The world is in a state of geopolitical drift. The old unipolar order has fractured into a complex mosaic of competing interests and asymmetric power. From simmering US-China tensions to persistent regional conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the traditional architecture of global governance appears increasingly strained.
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The United Nations, the very institution designed to manage this complexity, often finds itself paralysed by vetoes and competing national agendas. A search for a new international framework, a “next world order”, has become a pressing need.
It is into this turbulent landscape that Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto steps, poised to deliver a highly anticipated address at the 80th UN General Assembly. The diplomatic symbolism is profound: as the third speaker after the United States and Brazil, Indonesia holds a privileged position to offer a fresh and credible perspective.
As a nation with extensive relationships – an economic powerhouse and a bridge between competing ideologies – Indonesia is not bound by a single ideological camp. This unique position, coupled with the growing strength and influence of middle powers, makes Prabowo’s message a potential road map for a new global diplomacy, one that prioritises cooperation over confrontation.
It would echo a turning point in history: Sukarno’s fiery 1960 UN General Assembly address, a defiant speech in protest of Cold War ideological blocs that laid the intellectual foundation for the Non-Aligned Movement.
Sukarno addressing a rally of 200,000 people in Macassar on January 1, 1940, demanding independence from the Netherlands. Photo: AFP
The world no longer needs a revolutionary call to arms but a practical call to action. The true power of Prabowo’s address will be in its ability to present Indonesia’s philosophy of “constructive pragmatism” as a corrective model for a dysfunctional international system.
