Why is President Macron Visiting Indonesia?

French president Emmanuel Macron will travel to Indonesia for a state visit at the end of May, marking a new milestone in the strategic partnership established between Paris and Jakarta in 2011.

The French President will discuss with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto, the acceleration of the I-EUCEPA (Indonesia–European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement), the strengthening of cooperation in defense and maritime security, strategic industrial investments, support for Indonesia’s accession to the OECD, as well as the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

Strategic partnership with variable geometry

Since President François Hollande's visit in 2017, Jakarta has not hosted another French head of state. The upcoming visit of President Emmanuel Macron thus comes at a solemn and symbolic moment, filled with hope, as France and Indonesia face major global challenges together.

But upon closer inspection, the stated priorities—economy, defense, energy transition—leave a bitter taste. Because they overshadow far more fundamental issues, starting with human rights. These are simply absent from the agenda, reduced to diplomatic silence.

This silence is all the more troubling given that President Macron, a year earlier, had reaffirmed his commitment to protecting human rights as part of his Indo-Pacific strategy. How, then, can we explain this dissonance between words and actions?

Even more worrying, this partnership chooses to look the other way in the face of the alarming situation in West Papua, where the Indonesian military imposes a repressive presence, a reality constantly documented by international NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. 

It is hard not to see this as blatant hypocrisy: Mr. Macron, so quick to castigate the “new imperialisms” in the Pacific, maintains a deafening silence in the face of a brutal occupation that has been crushing the indigenous peoples of West Papua for more than sixty years!

Despite strict regulations governing arms exports—whether under the European Union's Common Security and Defense Policy or international treaties such as the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)—France continues to arm Indonesia on a massive scale.

A striking example: in 2022, Dassault Aviation signed a colossal contract with Jakarta for the sale of 42 Rafale fighter jets. The deal was worth more than €7 billion!

French weapons against West Papuans 

How can one not feel a deep uneasiness in the face of such dirty arms?

Indonesia is not a rich country. According to the World Bank, nearly 60% of its population—some 165 million people—live in poverty. Among them, 25 million Indonesians face malnutrition, a lack of education, and sometimes even hunger. And meanwhile, billions are being sunk into purchasing weapons of war. 

Since the annexation of West Papua in 1963, the Indonesian military has conducted around twenty military operations in the region, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of West Papuans and forcing tens of thousands into exile.

Tragically, the French weapons delivered to Jakarta do not escape this dark picture: they have already been, and will undoubtedly continue to be, used against the West Papuans.

French companies such as Airbus, Thales, Nexter, MBDA, and Dassault Aviation have supplied military equipment to the Indonesian army, including helicopters, missiles, howitzers, and ammunition. 

Some of these weapons have been used in attacks targeting villages in West Papua. For more information, visit the “War on West Papua” website.

Disarming French diplomacy

Faced with such a scandal, two questions arise—as troubling as they are necessary:

1. How can France, which likes to present itself as the homeland of human rights, continue to fuel, even indirectly, crimes against humanity?
2. Why, then, choose complicity silence rather than responsible action, particularly on the issue of West Papua?

In the face of the atrocities, repression and systematic violations of fundamental rights suffered by the West Papuan people, what is the value of the silence of a nation like France? 

Not to denounce, not to act, not even to name these injustices amounts to condoning them. By withdrawing into prudent indifference, France is complicit in a strategic oversight, an invisibility that is slowly killing people.

And yet, France has the means to act: by bringing the issue before international bodies, by making its cooperation with Indonesia conditional on respect for human rights, or by supporting West Papuan voices demanding justice and self-determination. 

Responsible action begins with the courage to face what many prefer to ignore: the disturbing realities, the distant injustices, the suffering that is invisible because it serves no immediate interest.

To turn a blind eye, look the other way, or take refuge in diplomatic silence is to give free rein to impunity. It is to abandon those who still hope that France, strong in its humanist heritage, will speak out when so many others choose to remain silent.

Assuming its responsibilities and promoting a more ethical foreign policy: this is the challenge that France must take up if it wishes to remain faithful to the ideal it claims.

Indeed, we cannot claim to be the homeland of human rights while simultaneously accommodating those who flout them. We cannot pose as defenders of justice while avoiding essential battles in the name of geostrategic calculations. It is only by embodying its principles, even when it costs, that France will regain its moral legitimacy—and its true greatness on the international stage.

A West Papuan child with a Thales FZ rocket in the village of Ogimba, 2020

It's time to say STOP:

• NO to the French arms trade which fuels conflicts, supports oppressive regimes and tramples on the very principles that France claims to embody.
• NO to this cynical diplomacy that trades peace for profits.
• NO to the export of violence under the French flag!