Why do so many Indonesians back Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? - In... https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/why-do-so-many-indone...

Why do so many Indonesians

back Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine?
BY RADITYO DHARMAPUTRA

A man and child �ee the city of Irpin, near Kyiv, Ukraine.
Photo by Carlos Barria for Reuters/Antara.

9 MARCH 2022

Almost two weeks in, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been

condemned by most countries around the world, including

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Indonesia. After some initially vague statements that avoided

mentioning Russia by name [https://kemlu.go.id/portal
/id/read/3360/berita/pernyataan-pemerintah-indonesia-
mengenai-serangan-militer-di-ukraina] , Indonesia voted in
favour of both the UN General Assembly resolution
[https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/03/03/the-right-
condemnation.html] condemning Russian aggression and the
UN High Commissioner on Human Rights decision
[https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages
/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=28203&LangID=E] establishing an
independent commission to investigate all alleged human
rights violations in the war.

Yet the Indonesian public, especially online, continues to

sympathise with (if not outright support) the Russian position.
Pro-Russian [https://twitter.com/Mentimoen/status
/1498594410774372359?s=20&
t=Ffs8K9hzO8BTLuWr8pFo8A] Twitter threads have been
incredibly popular [https://twitter.com/Mentimoen/status
/1497723774673821703?s=20&t=PtDzlkxSWkBrpSdo2V3_fg]
among Indonesians. A pro-Russian comical anecdote (which
apparently originated on Chinese social media site Weibo)
likening the war to a con�ict between an ex-husband and wife
[https://www.beritasatu.com/dunia/896475/warganet-di-
weibo-cerita-penyebab-invasi-rusia-ke-ukraina-dengan-gaya-
sinetron] was shared widely in Indonesian Whatsapp groups.
Perhaps most concerningly, several Indonesian academics
have also come out in support of the Russian position. This
support has ranged from criticising the Indonesian
government’s condemnation of Russia
[https://news.detik.com/berita/d-5966346/guru-besar-ui-
sayangkan-ri-setujui-resolusi-pbb-soal-rusia-ngekor-ke-as-dkk]
to even reproducing Russian narratives in speeches and
articles.

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For example, on 24 February, Universitas Nasional (UNAS)

hosted an online discussion on the con�ict, with speakers
including the Ukrainian Ambassador to Indonesia Vasyl
Hamianin. A presentation from Universitas Indonesia “Russia
observer” Dr Ahmad Fahrurodji prompted a furious response
from the ambassador, who described it as ahistorical,
unscienti�c, and “Soviet communist propaganda”
[https://youtu.be/0tTfdIsQEX0?t=1924] .

Why is this happening? It seems hard to understand, given

Indonesian governments and society have historically
supported victims of aggression and con�ict, be it in Palestine,
Myanmar, or Iraq.

However, there are several reasons the public have been

inclined to support Russia in this case. The �rst is a strong
anti-American and anti-western attitude in society. This anti-
Americanism has previously been observed in Indonesian
attitudes toward the US “war on terror”
[https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/indonesia
/why-indonesians-distrust-us] , which was in itself a major
driver of anti-American sentiment. Indonesian political
scientist Saiful Mujani argued in 2005 [http://dx.doi.org
/10.15408/sdi.v12i2.588] that anti-American sentiment has
not usually translated into political action like demonstrations.
But the rise of social media over recent years has allowed
ordinary people to express these previously hidden views more
publicly.

A dominant strand in Indonesian discussions of the Russian

war on Ukraine has focused on American and western
hypocrisy. Many have contrasted the west’s reluctance to
support Palestine [https://mojok.co/esai/rusia-vs-ukraina-dan-
israel-vs-palestina-melihat-standar-ganda-kemuna�kan-

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bekerja/] with the speed at which support has �owed to

Ukraine. The issue is therefore more about disdain for the
west rather than wholehearted support for Russia’s actions.
This sentiment has been exacerbated by Indonesian scholars
[https://politik.rmol.id/read/2022/03/03/525543/connie-
rahakundini-serangan-rusia-terhadap-ukraina-peringatan-bagi-
as-dan-nato] who have chosen to depict the con�ict as a
response to NATO’s expansion into the Russian sphere of
in�uence, rather than examining the deeper historical and
cultural context. This is similar to attitudes in China
[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/business/china-
russia-ukraine-invasion.html] , where Russia has been viewed
as a revisionist power struggling against the hypocritical west.

