“How to make Indonesia’s cultural diplomacy shine brighter in the Asia Pacific.”
Fadli Zon, the Indonesian Minister of Culture, has repeatedly emphasized the crucial role of cultural diplomacy as a key component of Indonesian soft power. On 18 November 2025, in the Indonesia International Conference on Cultural Diplomacy (IICCD) at Universitas Indonesia, he reiterated this point emphatically. This underscored Indonesia’s seriousness in positioning cultural diplomacy as one of its future diplomatic flagships.
Meanwhile, the current Prabowo presidency seems to be advancing hard power capabilities by consolidating the national security and defense system rather than soft diplomacy. Strategic actions have been implemented, including the purchase of fighter jets for a substantial amount. So, how will Jakarta position soft power in this era?
At minimum, Indonesia has a diversity of cultures as the primary asset for its cultural diplomacy. According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in 2020, around 1,200 tribes live in this country. They have their own languages, cultures, and traditions, which represent meaningful resources to optimize. In this regard, Indonesia can learn from South Korea’s strategic approach.
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South Korea’s commitment to enhancing its cultural diplomacy was clearly demonstrated at APEC 2025, evident in how they selected their idol representatives. G-Dragon was appointed as an APEC ambassador shortly after receiving the Order of Cultural Merit, the country’s highest cultural honor. Notably, G-Dragon began his career at age six. This background also showed Asia-Pacific leaders that Seoul’s cultural identity and policy have been developing for decades. They also recognized this project through Korean cultural diplomacy’s principal goals and directions.
Similarly, Kim Nam-joon, better known as RM of BTS, was also chosen to speak at the meeting. It is well known that BTS is the only idol group that directly contributes approximately 0.3% or $4.65 billion to their country’s GDP. Indirectly, they have also had a significant impact on food and culture, influencing 23,000 international fans to learn about Korean culture. This demonstrates that Seoul aims to strengthen the cultural and entertainment industries to increase economic impact. It appears that Seoul emphasized to APEC members that cultural diplomacy is an economic issue.
Since 2007, Seoul has pursued two main policy goals. First, promoting cooperation through cultural exchange with other countries to cultivate South Korea’s identity and increase awareness of diversity. Second, advancing competitiveness by strengthening the nation’s identity projection. Seoul believes that cultural diplomacy is vital to enhancing its international image. Therefore, they have focused on high-value-added businesses in the culture industry to succeed in global competition. Seoul intends to expand its global diplomacy through a cultural agenda to strengthen its national branding.
Simultaneously, there are five policy directions. First, create comprehensive and systematic activities for implementation and promotion. Second, develop a strategic promotion approach that is relevant to the host country or region. Third, strengthen cooperation with local and overseas institutions. Fourth, and interestingly, Seoul explicitly targets the younger generation for its future-oriented cultural expansion agenda. Finally, the government actively participates in international organizations related to cultural discussions. Thus, Seoul tends to create integrated and sustainable cultural diplomacy as a soft power agenda.
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On the other hand, Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture has also clearly stated in its mission the intention to promote culture internationally and advance and utilize culture as a soft power tool. However, a clear strategic aim is absent from that narrative.
Nevertheless, some progress has been made by stakeholders at opportune moments. The current Minister, Fadli Zon, appears deeply concerned about the cultural diplomacy agenda, having drafted the National Action Plan for Cultural Advancement (RAN-PK) as the primary reference for cultural development strategy. In 2025, he also allocated 465 billion rupiah to support approximately 3,000 cultural actors, ten times the amount from the previous year, which supported only around 300 recipients. At the same time, the Indonesia-Pacific Cultural Synergy (IPACS) was also organized to strengthen Indonesia’s soft diplomacy. This apparently represents a cultural blueprint to enhance regional cooperation and emphasizes that Indonesia plans to lead cultural diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific, not merely in Southeast Asia.
Inevitably, the viral Aura Farming trend of Pacu Jalur has attracted significant attention from global audiences, which should be leveraged to spotlight cultural promotion, especially through digital platforms. Beyond that, supporting citizens’ creativity to connect traditional culture with the digital era appears unavoidable. With numerous cultures and such potential, Indonesia should prioritize creating a clear concept of cultural bureaucracy, an economic-cultural creative industry roadmap, and optimizing collaboration with cultural actors. Clearly, a strategic and holistic plan needs to be implemented as a diplomatic agenda, as South Korea has done.
Just as Kaname Akamatsu’s flying geese model explains industrial development catch-up by gradually moving from developed countries to developing countries, Indonesia’s cultural diplomacy can follow South Korea’s trajectory by treating culture not only as heritage but also as an industry and strategic diplomatic tool. It is time for Indonesia to enter the geese formation and progress through its own stage—one that is inclusive and diverse in unity—to consolidate its cultural power in the regional contest.
*The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not represent TDI. The contributor is responsible for the originality of this piece.
Ramita Paraswati
Associate Researcher, Maarif Institute; alumna of Indonesian International Islamic University
Muhammad Ismail Sunni
Analyst at Dewan Ekonomi Nasional, Founder at OTA Community
