What’s left: A woman sitting inside her damaged apartment, surrounded by the rubble of neighbouring residences, all devastated by Israeli bombardments, in Gaza City. With a ceasefire having been brokered in the Palestinian enclave in October, Prabowo is seeking to make good on the pledge he delivered at the UN General Assembly in September to send some 20,000 troops on a peacekeeping mission. — AP
Concerns are mounting over Jakarta’s recent shift in tone on its planned peacekeeping role in Gaza, with the government now weighing the option of sending troops under a United States-led stabilisation force rather than waiting for a United Nations mandate.
With a ceasefire having been brokered in the Palestinian enclave in October, President Prabowo Subianto is seeking to make good on the pledge he delivered at the UN General Assembly in September to send some 20,000 troops on a peacekeeping mission.
Although the government had previously insisted that any deployment must follow a UN mandate, Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said on Friday that another option was being considered.
“There is a second alternative, which is (to deploy peacekeeping troops) under an arrangement agreed upon by the international organisation initiated by the US president,” he said.
While Sjafrie did not directly mention what organisation he was referring to, US President Donald Trump has previously been actively promoting the US-coordinated International Stabilisation Force (ISF) to be deployed to Gaza.
The ISF is part of Trump’s 20-point peace plan and its deployment is aimed at preventing renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas, protecting aid convoys and supporting a transitional government.
Issuance of a UN mandate would require an agreement from members of the UN Security Council without a veto from any of its five permanent members: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China.
The UNSC is set to vote on Trump’s peace plan yesterday, although Russia has also issued a competing draft resolution of its own.
While acknowledging that a final decision would require extensive discussions, Sjafrie said Indonesia would only send its troops as part of the US-coordinated multinational force under the condition that all countries with “relevant competencies” agree to Indonesia’s involvement.
Regardless of whether it will be under a UN mandate or the US-led mission, Sjafrie emphasised that Indonesia “has an interest” in ensuring peace in the war-torn enclave.
“Prabowo is preparing a sizable force. His thinking is that we will maximise the deployment to 20,000 personnel, with a focus on medical and construction units,” he added.
Foreign policy analysts, however, have raised concerns about Indonesia participating in a peacekeeping mission under the ISF banner.
International relations expert Ahmad Rizky M. Umar from Aberystwyth University said on Sunday that a UN mandate was essential to ensure Indonesia’s peacekeeping troops are protected under international law and that the costs of deploying 20,000 personnel would be reimbursed by the UN.
The way that Jakarta is now considering deploying troops without the mandate, he said, reflected Prabowo’s ambition for Indonesia to assume a larger role in international politics and peacekeeping efforts.
“(If Indonesia formally joins the ISF), it places the country within the sphere of influence of a major power like the US.
“The danger is that Indonesia ends up becoming a tool to advance American or Israeli interests instead,” he said.
Lina Alexandra, head of the international relations department at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that waiting for a UN mandate was “the only correct path” for Indonesia to contribute to any peacekeeping missions, warning that moving ahead without one would be highly contentious.
“A UN peacekeeping mission is fundamentally neutral. A stabilisation force, by contrast, forcefully enforces peace. If fighting breaks out on the ground, we would have to take part,” she said on Sunday.
“We must not become a party to the conflict, and that is precisely the risk if we join the ISF.” — The Jakarta Post/ANN
