The Ultimatum

President Prabowo Subianto gathered more than 160 Islamic clerics at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday night and delivered what may be the clearest signal yet about Indonesia's future in Donald Trump's Board of Peace: he is ready to walk away.

"Regarding the BoP, the president is determined to direct it toward Palestinian independence. He is ready to withdraw if the council fails to advocate for this cause," said Cholil Nafis, Deputy Chair of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), after the meeting.

It was the second time in a month Prabowo had publicly floated an exit. But this time, the political ground beneath the Board of Peace has shifted dramatically. The US and Israel have spent a week bombing Iran. Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut are burning. Iran is firing missiles at Gulf state capitals. And the organization Trump built to oversee Gaza reconstruction now looks less like a peace initiative and more like a wartime coalition — one that Indonesia's largest Islamic organizations want no part of.

The Pressure Campaign

The chorus demanding withdrawal has become deafening.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the country's most influential Islamic body, issued a formal decree (Kep-28/DP-MUI/III/2026) on March 1 urging the government to revoke its membership. The timing was deliberate — it came the day after US-Israeli strikes began pummeling Iran.

"America, which is playing a central role in managing the Palestinian conflict through the BoP, faces a big question: Is this strategy truly aimed at achieving real peace or is it actually strengthening the unequal security architecture and burying Palestinian independence?" the MUI asked in its press statement.

Muhammadiyah, the country's second-largest Islamic organization with tens of millions of members, was blunter. "It's better and more honorable to step back than be embarrassed and humiliated by Trump," said Chairman Anwar Abbas. He called Trump morally defective and accused the Board of Peace of being structurally rigged — noting that Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is welcome as a member while Palestine itself is excluded from the table.

The Retired Indonesian National Armed Forces Soldiers Forum (FPP-TNI) has joined the calls, urging not just BoP withdrawal but the cancellation of Prabowo's pledge to deploy 8,000 Indonesian troops to Gaza as part of the International Stabilization Force.

Civil society coalitions, universities across Indonesia, student groups, and former diplomats — including former Vice Foreign Minister Dino Patti Djalal — have all weighed in. Djalal warned that the BoP violates Indonesia's constitutionally mandated "free and active" foreign policy.

The Stakes of Staying

Indonesia is not a casual member of the Board of Peace. When Prabowo attended the first BoP meeting in Washington on February 19, he accepted the role of deputy commander of the International Stabilization Force for Gaza. He committed 8,000 military personnel. Each member reportedly pays $1 billion to join.

This deep entanglement makes a clean exit complicated. "Indonesia must deal with the US which may not be pleased with the decision," warned Dinna Prapto Raharja, executive director of the think tank Synergy Policies.

But analysts say the cost of staying may be higher. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-majority nation and has never had diplomatic relations with Israel. Continued participation in a Trump-led initiative while the US bombs a fellow Muslim-majority country during Ramadan is politically toxic at home.

Talks on Hold

For now, the question is academic — the Board of Peace has effectively frozen. Foreign Minister Sugiono told reporters on Tuesday that all BoP discussions are "on hold" because "all attention has shifted to the Iran situation."

"We will also consult with our friends and colleagues in the Gulf because they are also under attack," Sugiono added, without elaborating.

The Gulf states that were supposed to be BoP partners — Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE — are now dealing with Iranian missile strikes on their own soil. The coalition Trump built for Gaza peace is watching the region it was meant to stabilize descend into its worst conflict in decades.

A Foreign Policy Identity Crisis

The Board of Peace saga has exposed a deeper tension in Prabowo's presidency: his instinct to align closely with Washington versus Indonesia's longstanding tradition of non-alignment.

A recent analysis in The Conversation argued that Prabowo is "gambling sovereignty and humanity for US approval," calling his approach a departure from the independent foreign policy that has been a pillar of Indonesian statecraft since independence.

Prabowo has framed his participation differently — as pragmatic engagement to advance Palestinian interests from within. "We joined to free Palestine from Israel's grip," said MPR Speaker Bambang Soesatyo.

But the argument rings hollow when the organization's founder is simultaneously waging war on Iran, encouraging Kurdish insurgencies, and demanding a say in choosing the next Supreme Leader of a sovereign nation.

What Comes Next

Prabowo has given himself an out: the condition that the Board of Peace must serve Palestinian independence. If the Iran war continues to consume all oxygen in the region — and there is no sign it won't — the BoP's original Gaza mandate becomes increasingly irrelevant.

The MUI's preferred alternative is clear: Indonesia should channel its diplomatic energy through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the United Nations, institutions where Indonesia has real influence and where Palestinian interests are structurally represented.

For now, Prabowo appears to be buying time. But with every day the bombs fall on Tehran and the missiles hit Gulf capitals, the political price of that patience rises.

The question is no longer whether Indonesia will leave the Board of Peace. It is whether it can afford to wait much longer.