Indonesia’s Admission To BRICS Raises Concerns About Impact On Jakarta-West Relations – Analysis

By Tria Dianti

Indonesia’s induction into the BRICS economic bloc may give it access to more markets, but some analysts are concerned about whether this is worth putting Jakarta’s relationship with a new Trump administration in the U.S. at risk.

The bloc, which began with four members – Brazil, Russia, India and China, and later, South Africa – has expanded to 10 countries by including Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, but many in the West still see it as a Beijing- and Moscow-led bloc, international relations experts noted.

Brazil, the current BRICS’s chair, announced on Monday that Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous nation, had been officially admitted as its tenth member.

Some Southeast Asian experts, such as Vinsensio Dugis from Airlangga University, said they didn’t see any new economic advantages to joining BRICS, although they could see potential pitfalls for Indonesia.

Western nations’ negative perception of BRICS as an organization that exists to counter their political and economic power may cause them to withhold investment into Indonesia, he said.

“[T]he ‘Global South’ group could be seen as a challenge to the ‘Global Lords’ of the West,” he told BenarNews.‘Foster collaboration’

A lawmaker from Gerindra, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s party, said the country’s presence in BRICS was not meant as a challenge to Western dominance.

“Indonesia participates in various international forums such as APEC, G20, and OIC,” said Budisatrio Djiwandono. He was referring to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Group of 20 of the world’s top economies, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

“[I]n order to strengthen Indonesia’s role in global geopolitics, our foreign policy must foster collaboration, not confrontation,” the Gerindra lawmaker said.

An Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday said that joining BRICS was a tactical move.

“Indonesia views its BRICS membership as a strategic step to strengthen collaboration and cooperation with other developing nations, based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, and sustainable development,” spokesperson Roy Rolliansyah Soemirat said in a written statement.

Still, Dugis, the analyst, noted that Indonesia already has strong economic ties with major BRICS members such as China and India. 

For instance, China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner and source of foreign investment.

“What’s the benefit of joining [BRICS] now? There’s nothing tangible for Indonesia,” Dugis said.

As it is, Donald Trump, who is returning to office as president of the United States, has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on imports from BRICS nations, if he sees them threatening the U.S. dollar.

If that happens China’s already dominant position in Indonesia’s economy could grow even stronger, noted Muhammad Andri Perdana, director of research at the Bright Institute, a Jakarta think-tank.

With Indonesia already in BRICS now, Galau D. Muhammad, an economist, said it should focus on how the bloc could benefit the country economically, and not on global politics.

“Indonesia must have a clear domestic agenda to bring to the forum,” Galau, from the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), told BenarNews.

It’s not all gloom and doom, with some political economy experts saying that being part of BRICS gives Indonesia opportunities to expand its access to non-traditional markets. 

Indonesia’s foreign policy has emphasized expanding markets where it has less access, noted Bagus Ismujati from Griffith University.

“Through BRICS membership, Indonesia can increase its presence in other BRICS countries’ markets,” Bagus told BenarNews.

‘A new world has been taking shape’

News of Indonesia being granted BRICS membership was barely noted in the West, some international observers noted on social media.

Philip Pilkington, an economist and author of the book “The Collapse of Global Liberalism,” was one of them, and he was harsh on Western media as well.

“[The] 8th largest economy in the world, Indonesia has a larger economy than France. Big win for BRICS at the start of 2025. Not much attention paid in the West because the media now just lies about key global events,” he said on the platform X.

A professor of global history at Oxford University, Peter Frankopan, also observed on X that the news about Indonesia and BRICS was “barely reported anywhere in the U.K., Europe, U.S., etc.).”

It should have been, he said, in a thread of comments, because “Indonesia’s status as full member is significant for many reasons,” such as that it is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and most populous nation.

Indonesia’s entry “takes BRICS GDP to +/- 40% of global economy by PPP [Purchasing Power Parity] Add in the 8 ‘partner states’ and it’s closer to 45%,” he wrote on X.

“There are lots of ways that BRICS gets over-hyped, misinterpreted and (sometimes) under-egged. And lots of challenges from within too, with plenty of differing views about what BRICS is, could or should be,” he said.

“But a new world has been taking shape that follows and interprets things … in very different ways to how many in the ‘West’ see things.”