Government Needs To Be Alert To Be US Protection Target After Joining BRICS

JAKARTA - Indonesia has officially followed in the footsteps of several countries from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to extend the list of state members who have joined Brazil's largest economic blocs, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).

This has been officially announced at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sao Paulo as well as a continuation of a series of episodes of Indonesia's joining procession to the alliance, which previously started in October last year, following Foreign Minister Sugiono's presence in Kazan.

As for domestically itself, Indonesia's joining with BRICS is even still causing pros and cons.

Some observers believe this alliance will be the balancing of the G7 consisting of the United States (US), Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

As a member of the new BRICS group, Indonesia has the opportunity to participate in the solidarity of the Global South country in reducing the current West hegemony.

Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira said Indonesia's participation in BRICS could be assessed as an effort to strengthen relations not only with China, but with Brazil and South Africa and the central eastern country.

According to Bhima, the government should not see BRICS as only China's agenda, but there is great potential with Brazil's countries related to the restorative economy, to South Africa regarding the development of a clean energy transition.

"If it is too pro-China, Indonesia's membership in BRICS is actually in vain to replicate economic relations with China, which is already too dominant", Bhima said in his statement, Wednesday, January 8.

On the other hand, Bhima said, the BRICS alliance did not really provide profits for Indonesia because the Chinese economy is projected to slow down, especially after the re-elect of Donald Trump, which triggered trade protectionism.

Bhima explained that Indonesia's joining with BRICS could be said to be risky, especially if it focuses too much on China.

To avoid this risk, Indonesia needs to play a role in encouraging collaboration in strategic sectors.

According to Bhima, strategic sectors such as the investment sector and infrastructure development target the needs of developing countries, and direct investment in projects that can strengthen the economic independence of member countries.

In line with this, Bhima said that Indonesia needs to play a role in encouraging green investment cooperation by developing an environmentally friendly capital market.

"When talking about Global South, the main urgency that cannot be ignored is the dominance of investment in the extractive sector. So BRICS is also expected to highlight the potential for green investment cooperation for green growth in the coming years," he added.

Similarly, the Director of China-Indonesia Desk Celios Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat believes that the global economic uncertainty due to the trade war between China and the US as Trump will destabilize economic stability in several countries, and this will certainly have an impact on Indonesia plus Trump's threat to BRICS member countries if de-delolarized.

Trump's reaction needs to be watched out for, because he is one of the leaders who proves his words. If, the US imposes a 100 percent tariff on BRICS member countries, of course, Indonesia will be affected by the policy, it is undeniable that this will also be a challenge for the Indonesian economy in the short or medium term," he said.

Zulfikar said this would also lead to a sharp decline in export volume, especially for products that rely heavily on the US market.

In addition, Celios researcher Yeta Purnama expressed concern that stronger dependence on China still haunts Indonesia.

According to him, Indonesia should be more aggressive in diversifying partners bilaterally to survive global economic uncertainty in the future.

"The potential for multilateral cooperation will certainly be profitable but if it is in the same circle, when the economy of member countries that dominate like China weakens, it will be vulnerable to having an impact on domestic economic stability", he said.