Indonesian President Joko Widodo heads to US amid Gaza tensions | Politics News

Medan, Indonesia – Indonesian President Joko Widodo is in the USA this week for a summit with President Joe Biden on the White Home, and later to attend the thirtieth Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, amid the persevering with Israel-Gaza conflict.

The go to has prompted questions on whether or not Widodo, popularly often known as Jokowi, will name for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The difficulty is especially heated because the Indonesia Hospital, positioned in north Gaza, has been encircled by Israeli forces.

The hospital was in-built 2011 with donations from Indonesian residents and organisations, together with the Indonesian Crimson Cross Society and the Muhammadiyah Society, one among Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisations. It was formally inaugurated in 2016 by the then-Indonesian vice chairman, Jusuf Kalla.

Three Indonesian volunteers with the Indonesian humanitarian organisation the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), which organised the donations to construct the hospital, are presently primarily based in north Gaza.

Nevertheless, regardless of the grim state of affairs within the besieged enclave, consultants instructed Al Jazeera that Widodo was possible to make use of the go to to the White Home to debate a variety of points.

“He’ll possible focus on a number of issues associated to funding and commerce, particularly associated to the relocation of the capital and demanding minerals reminiscent of nickel, downstreaming and the manufacturing of electrical autos in Indonesia,” mentioned Ahmad Rizky M Umar, an affiliate lecturer on the College of Queensland.

Commerce and funding

As an outgoing president whose second, and last, time period in workplace will finish subsequent 12 months, Widodo is prone to be involved with securing his legacy and shoring up present tasks already within the works, reminiscent of plans to relocate 1.5 million of Jakarta’s 11 million residents to East Kalimantan underneath the brand new capital metropolis venture estimated to price some $32bn.

Umar added that Widodo would most likely additionally focus on Indonesia’s membership of the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Improvement (OECD), which could make it extra enticing to traders given the organisation’s dedication to greatest practices, as Southeast Asia’s greatest economic system appears to be like to lure extra US entrepreneurs.

“He will even most likely focus on the elevation of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and the USA right into a ‘complete strategic partnership’,” Umar mentioned.

In line with the White Home, the theme for this 12 months’s APEC is “Making a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All” with the intention of constructing “an interconnected, revolutionary and inclusive” area and advancing “a free, truthful and open financial coverage agenda that advantages US employees, companies and households”.

APEC was established in 1989 and has 21 members together with Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the USA and Vietnam, comprising practically 3 billion folks and contributing 62 p.c to the world’s gross home product (GDP), whereas controlling virtually half of all world commerce.

Indonesia itself can be a significant rising economic system which some estimate may rank within the top five economies globally by the center of the century.

Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer in worldwide relations at Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani in Bandung, instructed Al Jazeera that, whereas Widodo may point out Palestine, it will not be the principle matter of dialog.

The US has backed Israel since Hamas launched a shock wave of assaults on October 7 killing no less than 1,200 folks and taking no less than 200 extra captive.

After the assault, Israel declared conflict on Hamas and has subjected Gaza, residence to some 2.3 million folks, to relentless bombardment.

Greater than 11,000 folks have been killed.

“I feel he’ll deal with the economic system and wider Indonesian relations with the USA. He’s not the sort of chief who will get on his soapbox with America. He’ll need to guarantee that relations with the USA are operating easily,” he mentioned.

“He will likely be centered on what Indonesia can acquire from the go to and never spend an excessive amount of time on different points. Will probably be a transactional assembly.”

An open letter to Widodo

Nevertheless, a lot as Widodo might need to deal with financial issues, the thorny situation of the Indonesia Hospital is prone to be tough to disregard.

“I believe he’ll speak about Palestine, particularly relating to humanitarian support and a ceasefire, as a result of Israel itself has accused the Indonesia Hospital of being a Hamas hideout,” College of Queensland lecturer Umar mentioned.

Final week, Israel accused the Indonesia Hospital of harbouring Hamas fighters in tunnels underneath the constructing.

Indonesia’s overseas ministry rejected the allegations, saying that the Indonesia Hospital was to “absolutely” serve Palestinians.

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation with 207 million of its 270 million folks following Islam. The nation doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Israel and there’s no Israeli embassy in Indonesia.

Indonesian residents and the federal government have lengthy been seen as sympathetic to the Palestinian trigger – tons of of 1000’s have taken to the streets of Jakarta in current weeks to name for a ceasefire – however there have been periodic makes an attempt to thaw relations with Israel, together with underneath former President Abdurrahman Wahid.

On November 11, MER-C issued an open letter to Widodo, calling on him to make use of his go to to the White Home to “save the Indonesia Hospital”.

“At this time marks the thirty sixth day of the world witnessing indiscriminate aggression, homicide, and mass slaughter of civilians within the Gaza Strip, nearly all of whom are girls and youngsters […] all hospitals within the Gaza Strip, have fallen sufferer to the brutality of the Israeli navy,” the letter mentioned.

It added that the Indonesia Hospital was making an attempt to function amid complete darkness and a scarcity of medicines.

MER-C continued that it hoped that Widodo would increase the difficulty of the hospital throughout his assembly with Biden, and “exert strain on the world, particularly the USA, to instantly provoke a ceasefire within the Gaza Strip and save the Indonesia Hospital from Israeli assaults”.

“Will the world and our Indonesian nation proceed to stay silent within the face of this?” the letter mentioned.