Active DPR Diplomacy Voices That The Interest Of The Republic Of Indonesia Is Prohibited From Declining This Period

JAKARTA - In the function of parliamentary diplomacy, the DPR RI for the 2019-2024 period, which has just completed its term of service, is considered to have played a good role. The performance of DPR's diplomacy in the past 5 years under the leadership of Puan Maharani has experienced quite high progress.

"Over the past 5 years, the DPR has shown leadership in parliamentary diplomacy both at regional and international levels," said International Relations Observer Anton Aliabbas, Thursday, October 3.

Since 2019 until his term ends on September 30, 2024, the DPR is known to host a number of meetings and sessions of international parliamentary forums. One of the most attention received was when the DPR hosted the 144th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) General Assembly which was held in Bali in 2022. The IPU itself is a world parliamentary forum where the 144th IPU Session was held at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the same year, the DPR also hosted The 8th G20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit (P20) or the parliamentary forum of the G20 countries. The P20 event was considered quite prestigious considering that this forum was attended by the parliamentary chairmen of the G20 countries, which the G20 Summit was then held in Indonesia.

Then in 2023, the DPR will hold the chairmanship of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), which is the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Council in line with Indonesia's chairmanship in ASEAN. As Chair of AIPA, the DPR has also hosted the 44th AIPA General Assembly and a number of other supporting activities.

In 2023, the DPR will also host the implementation of The 9th Mikta Speakers' Consultation, which is a consultation forum for Mexican parliamentary leaders, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and Australia (MIKTA) as middle power countries.

Anton sees that DPR diplomacy abroad under the leadership of the Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, is very productive. Even though in at least more than 2 years at the beginning of the period, there was no physical activity let alone related to the international community considering the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world.

"The leadership in this diplomacy does feel significantly increased when compared to the DPR for the previous period," explained Anton.

Anton even underlined how the House of Representatives invited the Russian parliament and Ukrainian parliament to sit together on the 8th P20 forum in Jakarta when the two countries were at war.

When hosting P20 at the G20 event, the DPR showed the initiative to invite the Ukrainian parliament and Russia to sit together in one forum. The DPR is also actively discussing the issue of Myanmar when holding the chairmanship, "said the Lecturer at Paramadina University.

"What the DPR has done certainly deserves appreciation because the Parliament has actively shown concrete efforts in improving Indonesia's diplomatic posture," he continued.

According to Anton, the practice of parliamentary diplomacy carried out by the DPR in the previous period was very good considering that it was carried out collaboratively with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemenlu). That way, foreign diplomacy can go hand in hand between executive and legislative institutions.

Anton also gave another positive note for the DPR for the 2019-2024 period. Especially how the DPR brought a message or attitude from Indonesia regarding various global issues. In addition to the role of the leadership of the DPR, he also highlighted the contribution of the DPR's Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency (BKSAP) which carried out many work on the function of parliamental diplomacy in a slick manner.

"During the last period, the DPR has also actively and consistently voiced national interests through parliamentary diplomacy," said Anton.

Anton also appreciated the efforts of the DPR which took the initiative to strengthen cooperation with the Pacific region through the holding of the 2nd Indonesia Pacific Parliamentary Partnership (IPPP) forum in July 2024. In this IPPP, the DPR also accommodates the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meeting which is a forum for Indonesian clumpy countries.

"Strengthening cooperation with the Pacific region certainly deserves attention considering that the Papua issue is quite closely related to the region. Plus the Papua issue also gets special attention from members of the passive parliament," said Anton.