Kuala Lumpur – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto highlighted the many geopolitical challenges that are full of tension. For this reason, Prabowo wants Indonesia and Malaysia to synergise with other Asian countries.

This was conveyed after a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at Twin Tower Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Monday (27/1).

‘In terms of geopolitics, we realise that the world is now full of tension, uncertainty. Therefore, we need to continue to consult the views of Malaysia and Indonesia, we need to continue to synergise with friends from Asia and others,’ he added. 

He said the synergy was necessary because if united, the voices of these countries would be more heard and taken into account by other parties whose power was much greater. 

‘Only with unity among Asian countries, only with good co-operation among us, only with our voices more heard, we are more taken into account by forces that are much bigger than us,’ he said. 

‘If ASEAN is united, if I’m not mistaken, it has more than 600 million inhabitants, no less than the European Union, no less. And all, the whole world recognises South East Asia as the region of growth,’ he continued. 

Furthermore, he and Anwar Ibrahim recognised the importance of strengthening cooperation both bilaterally and regionally as a whole. 

‘Prime Minister Anwar and I had a very intensive meeting, discussed many cooperation issues, the point is the political decision, the political will that Indonesia and Malaysia must cooperate closely,’ he said. 

‘Technical problems we can solve. The important thing is the political and strategic will. We believe we can solve the problem, we will solve it,’ he concluded. (RR)