RI Emphasizes The Importance Of ASEAN, Prabowo Will Attend Summits In Malaysia

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu) confirmed that President Prabowo Subianto will attend the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 23-27, 2025.

"The president has been scheduled to attend two ASEAN Summits this year, tomorrow (May 23) and later at the end of October," said Director General of ASEAN Cooperation at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sidharto R. Suryodipuro in a press briefing in Jakarta, Wednesday, May 21, quoted by Antara.

According to Sidharto, President Prabowo's presence at the ASEAN Summit proves that Indonesia still has a strong commitment to play a role in the Southeast Asian regional organization.

"This also breaks the statement or view that Indonesia is no longer paying attention to ASEAN under the current leadership of President Prabowo," he said.

The Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Prabowo has understood and cared about ASEAN since becoming the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia in 2019-2024. Even when he was still the elected president, Prabowo had visited all ASEAN member countries except Myanmar.

"In each of these meetings, (Prabowo) must have met the leader of the country, and he underlined the importance of ASEAN," said Sidharto.

President Prabowo also often conveyed his views regarding ASEAN on various occasions, both during bilateral visits and other international forums.

"The tradition related to Indonesia's interests is to ensure that the stable Southeast Asia region is a continuous continuation from the current government to the government," said Sidharto.

Thus, Sidharto emphasized that Indonesia's commitment to ASEAN has not decreased because what has happened is getting stronger.

He also underlined the increasing importance of Indonesia's involvement in ASEAN in the midst of increasingly dynamic world turmoil.

The ASEAN 2025 Summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 23-27 May 2025. During the meeting, a number of important regional issues will be discussed such as the Myanmar conflict, the response to the US reciprocal rate, and the ASEAN-China Code of Ethics in the South China Sea.

In addition, several other series of events that will be held during the ASEAN 2025 Summit are the second ASEAN-Cold Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and the first ASEAN-GCC-China Summit on 26-27 May 2025.