Indonesia wants a UN Security Council seat, and is being called a fence-sitter

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry has started asking the world for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, for the years 2029 and 2030. The council has 15 seats. Five belong permanently to the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France, and each of those five can block a decision on its own. The other ten rotate, two years at a time, and a country has to win a vote to get one. Indonesia has held one of those rotating seats four times, and is now asking for a fifth.

The offer Jakarta is making is that it will speak for poorer countries. "Indonesia aims to act as a bridge builder, establishing common ground, maintaining dialogue within the council," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yvonne Mewengkang told reporters, adding that it would bring "the voice and priorities of the Global South". The campaign is built on four themes: peacekeeping, preventive diplomacy, conflict prevention, and protecting civilians once fighting starts. Preventive diplomacy means trying to settle a quarrel before it becomes a war. A seat is not symbolic. Council members vote on sanctions, on sending or withdrawing peacekeepers, and on what the UN is allowed to say about a war.

Analysts quoted by the South China Morning Post think Indonesia will probably win the vote, because it is far more active around the world than it used to be. Their doubt is about the harder half of the job. Jakarta faces accusations of hypocrisy and of being a "fence-sitter", and the same habit of working with rival powers at once, which keeps Indonesia free, makes it awkward to argue that it speaks for anyone in particular. Winning the seat needs votes from other governments, so this is one of the few times Indonesia has to ask them what they think of it.

Why it matters

A campaign built on peacekeeping is usually paid for with soldiers, so the thing to watch is whether Indonesia starts offering more troops to UN missions, which lands on military families rather than on diplomats. A country asking for votes also needs its neighbours in a good mood, and that quietly raises the price of the things they complain about, starting with the smoke crossing into Malaysia and Singapore every dry season. While the campaign runs, decisions made at home become part of an argument Jakarta is making abroad.