Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto made a surprise move of skipping the ASEAN-Russia Summit in Kazan, as the Indonesian leader chose to “focus on domestic affairs”, according to his aide.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting Southeast Asian leaders — including Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim and Singapore’s Lawrence Wong — in Kazan for a gathering that marks three decades of Moscow being the bloc’s dialogue partner. Prabowo — despite being known as a globetrotter — passed on the job to Foreign Minister Sugiono. The chief diplomat had already set foot in Russia.
“Mr. President [Prabowo] has his own considerations [on why he skips the summit]. There are many domestic matters he wishes to address,” State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi told the press on Wednesday, as seen in a video provided by the Government Communications Agency.
According to Prasetyo, Prabowo had already gone over “various matters” with his ASEAN counterparts at the bloc’s Philippines summit last month, signaling that his absence would not sour ties.
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“He had also met with President Putin not long ago to discuss many things. [Both sides] have followed up on some of those commitments from a technical standpoint,” Prasetyo said.
The president visited Moscow in April in a bid to secure energy stocks following the supply squeeze from the Iran war-induced closure at the global oil shipping channel, Strait of Hormuz. Prabowo did not come home empty-handed as Russia agreed to supply crude and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Prasetyo did not expand on the domestic affairs that had kept Prabowo busy, but governments worldwide are still grappling with the aftermath of the prolonged US-Iran war. The public has been unhappy with the sudden 32% price hike in non-subsidized fuels, dealing a fatal blow to Indonesia’s middle class. The capital Jakarta has recently seen student protests that called for Prabowo to scrap the cost-heavy school meal rollout.
According to Prasetyo, the president had attended meetings related to hajj that day, as many of the Indonesian pilgrims had already returned.
Prabowo’s absence came after ex-senior diplomat Dino Patti Djalal slammed the president’s frequent travels. He called on Prabowo to pursue video call diplomacy instead of physically visiting his counterparts, citing budget concerns.
“A video call costs nothing, and our country can save hundreds of billions of rupiah. The results that we can achieve are pretty much the same,” Dino, who was a former deputy foreign minister, said in a viral video.
The Foreign Ministry has yet to roll out a statement following Sugiono’s arrival. Economic and energy cooperation are expected to dominate the Kazan meeting. ASEAN reported that its two-way merchandise trade with Russia had totaled $17.8 billion throughout last year.
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