Another crucial factor in�uencing Indonesian responses to the

con�ict is the public preference for “strong” leaders. As the
popularity of Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 and 2019
elections showed, the Indonesian public is highly responsive to
rhetoric about nationalist and populist leadership
[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177
/18681034211027885] . Russian President Vladimir Putin has
long been portrayed as a hypermasculine, strong, and
assertive leader. In 2018, for example, Gerindra politician Fadli
Zon argued [https://news.detik.com/berita/d-3945096/fadli-
zon-ri-butuh-pemimpin-seperti-putin-nggak-planga-plongo] that
Indonesia needs “a strong, brave, visionary, smart, and
authoritative leader like Putin”.  Putin was already popular in
Indonesia before the attack on Ukraine, so many Indonesians
have been inclined to accept his narrative of the con�ict
without much question. Indeed, in the Indonesian media and
among the public, Putin has been portrayed as an intelligent
and experienced [https://www.cnbcindonesia.com
/news/20220227112043-4-318771/presiden-ukraina-eks-
pelawak-lawan-putin-yang-mantan-intel] former intelligence
o�cial, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has

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been reduced to a caricature, given his past life as a

comedian.

A third factor that could help to explain pro-Russian views

among the Indonesian public is religion. This might seem
counterintuitive, given Russia’s communist past, and the
dominant perception in Indonesia that communism is anti-
Islam. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1970s and the
Chechen wars in the 1990s only reinforced these views. And
as recently as 2015, Russia’s military attacks on Syria
prompted large demonstrations in Indonesia
[https://www.merdeka.com/foto/peristiwa/609683
/20151016152021-kecam-serangan-di-suriah-ratusan-
demonstran-geruduk-kedubes-rusia-001-isn.html] .

The last few years, however, have seen concerted efforts to

portray Russia as a friend and ally of Islam. Last week, for
example, a popular YouTube channel
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBTd3RxN2Bc] described
Russia as corresponding to the “Rum” people described in the
Quran, people who follow Christianity but align themselves
with Islam at the end of days. This narrative is increasingly
common in the Islamic community in Indonesia
[https://www.harianaceh.co.id/2022/02/28/mengungkap-
tabir-bangsa-rum-benarkah-umat-islam-akan-bersekutu-
dengan-kristen-ortodoks-rusia/] , leading to questions over the
potential for the Russia-Ukraine con�ict to start World War III,
or the end times. A viral video [https://dunia.tempo.co
/read/1565902/usir-pasukan-muslim-chechnya-neo-nazi-
ukraina-olesi-peluru-pakai-minyak-babi/full&view=ok] showing
Ukrainian neo-Nazi Azov �ghters coating bullets in pig fat,
apparently for use against Muslim Chechens, only served to
add to the impression that the “natural” side of the con�ict for
Muslims was with Russia.

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Related to this last point, a �nal dimension that must be

considered is the extent of Russian public diplomacy in
Indonesia. Surveys [https://www.pewresearch.org/global
/2017/08/16/publics-worldwide-unfavorable-toward-putin-
russia/] have previously shown that Indonesians have largely
ambivalent to negative views of Russia. But since 2013, Russia
has used the state-funded Russia Beyond the Headlines
(RBTH) Indonesia website [https://id.rbth.com/] and its
popular Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts to improve
public perceptions of the country [https://e-journal.unair.ac.id
/JGS/article/view/14609] , and portray it as non-communist
and pro-Islam. Similarly, it has funded a Russian Centre of
Science and Culture in Jakarta.

One vital aspect of Russia’s soft power efforts has involved

offering scholarships to study in Russia, and support for
Russian Studies programs in universities in Jakarta and
Bandung. Tellingly, the scholar involved in the heated
exchange with Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Hamianin
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tTfdIsQEX0] is involved
in the Universitas Indonesia (UI) Russia Studies program and
graduated from a Russian university. It was a similar story with
another UI scholar, whose article repeated Russian
propaganda word-for-word. Lecturer Sari Gumilang described
[https://mediaindonesia.com/opini/475029/membuka-
enigma-rusia-mencermati-pesan-teks-putin] the invasion as a
“military operation” (in line with the o�cial narrative of the
Russian government that there is no war in Ukraine) aimed at
“demilitarization and de-Nazi�cation” (which has been
debunked by many prominent scholars).

An absence of credible news outlets with the resources to

send their own investigative journalists into the war zone and
the apparent lack of Russian and East European specialists in

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Indonesian academic circles has created this vacuum of

credible information, informed analysis, and clear standpoint
on the Russian war on Ukraine in Indonesia. This has then
been �lled by latent anti-American and anti-western
perspectives, the idealisation of strong leaders like Putin,
religious arguments suggesting Russia is an ally of Islam, and
pervasive pro-Russian public diplomacy and propaganda. Poor
digital literacy [https://www.thejakartapost.com/business
/2022/01/20/despite-improvements-indonesias-digital-
literacy-remains-low.html] in Indonesia has meant pro-Russian
perspectives have taken hold relatively easily.

It is important to stress that it is possible to condemn the

hypocrisy of the west while also opposing Russia’s
unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Indonesia needs more voices
from the highest levels of politics, academia and the media
who can provide more nuanced perspectives and provide
some balance to the simplistic pro-Russian views �ooding
social media.

FOREIGN POLICY, POLITICS, SECURITY, TOP STORIES

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