Indonesia-Israel relations: why normalising ties for an OECD seat would be ‘political suicide’ for Jakarta

Indonesia has rejected reports that it wants to establish diplomatic relations with Israel as a quid pro quo for OECD membership
Doing so amid the brutal war in Gaza would create ‘turmoil and waves of dissent’ within the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, observers say

Indonesia

Resty Woro Yuniar

Published: 12:00pm, 16 Apr 2024

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Reports that Indonesia is considering establishing diplomatic relations with Israel as a way of securing membership to the OECD club of nations have been outright rejected by observers in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, who called such a move “political suicide”.

A supposed agreement for Jakarta to formally recognise and normalise ties with Israel ahead of a vote on Indonesia’s accession to the 38-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development was reported on last week by Israeli news site Ynet.

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But for any Indonesian politician to “speak up about” normalising ties with the Jewish-majority state “would be committing political suicide”, according to Dina Sulaiman, founder of the Indonesian Centre for Middle East Studies. “The majority of the Indonesian public is still pro-Palestinian,” she told This Week in Asia.

To join the OECD, applicants must win the approval of all current member states, including Israel. Successful candidates “demonstrate … like-mindedness in their statements and actions in their relations with the organisation and its members”, according to the organisation’s road map to membership.

Ynet’s report, published on Thursday, cited a letter it said was sent last month by OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann to Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, stating that the organisation’s main decision-making body had “officially agreed to the clear and explicit early conditions according to which Indonesia must establish diplomatic relations with all OECD member countries before any decision is made to admit it to the OECD”.

The report further quoted a letter it said Katz had sent to Cormann on Wednesday last week, responding that he “anticipates a positive change” in Indonesia’s “hostile policy” towards Israel so that the two might establish ties. Indonesia’s accession to the OECD would take up to three years, the report claimed, with Israel holding veto power if Jakarta failed to normalise ties.

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Indonesia denied the claims, with foreign ministry spokesman Lalu Muhammad Iqbal saying on Thursday: “there are no plans to open diplomatic relations with Israel, especially in the wake of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.”

“Indonesia’s position has not changed and we remain firmly in support of Palestine’s independence within the framework of a two-state solution. Indonesia will always be consistent and be at the forefront of defending the rights of the Palestinian people.”

Lalu said it would take “quite a long time” for Indonesia to join the OECD, but noted that Jakarta planned to adopt the organisation’s membership road map by next month.

At a meeting of OECD ambassadors in January, Israel reportedly raised objections to Indonesia joining the organisation given the absence of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Indonesian protesters shout pro-Palestinian slogans at an Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally outside the US Embassy in Jakarta on April 5. Photo: AP

The Ynet report was not the first this year to claim that Indonesia was preparing to officially recognise Israel. US-based media outlet Jewish Insider reported in late February that the two countries had been set to announce an agreement in October, just before Hamas launched its deadly attack that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

Ari Dwipayana, a staff coordinator for outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo, rubbished the report at the time, telling the country’s Antara news agency: “the information is completely incorrect”.

Earlier, Israeli broadsheet The Jerusalem Post reported that Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, now the Southeast Asian nation’s president-elect, had led an effort to cooperate on agriculture, leading Prabowo to issue a statement denying any such partnership.

Effects of Israel-Gaza war

Whatever the truth of the reports, Jakarta would likely find it impossible to normalise relations with Israel at the moment given public sentiment amid the bloody Gaza war, in which more than 33,000 Palestinians have reportedly died.

“Especially in the last few months, public sentiment has been very pro-Palestinian, as people are concerned about what is happening in Gaza,” said Indonesian Centre for Middle East Studies’ Sulaiman. “I am sure that normalisation with Israel will not happen in the near future.”

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A survey by Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute released earlier this month showed 74.7 per cent of Indonesian respondents viewed the Israel-Gaza war as their top geopolitical concern, and nearly 80 per cent of respondents were concerned that the attack on Gaza had gone too far.

Israel was likely pursuing diplomatic normalisation with Indonesia to build upon the Abraham Accords, US-mediated agreements it reached with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other Arab countries beginning in 2020, said Siti Mutiah Setiawati, who lectures on Middle Eastern governance and politics at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

Formal ties with Indonesia could pave the way for Israel to extend its diplomatic outreach to other Muslim-majority countries in Asia including Malaysia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, she said.

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Israel and Indonesia have had informal defence engagements for years, Siti said, citing the Indonesian Air Force’s purchase of 30 Skyhawk combat aircraft from its Israeli counterpart between 1979-82 and the training of Indonesian pilots at an airbase in Israel over that same period.

But such informal ties are unlikely to lead to a full diplomatic relationship just because Indonesia aspires to become an OECD member.

“There will be turmoil and waves of dissent within society [if such ties were established,” Siti said.

“Indonesia’s most consistent foreign policy is the Palestinian issue. Since [Indonesian independence leader] Sukarno until Jokowi [as Widodo is popularly known], no president has suggested opening diplomatic relations with Israel.”