Indonesia: Presidential candidates hold different approaches
Indonesia: Presidential candidates hold different approaches on int’l relations
There were some major differences on how two Indonesian presidential candidates envisioned the future of Indonesia’s foreign policy, which were conveyed during the fourth face-off between two candidates held in Jakarta on March 30
Indonesian presidential candidates greet each other in the fourth debate (Photo: tempo.co)
Jakarta (VNA) – There were some major d๊ifferences on how two Indonesian presidentialcandidates envisioned the future of Indonesia’s foreign policy, which wereconveyed during the fourth face-off between two candidates held in Jakarta on March30.
Commissioner ofIndonesia’s General Election Commission (KPU) Wahyu Setiawan said the debatecomprised of five segments, similar to the third one. It covered the topics ofideology, governance, security issues, and international relations.
In the firstsegment, candidates conveyed their visions and missions in the field ofinternational relations, and then they responded to assigned questions in thesecond and third ones and inquire each other in the two remaining parts.
The firstcandidate, incumbent Indonesian President Joko Widodo, highlighted Indonesiancapacity in mediating in a number of international conflicts and Indonesia'ssoft diplomacy power in several international trade negotiations. He also voiced hisbelief in the capability of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) in defending thecountry's territorial sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the other candidate Prabowo Subian🦩to sa💝idIndonesia's defence remains weak due to budget constraint, thus it needs to beenhanced.
Both candidates alsooffered different approaches to strengthen Indonesian diplomacy. President Widodo saidthat Indonesia has large potential as the world's largest Muslim majoritycountry to involve in the peace process in some conflict areas as well as toincrease trade values by using economic diplomacy.
Prabowo wanted to increaseIndonesia's military equipment for preventive defense mechanism, in which henoted that neighboring countries, like Singapore is more advanced.
In addition tothe debates, the KPU allows the candidates to launch their campaigns from March24 to April 13.
Indonesia willorganise legislative and presidential elections simultaneously on April 17 acrossthe country.
Of its total population of 260 million, over 192million p♋eople in Indonesia have been registered as eligible voters.–VNA
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Indonesian presidential candidates greet each other in the fourth debate (Photo: tempo.co) 
