Indonesia and BRICS: A conversation with Lili Yan Ing and Krisna Gupta

In this Global Seminar, we talk with Dr Lili Yan Ing and Dr Krisna Gupta on the economics of Indonesia joining BRICS, a bloc formed by Brazil, Russia, India, and China in 2009 with the addition of South Africa in 2010. What are the benefits to Indonesia?

Sure, here’s the translation of your article:

the following english language article is translated from Bahasa Indonesia by Copilot

On February 19, 2025, I had the opportunity to share with the ANU Indonesia project about Indonesia’s membership in BRICS. I was very excited because I was on the same panel with Dr. Lili Yan Ing, the Secretary General of ERIA. She is an expert in international trade, and I read several of her works during my PhD studies. The panel was moderated by Dr. Arianto Patunru.

At the event, I started by outlining some popular reasons why Indonesia should join BRICS. Of course, as an economist, I used economic reasons and tried not to touch on international relations or defense politics. In my opinion, the economic reasons for joining BRICS do not seem very strong. See the details below, haha.

Unfortunately, BRICS has not yet become an “official” institution. Joining BRICS does not come with any commitments. Perhaps one of the advantages of Indonesia joining BRICS at this time is that Indonesia can have a voice during the formation of this institution.

However, we should not be too distracted by the BRICS issue at this time, because the more central issue is the cold war between the US and China. In my opinion, BRICS will be used by China as a vehicle to challenge US hegemony. Trump even said he would monitor and take action against BRICS members if they threatened the Dollar.

We don’t know how serious Trump is because his words are hard to trust. So far, Trump has been attacking Canada, the EU, Mexico, areas that are friends of the US and needed by the US in challenging China. But it is very central for Indonesia to continue engaging with the US.

The question is, should Indonesia move forward alone, or bring regional interests like ASEAN? Trump is very transactional. It is not impossible that the concessions he asks from Indonesia will sacrifice the interests of other countries in the region. Hopefully, it’s just me being pessimistic.

The talk was recorded and can be seen here