‘Non-aligned’ Indonesia cannot accept foreign military bases: President

ISTANBUL

Indonesia “can’t accept foreign military bases,” President Prabowo Subianto has said, emphasizing the largest Muslim-populated nation’s “non-aligned" foreign policy, local media reported on Monday.

“They (our foreign partners) have long been aware of our stance. We don’t want to join any (military) pacts. We can’t accept foreign military bases. It has always been like that since (our founding father) Sukarno’s era,” Prabowo told a group of journalists and experts, according to a report by the Jakarta Globe outlet.

Sukarno, an independence leader, served as the first president of Indonesia between 1945 and 1967.

Prabowo, a former military general as well as defense chief, said Southeast Asia’s biggest economy remains open to “peaceful visits and navigation to all,” including “refuels” by the US, China, and even Russia.

Indonesia shall maintain its “principles of non-alignment and non-bloc,” he stressed.

“We shall not get involved in any wars,” said Prabowo amid the ongoing war in the Middle East since Feb. 28.

“If we are nice to everyone, we can be useful. … If Iran accepts us -- although I’m not sure to what extent -- and if the Gulf nations still trust us, that’s good. Maybe we can be a mediator, even though I don’t know how effective that would be,” said Prabowo.

Jakarta has urged an end to the ongoing armed conflict, offered mediation earlier, and said Prabowo could travel to Tehran for that purpose.

Regional tensions in the Middle East have continued to escalate since the joint attacks by the US and Israel on Iran began on Feb. 28, killing so far over 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.

Tehran has also imposed control over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global energy and other supplies to most of Asia.

Meanwhile, Jakarta has also suspended its plans to deploy soldiers to the Palestinian enclave of Gaza under the International Stabilization Force, which is led by the US through the Board of Peace. Indonesia has initially pledged some 8,000 soldiers for the mission.