Medan, Indonesia – Indonesian President Joko Widodo is in america this week for a summit with President Joe Biden on the White Home, and later to attend the thirtieth Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco, amid the continuing warfare between Israel and Gaza.
The go to has raised questions on whether or not Widodo, popularly referred to as Jokowi, will name for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The difficulty is especially heated now that the Indonesia Hospital, positioned in northern Gaza, has been surrounded by Israeli forces.
The hospital was in-built 2011 with donations from Indonesian residents and organizations, together with the Indonesian Purple Cross and the Muhammadiyah Society, one among Indonesia’s largest Muslim organizations. It was formally inaugurated in 2016 by then Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Three Indonesian volunteers from the Indonesian humanitarian group Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), which organized the donations for the development of the hospital, are presently based mostly in North Gaza.
Nonetheless, regardless of the grim scenario within the besieged enclave, consultants informed Al Jazeera that Widodo would probably use the White Home go to to debate a variety of points.
“He’s prone to focus on numerous points associated to funding and commerce, particularly concerning the motion of capital and essential minerals reminiscent of nickel, downstreaming and electrical automobile manufacturing in Indonesia,” stated Ahmad Rizky M Umar, affiliate professor on the College of Queensland.
Commerce and funding
As an outgoing president whose second and closing time period ends subsequent yr, Widodo will probably give attention to securing his legacy and supporting ongoing tasks already within the works, reminiscent of plans to focus on 1.5 million of Jakarta’s 11 million residents to maneuver. to East Kalimantan as a part of the brand new capital mission estimated to value round US$32 billion.
Umar added that Widodo would probably additionally focus on Indonesia’s membership of the Group for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD), which may make the nation extra engaging to traders given the group’s dedication to greatest practices because the Southeast’s largest economic system -Asia seems to be attracting extra American traders. entrepreneurs.
“He’s additionally prone to focus on the elevation of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and america to a ‘complete strategic partnership’,” Umar stated.
In line with the White Home, the theme for this yr’s APEC is “Making a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All” with the aim of constructing “an interconnected, progressive and inclusive” area and selling “a free, truthful and open financial coverage agenda that advantages American employees, companies and households.”
Based in 1989, APEC has 21 members, together with Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, america and Vietnam, which quantity almost 3 billion individuals and contribute 62 p.c to the nation’s gross home product (GDP). the world, whereas they management nearly 3 billion individuals. half of all world commerce.
Indonesia itself can also be a serious rising economic system that some consider may rank among the many high 5 economies worldwide by mid-century.
Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer in worldwide relations at Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani in Bandung, informed Al Jazeera that though Widodo would point out Palestine, it will not be the primary matter of debate.
The US has supported Israel since Hamas launched a shock wave of assaults on October 7 that killed no less than 1,200 individuals and captured one other 200.
Following the assault, Israel declared warfare on Hamas and subjected Gaza, residence to about 2.3 million individuals, to brutal bombardments.
Greater than 11,000 individuals have died.
“I believe he’ll give attention to the economic system and broader Indonesian relations with america. He isn’t the type of chief who desires to have interaction with America. He’ll need to make sure that relations with america run easily,” he stated.
“He’ll give attention to what Indonesia can achieve from the go to and never spend an excessive amount of time on different issues. It will likely be a transactional assembly.”
An open letter to Widodo
However as a lot as Widodo desires to give attention to financial issues, the thorny problem of the Indonesia Hospital will probably be troublesome to disregard.
“I think he’ll discuss Palestine, particularly about humanitarian assist and a ceasefire, as a result of Israel itself has accused the Indonesia Hospital of being a hideout for Hamas,” stated Umar, a lecturer on the College of Queensland.
Final week, Israel accused the Indonesian hospital of harboring Hamas fighters in tunnels beneath the constructing.
Indonesia’s International Ministry rejected the accusations and stated the Indonesia Hospital would serve the Palestinians “totally.”
Indonesia is essentially the most populous Muslim nation on the earth; 207 million of the 270 million individuals observe Islam. The nation doesn’t preserve formal diplomatic relations with Israel and there’s no Israeli embassy in Indonesia.
Indonesian residents and the federal government have lengthy been seen as sympathetic to the Palestinian trigger – in current weeks tons of of 1000’s of individuals have taken to the streets of Jakarta to name for a ceasefire – however there have been periodic makes an attempt to ease relations with Israel to thaw, additionally below former President Abdurrahman Wahid.
On November 11, MER-C despatched an open letter to Widodo, calling on him to make use of his go to to the White Home to “save the Indonesia Hospital.”
“Right now marks the thirty sixth day that the world is witnessing indiscriminate aggression, homicide and mass slaughter of civilians within the Gaza Strip, nearly all of whom are girls and kids. […] all hospitals within the Gaza Strip have fallen sufferer to the brutality of the Israeli military,” the letter stated.
It added that the Indonesian hospital was attempting to function amid complete darkness and a scarcity of medicines.
MER-C continued that it hoped Widodo would elevate the hospital problem throughout his assembly with Biden, and “put strain on the world, particularly america, to right away name a ceasefire within the Gaza Strip provoke and save the Indonesia Hospital from Israeli assaults.”
“In gentle of this, will the world and our Indonesian nation stay silent?” the letter stated.
