The OECD’s 2022–25 Joint Work Program supports the implementation of Indonesia’s Medium-Term National Development Plan 2020–25. The OECD designated Indonesia as a “Key Partner” in 2007, along with Brazil, China, India and South Africa. Indonesia’s interest in OECD membership did not come out of the blue. Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reportedly said that Indonesia is also studying possible membership in the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) group, which has very different political orientations.
Indonesia’s importance to the G20 was clear during its 2022 G20 presidency when it was able to showcase its leadership of the premier forum for international economic cooperation and setting the global agenda. It is significant that Indonesia is the first emerging G20 economy and ASEAN member to seek OECD membership. This is surpassed in the OECD only by the United States’ 333 million population. Indonesia is home to the world’s fourth largest population, with 275 million people. On a PPP basis, only three OECD members - the United States, Japan and Germany - have bigger economies than Indonesia. Indonesia has one of the world’s most important economies, ranking 16th globally in GDP based on market prices and 7th based on purchasing power parity (PPP). Joining the OECD would represent Indonesia’s firm commitment to democracy at a time when an estimated half of democratic governments around the world are in decline while authoritarian regimes are deepening their repression. Japan’s yen stuck in a ‘Groundhog Day’ time loop Photo: Asia Times Files / AFP via Anadolu Agency/Jefri Tarigan An Indonesian voter casts her vote at a gubernatorial polling station in Jakarta on February 15, 2017. It is ranked 54th out of 167 countries surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit in its Democracy Index 2022.
Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Indonesia has established itself as an impressive emerging democracy. The OECD prides itself on being “a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.” The inclusion of Indonesian perspectives can only enrich it. This means that the OECD only has two members (the other being Japan) from the world’s most economically dynamic region. The last time the OECD admitted a new member from Asia was when South Korea joined in 1996. These are Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia in 2010, Latvia in 2016, Lithuania in 2018, Colombia in 2020 and Costa Rica in 2021. In 2023, the OECD has 38 member countries, after accepting eight new member countries since 2010.
The move seemed surprising given that the OECD is reputed to be a “developed countries’ club” and Indonesia’s GDP per capita in 2022 was only US$4,788 compared with the OECD average of $43,261.īut the OECD has been recently opening up to emerging economies. Many raised eyebrows when the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto announced that Indonesia had formally expressed an interest to join the OECD.
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