An editorial from one of the leading news outlets in Jakarta, the JakarataPost (JP), questioned the absence of Indonesian President Joko Widodo from the UN General Assembly again. According to the JP, the president hasn’t been seen at the UNGA for seven straight years.
That President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo opted to skip the United Nations General Assembly for the seventh straight year is regrettable as he has wasted a precious opportunity to speak up in such a crucial world forum.
There’s no reason why he’d skipped so many UNGA meetings, but the excuses now, according to the JP, is that that president has some important things to tend to during UNGA meetings at the UN in New York city. But one would wonder why there’s conflict in the president’s schedule since the UNG meetings is an annual events, and that every head of state prepared ahead of time to give time for this very important event. The editorial charged:
There are no other acceptable reasons, including the domestic political situation, for the President to not go to New York to address the world audience amid his rising reputation as one of prominent international leaders. Jakarta and several other cities across the country have witnessed street demonstrations to reject the government’s fuel price hike policy, but so far, the police have managed to maintain peace and order, so Jokowi should have had nothing to worry about.
Is the president hiding addressing growing concerns over domestic issues? Amidst growing resentment across Indonesia over unbearable inflation rates, and the growing concerns over his handling of the West Papuan saga, and other domestic matter, the president probably chose the easy way out – stay away from the international community.
Under his leadership, more than twenty thousand troops were deployed to West Papua, adding on to the huge number of Indonesian soldiers already station in the Papua region. Just May (2022) alone, the president deployed more than 400 elite soldiers to West Papua. Thus, the murder and execution of four innocent West Papuans in the hands of the Indonesian military, makes President Widodo an accessory to the crime. He should attend the UNGA and meet with heads of the United Nations and the Human Rights Council to explain himself.
Over the past few years since taking office, many West Papuans died in the hands of his military and police – many never faced the courts for their crimes. Now it seems the president is doing his best to avoid the UNGA and the UN in general. What is he afraid of? Why did he travel to Kyiv and Russia but failed to make it to the UN?
Late June, Jokowi traveled by train for about 13 hours from Warsaw to Kyiv in Ukraine to personally convey an invitation for President Volodymyr Zelensky to attend the Bali summit. Afterward Jokowi traveled to Moscow to convey the same invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also flew to Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul to discuss the Bali summit with his hosts. But he did not go to the UNGA, apparently for almost no clear reason.
So, while he traveled to Europe to trying to quell tensions between Ukraine and Russia, according to JP, he failed to stop the atrocities his troops incurred on indigenous West Papuans. It is an appalling display or arrogance and hypocrisy.
We encourage the Indonesian leaders who will speak on behalf of the president of Indonesia, and who will be around New York for weeks, to speak up against Indonesian violence in West Papua. They cannot just blame their own soldiers, they too are to be blamed for the crimes their soldiers committed. The government of Widodo’s policies on West Papua only encouraged these senseless attacks on innocent civilians – esp, women and children.
We endorsed the JP’s criticism of the president, which is – there’s no “good excuse” for missing the UNGA in seven years. President Widodo must answer for the crimes his military had incurred on innocent West Papuans and other minorities on other Islands illegally occupied by Indonesian troops.