Indonesia sits in BRICS alone, and ASEAN has no view on it

Five Southeast Asian countries turned up at the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi, which adopted its declaration on 12 September, each with a different status. Gurjit Singh, a former Indian ambassador to Indonesia and to ASEAN, uses that untidy picture in Fulcrum to make a point about the region. Indonesia was there as a full member, the first ASEAN country to become one, in 2025. Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam went as partner countries, a lesser rank that still gives them a formal channel. The Philippines, neither member nor partner, attended because it chairs ASEAN this year. As Singh puts it, ASEAN has not sought a common position on BRICS, so each member goes in on its own terms.

Prabowo pushed three themes in New Delhi: self-reliance at home, unity among developing countries, and closer work inside BRICS. Singh reads none of it as a change of side. For Indonesia, he writes, BRICS is "not a substitute for ASEAN, the G20 or other partnerships." It is one more instrument, which fits a foreign policy that has avoided joining any big power bloc since the 1950s. Anwar Ibrahim talked economics for Malaysia; Vietnam's prime minister talked clean energy.

The declaration gives Jakarta a list of openings and no money. Singh points to the call to reform global governance, meaning more votes for developing countries in the bodies that set economic rules, and to a finance agenda that "could offer alternatives beyond traditional Western financial institutions". That includes settling trade in local currencies, the BRICS Pay payment system, and the group's Contingent Reserve Arrangement, a shared pot of reserves members can draw on when money rushes out of their economy. Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam may all seek full membership in the next expansion. Until then Indonesia holds the only ASEAN seat at that table, and any friction that comes with it.

Why it matters

The question is not whether Indonesia has joined a club, but whether any of these channels get used: trade actually settled in rupiah, or support from that reserve pot when foreign investors pull out. Watch for that over the next year, because attending a summit changes nothing you pay for. There is a cost on the other side too, since with no ASEAN position to stand behind, Jakarta answers alone for decisions shaped by the group's biggest members, China and Russia.