Should Indonesia Gusar After Assistance From USAID Disband?

JAKARTA President of the United States (US) Donald Trump has again issued a controversial policy. He freezes aid funds abroad through the United States Agency of International Development/USAID (USAID Agency for International Development). The termination of the program by USAID could have a negative impact on humanitarian assistance, global health, and diplomacy run by the US.

The policy of stopping all US foreign aid was announced shortly after Trump was sworn in in January 2025. This was done as part of the US budget efficiency strategy and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) campaign. Trump also considers USAID to have spent the state budget without giving directly to its citizens.

"I have decided to immediately freeze the recruitment of federal employees, federal regulations, and foreign aid," Trump said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Saturday (22/2/2025).

"We give billions of dollars to countries that hate us," he said, adding.

Trump also praised his efforts to stop waste of the budget by establishing the Department of Government Efficiency/DOGE (Government Efficiency Department) led by billionaire Elon Musk.

USAID was founded in 1961 by US President John F.Kennedy. This institution is designed to manage humanitarian aid programs from the US and focus on economic and social development in developing countries.

Citing the official website, USAID is the largest humanitarian and development agency owned by the US Government. This institution is responsible for distributing foreign aid to more than 130 countries worldwide with an annual budget of tens of billions of US dollars.

Most of the budgets managed by USAID are focused on infrastructure projects, humanitarian assistance, health programs, education, and economic development in developing countries.

Now, Trump's decision to stop aid abroad through USAID has come under criticism from many parties because this agency previously operated as an independent institution focused on humanitarian aid and developing country development.

A number of senior officials at the institution reportedly received administrative sanctions for refusing to provide access to the government efficiency team led by Elon Musk.

On the other hand, a group of senators from the Democratic Party confirmed that Trump did not have the authority to dissolve the USAID without obtaining approval from Congress. According to them, this disbandment step has the potential to violate federal laws governing the allocation of foreign aid funds.

Meanwhile, Trump supporters argue that bureaucratic reform is indispensable to prevent budget abuse, as well as to ensure that funds issued by the US government are more transparent and efficient.

Indonesia itself is one of the recipients of USAID assistance. For more than 20 years, USAID has provided assistance worth 5 billion US dollars or around Rp. 81 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 16,000) to Indonesia, covering various sectors such as health, education, climate change, and democratic government.

In 2023 alone, programs in Indonesia receive funds of 153 million US dollars or around Rp. 2.4 trillion from USAID.

Some of the main programs that USAID runs include the MPHD USAID which focuses on improving maternal and baby health services, USAID PASTI, which aims to reduce stunting rates in children. In addition, there is also a PREVENT TB USAID, which handles prevention and treatment of tuberculosis (TBC).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, USAID provided assistance worth US$65 million and helped deliver 100 million doses of vaccine to Indonesia.

Chairman of the International Relations Masters Study Program at Paramadina University Ahmad Khoirul Umam PhD said the executive order by Donald Trump would have a significant impact not only on Indonesia but also on Southeast Asia and other parts of the world.

According to Umam, the termination of this USAID will be quite diverse, including Southeast Asia. Last year USAID allocated around $860 million for the Southeast Asia region for various programs. Starting from tuberculosis, the general human quality improvement in Southeast Asia consists of 700 million people.

"If it is stopped, there will be quite serious turbulence, there will be many humanitarian programs that will stop and the impact is that the quality of government programs, especially in developing countries, will be neglected," said Umam.

The same thing was also conveyed by the Law Expert at Muhammadiyah University Surabaya (UM Surabaya) Satria Unggul Wicaksana Prakasa. The closure of USAID will have a negative impact on partner countries, including Indonesia.

"This means that when talking there is no longer assistance from Donald Trump, this is actually a problem, becoming a problem that reduces the intensity or strategy in overcoming other social problems," he said on the UM Surabaya website.

Ahmad Khoirul Umam said that the impact of the closing of the USAID by President Trump will be even more felt by Indonesia because at home it is currently facing an unfavorable economic situation, and budget cuts are also being carried out as part of an efficiency strategy, so that many ministries and institutions are rationalizing the budget.

"So there will be a double impact, because the internal budget is cut, foreign aid from the US is cut, there will be a decrease in government spending and public consumption," said Umam.

"This will have quite a serious impact, especially regarding economic growth in 2025," he added.

For this reason, Umam encouraged the Indonesian government to try to renegotiate, and be part of the aspirations of how the aids could still be considered to continue.

"The Indonesian state together with other developing countries, for example Southeast Asia, renegotiate so that this step can be properly mitigated," he said.

On the other hand, Satria Unggul Wicaksana Prakasa advised the Indonesian government to immediately seek other sources of funding to fill the void left by USAID. Furthermore, he added that although this policy is a decision that must be respected, USAID's contribution so far has had a positive impact in many sectors.

"Then in education, including research and law enforcement in many schemes with the strategic partners they have. When later this assistance is revoked, of course this will reduce our strategy in overcoming problems that prevent Indonesia from advancing," said Satria.