Multiple Reasons Indonesia Must Withdraw from Board of Peace
Multiple stakeholders are calling for the Indonesian government to withdraw from the Board of Peace (BoP) following a US-Israeli military operation against Iran on Saturday morning, 28 February 2026. The combined military assault has prompted significant domestic debate over Indonesia’s continued participation in the initiative.
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has determined that the BoP is incapable of bringing peace to Palestine, arguing that US President Donald Trump’s attack on Iran contradicts the forum’s stated commitment to creating peace in the region. Meanwhile, Nur Rachmat Yuliantoro, a professor at the Department of International Relations at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), has challenged President Prabowo Subianto to honour his earlier promise to withdraw Indonesia from the BoP should Palestinian independence not be achieved. A coalition of civil society organisations has likewise requested Indonesia’s withdrawal.
The Indonesian Ulema Council has urged the Indonesian government to withdraw from the Board of Peace, questioning whether the strategy is genuinely designed to achieve equitable peace or merely strengthens an inequitable security architecture that buries Palestinian independence. In a statement released on Sunday, 1 March 2026, the MUI declared: “Therefore, the MUI urges the Indonesian government to revoke its membership of the BoP, as it is deemed ineffective in achieving genuine Palestinian independence.”
The council contends that President Trump has acted in direct contradiction to his stated goals. Instead of promoting peace, the US president has launched joint strikes against Iran alongside Israel. Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, head of the MUI’s foreign relations division, characterised the assault as concrete evidence that Trump is fundamentally a peace-breaker rather than a peacemaker. “Consequently, the BoP increasingly loses moral, political and even legal legitimacy, as it has proven useless in creating genuine peace, let alone justice,” Sudarnoto stated on 1 March 2026.
Professor Yuliantoro noted that President Prabowo had previously stated that Indonesia could withdraw from the BoP if Palestinian independence were not achieved. “However, before this objective even becomes a reality, the US and Israel have attacked Iran. This prompts us to question the credibility and legitimacy of the BoP, whose principal actors are opening new major conflicts in the Middle East,” Yuliantoro told Tempo on Saturday evening.
According to Yuliantoro, achieving peace through the BoP now appears implausible, rendering the international forum inherently contradictory. “This is why I believe Indonesia should withdraw from BoP membership due to the loss of credibility and legitimacy,” he asserted.
Ardi Manto, director of Imparsial, explained that a coalition of 79 civil society organisations maintains that Indonesia’s involvement in the BoP should have been discussed openly with the participation of parliament and civil society, rather than decided in closed proceedings. In a petition delivered during an online session on Sunday, 1 March 2026, the coalition argued that the BoP does not align with UN Security Council Resolution 2803, particularly regarding the mandate to resolve the Palestine issue.
The coalition criticised the BoP’s structure and mechanisms for operating outside UN Security Council oversight, instead being dominated by particular political interests. “We believe Indonesia needs to reassess its involvement in the BoP, as it risks drawing Indonesia into a global political configuration that contradicts the principles of independent and active foreign policy,” Manto concluded.