Benedicte Jeannerod and Meenakshi Ganguly – French President Emmanuel Macron will soon meet in Jakarta as well as in the Borobudur temple, Central Java, with Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto to further strengthen relations between their two countries, including on energy transition, military cooperation, and enhancing a digital economy.
Military ties between France and Indonesia have been bolstered by a Defense Cooperation Agreement and Indonesia's purchase of 42 French Rafale warplanes and two Scorpene-class attack submarines. Indonesia is France's second largest customer in Asia after India for military equipment.
However, when Macron meets with Prabowo, he should not lose sight that he is facing a man implicated in grave rights violations going back decades. The United Nations Special Prosecutor's Office accused him of commanding forces responsible for the massacre of up to 200 men in East Timor in 1983, but he failed to answer a summons and never faced prosecution. He was dismissed from the Indonesian army in 1998 as special forces commander for ordering the kidnapping of student activists, 13 of whom remain disappeared.
Since winning the presidency in 2024, Prabowo has appeared determined to restore the military's role in civilian affairs, which was long characterized by widespread abuses and impunity. The newly amended National Armed Forces law enables the government to fill more civilian posts, including in the justice system and state-owned companies, with active-duty military personnel at the expense of civilian rule.
Prabowo's administration also appears set to lower environmental standards, promoting deforestation and mining, and displace Indigenous populations, including to make way for a large-scale agricultural estate in South Papua.
Intimidation and harassment of independent media companies and human rights groups have also been on the rise in the country, as is violence in West Papua.It is crucial that Macron raise these human rights concerns when he meets with Prabowo. He should also encourage the Indonesian president, as the leader of Southeast Asia's largest democracy, to promote human rights abroad. Indonesia and France should work together to increase international pressure on Myanmar's junta to end its widespread violations and press the Chinese government on its systematic persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Both Macron and Prabowo should recognize that human rights are key to a durable and mutually beneficial strategic partnership.
[Benedicte Jeannerod is Amnesty International's France Director. Meenakshi Ganguly is Amnesty's Deputy Asia Director.]
Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/05/27/france-indonesia-strategic-partnership-shouldnt-neglect-right