Prabowo Subianto reaffirms Indonesia's 'Asian way'

JAKARTA — As Indonesia's president-elect Prabowo Subianto prepares to enter office in October, he looks set to take a more assertive stance on foreign policy, saying that diplomacy, negotiations and the "Asian way" have helped to defuse tension.

Prabowo, 72, won February's general election by a huge margin along with his running mate vice-president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of President Joko Widodo.

In an interview with Al Jazeera broadcast on Sunday, Prabowo said Southeast Asia had experienced wars, foreign colonization and interference in internal politics.

But he added, "We solved it without foreign interference, we talked, we met."

The comments came in response to a question on what meaning the term "Asian way "held for him.

The former special forces commander said Indonesia was very open to major world powers including China and the United States.

"We invite the US, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Europeans. The fact that we are friends with you doesn't mean we can't be friends with China, India, Russia," he said, invoking Indonesia's tradition and history of nonalignment.

Nonalignment stressed

At a regional forum in November, Prabowo said Indonesia was committed to its policy of nonalignment.

In April, he visited China, Japan and Malaysia on his first foreign trip since winning the presidential election.

During the interview, he denied democratic backsliding, saying that Indonesia had seen years of peaceful transfers of government, despite problems that need to be tackled, such as rampant corruption.

Prabowo added that "our national interests" will guide approaches to the situation in the easternmost province of Papua, where armed separatists have clashed with security forces for years.

In a speech after the presidential election in February, Prabowo said he would be the president of all Indonesian people, not only for certain parties.

"Whatever the tribes, whatever the ethnic groups, the races, the religions, the social backgrounds, all Indonesian people will be our responsibility to protect," he said.

The elected president will be inaugurated and start the first day in office on Oct 20.

Agencies - Xinhua