MPR Chairman: Indonesia's Stance on Palestine Has Never Changed
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) of the Republic of Indonesia, Ahmad Muzani, has affirmed that Indonesia’s stance on the Palestinian issue has never changed or shifted.
He said that support for the Palestinian struggle does not constitute hostility towards any religion or nation.
“Support for Palestinian independence is rooted in the history of the nation’s struggle and the constitution,” Muzani said while delivering his introductory address at the 2026 MPR Annual Session and the Joint Session of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Friday.
Muzani noted that the Indonesian nation has itself experienced the bitterness of prolonged colonisation, and therefore cannot remain silent when another nation still lives under occupation and violence.
For that reason, he supports the right of the Palestinian people to be free, sovereign, and to live with dignity in their own homeland.
“The people and nation of Indonesia will continue to stand together with the Palestinian people,” he said.
Muzani stated that sovereignty is a nation’s ability to determine its own path, safeguard its territory, protect its people, manage its wealth, and take positions based on national interests and the principles it believes in.
The Indonesian constitution, he said, provides a very clear direction, namely that Indonesia is obliged to participate in implementing world order based on independence, lasting peace, and social justice.
For that reason, he continued, a free and active foreign policy means being free to determine one’s position based on national interests, without siding with any particular bloc.
“Indonesia must remain consistent in rejecting war as a means of resolving disputes between nations,” Muzani said.
On Friday, the MPR, DPR, and DPD held the MPR Annual Session and the Joint Session of the DPR and DPD.
One of the agenda items was President Prabowo Subianto’s address presenting the performance reports of state institutions and the State Address of the President of the Republic of Indonesia in commemoration of the 81st Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia.
In addition to the address, the government will also screen a video of government performance achievements.
The annual session is a state agenda to welcome the 81st Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia, which carries the theme “A Sovereign, Just, and Prosperous Indonesia”.