Opinion: Challenging Hashim's Role on the Climate Summit Diplomacy Stage

This year, the Climate Summit (COP) 31 in Turkey will take place in November. This event will be a platform for climate diplomacy for countries around the world, including Indonesia. Instead of preparing sound climate diplomacy, the Indonesian Government weakened its climate diplomacy position through the decision of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (KESDM) regarding the auction results for the work areas (WK) of Natuna D-Alpha oil and gas (migas). That KESDM decision won the company related to Hashim Djojohadikusumo, the Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change. From a business perspective, this might just be natural news, but from the perspective of climate diplomacy, it is bad news because it can weaken Indonesia's diplomatic position on the international stage. Why is that? At least, there are two causes. First, the D-Alpha oil and gas block has CO2 content of up to around 72%. No company has ever separated a CO2 content of that amount. This means the oil and gas block has the potential to be a carbon bomb from Indonesia. Even if successful, it will be very costly. The consequence will be that the country will be trapped in a fossil-based economy. This fossil-based economic lock is through the development and maintenance of its physical, economic, and political infrastructure (policy). The longer this fossil-based economic lock remains, the longer renewable energy will enter Indonesia's energy system. Second, the issue of public ethics in energy policymaking. The companies that will work in the oil and gas block are related to the figure of Hashim Djojohadikusumo. He is not only the younger brother of President Prabowo Subianto, but also the Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change. How can a Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change be associated with oil and gas business whose emissions cause the climate crisis? As the figure leading Indonesia's climate diplomacy, Hashim should have been at the forefront of strengthening Indonesia's climate commitments, not weakening them. The association of Hashim with the oil and gas industry clearly will weaken Indonesia's climate diplomacy at COP31. This is the nadir point of Indonesia's climate diplomacy, especially not just this time, the face of Indonesia is tarnished in international events. When Hashim led the Indonesian delegation for COP30 in Brazil last year, the International Civil Society Coalition gave Indonesia the Fossil of the Day Awards. They gave that award because the Indonesian Government included lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry in the official delegation list for COP30. Will this embarrassing incident be repeated at COP31? In fact, it is not just this time that the Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, made the international public doubt Indonesia's climate commitments. At the end of 2025, at the National Leadership Meeting (Rapimnas) of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hashim firmly stated that Indonesia will only do phase-down (reduction), not phase-out (stopping) of fossil fuels. As the request was met with a response, the statement by Prabowo Subianto's younger brother was welcomed by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, who announced the government's decision to cancel the early retirement plan for Cirebon-1 coal-fired power plant. However, with Indonesia's electricity situation already in surplus, the entry of electricity from renewable energy will be difficult without the early retirement of the coal-fired power plant. Normalization? The question then is, why do some Indonesian people normalize the position of the Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change even though it is related to oil and gas business. Even though the emissions of the oil and gas industry surely cause the climate crisis. Do the Indonesian people not know that this will damage the credibility of Indonesia's climate commitment in the eyes of the international community? To answer this question, we need to use the lens of Foucault, the philosopher from France. With the Foucault lens, we will see how the Indonesian people choose silence because there is a power operation directing that choice. That power operation is the marginalization of public ethics from climate diplomacy. The power operation replaces public ethics discourse in climate diplomacy with technocratic discourse related to green investment, including carbon trading. The dominance of technocratic discourse related to green investment in climate diplomacy then becomes the 'rule' considered true. The connection of a Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change with fossil business is considered natural. This happens because public ethics discourse was first removed from the debate on climate diplomacy. The power of interest sought to remove public ethics discourse. According to Foucault, power and knowledge are like two sides of the same coin. They are inseparable. Power can support certain knowledge, and vice versa. In the context of climate diplomacy, power works subtly, through knowledge to create a regime of truth. That regime of truth states that the discussion of carbon trading or green investment discourse is more important than public ethics. If we go further, the disappearance of public ethics discourse in climate diplomacy actually reflects that this discourse has also long been absent from the minds of policymakers in the country. Have the policymakers not already normalized the dual role of businessman and public official? If power operating through knowledge has succeeded in subduing the public, then what can we do when a Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change is associated with fossil energy business? According to Foucault, power is also inseparable from resistance. The disappearance of public ethics discourse from climate diplomacy is not permanent. That discourse can return in its original form or new discourse that is even more radical can emerge. The public's task is to bring back the discourse of public ethics or bring forth a discourse of resistance in climate diplomacy. The public must start to dare to question Hashim Djojohadikusumo's position as the Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change. There is no option to play on two feet for him. He must choose: remain on the diplomatic stage or focus on carrying out his extractive business. If the choice remains the Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change, he must let go of his association with extractive business. *The author is Firdaus Cahyadi, Doctoral Student of the Sociology of Rural Studies at IPB University. This writing is the author's opinion. ***** The Discourse of the Northern Papua Oil and Gas Block Reappears, What is the Fate of Jayapura Fishermen?