRICS as a platform for voices of the Global South.
“BRICS is an important platform for Indonesia to strengthen South-South cooperation, ensuring that the voices and aspirations of Global South countries are heard and represented in the global decision-making process. We are fully dedicated to working together with all BRICS members, or with other parties, to create a just, peaceful, and prosperous world.” the ministry said in a January 7 press statement.
There are also concerns among members of the House of Representatives, Indonesia’s unicameral national legislature, and international relations analysts, that by joining BRICS, Indonesia is drawing closer to Russia and China while distancing itself from Western powers such as the United States and the European Union.
Vinsensio Dugis, head of the ASEAN Studies Research Center at Universitas Airlangga in Indonesia, said he is concerned that Western countries consider BRICS to be a forum led by China and Russia to oppose Western political and economic interests, which could cause Western countries to withhold future investment in Indonesia.
Combined, BRICS has a population of 3.5 billion people or 45% of the global population. Not including Indonesia, the economies of BRICS countries account for around 28% of the global economy. It is often perceived as challenging the political and economic dominance of rich and powerful countries in North America and western Europe.
Apart from reforming the United Nations, Indonesia said it is ready to send more peacekeeping forces to Gaza.
Soemirat, speaking before a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect Sunday, called the prolonged conflict in Gaza “an example of the U.N. Security Council’s failure to quickly fulfil its mandate to maintain international peace and security based on the U.N. Charter.”
Sugiono, in a January 16 posting on X, expressed hope that the ceasefire agreement that had been reached could be “a momentum to push for peace in Palestine.”
