Abstract

The Indonesian military recently received the first 6 French-made Dassault Rafale fighter jets out of a total order of 42 jets. President Prabowo Subianto’s defence diplomacy has been playing a key role in supporting Indonesia’s arms modernisation ambitions, including the procurement of the Dassault Rafale fighter jets. In addition to arms acquisition, the president’s defence diplomacy has helped Indonesia deepen defence cooperation with a number of countries, most recently Türkiye and Japan. Under President Prabowo, defence diplomacy seems to be evolving into an inseparable part of the overall defence modernisation. Against this background, this webinar seeks to examine Indonesia’s defence diplomacy strategy under President Prabowo.

This webinar will explore three key questions: How do we define Indonesia’s defence diplomacy strategy under President Prabowo? What are the objectives and priorities of Indonesia’s defence diplomacy? In what way Indonesia’s defence diplomacy shapes the country’s wider foreign policy?

About the Speakers 

Fauzia Gustarina Cempaka Timur is an Assistant Professor at the Republic of Indonesia Defense University (RIDU). Her research interests cover non-traditional security, asymmetric warfare, and defence strategy. Dr. Cempaka earned her doctorate in International Relations from Universitas Padjadjaran in 2020. She is also a Senior Analyst at Indo-Pacific Strategic Intelligence (ISI) think tank and a Fellow at Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.