Prabowo tours Japan, Korea, and Russia to lock in energy

As war around the Strait of Hormuz pushed up oil prices, President Prabowo Subianto went on a tour to secure Indonesia's energy and supply chains, visiting Japan, South Korea, and Russia between late March and mid-April 2026. Writing in The Diplomat, Kevin Zongzhe Li explains how each stop tied into keeping the lights on and factories running back home. The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow sea passage that a large share of the world's oil passes through, so trouble there raises prices everywhere.

In Japan, on 31 March, Indonesia pushed forward deals on liquefied natural gas, critical minerals, geothermal power, and even civil nuclear energy, including the Masela gas field. The next day in Seoul, Indonesia and South Korea raised their ties to a "Special Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," agreed to build weapons together, and confirmed Korea would buy about 820,000 tonnes of Indonesian gas this year. The two countries also marked the rollout of the KF-21, a fighter jet they developed jointly, with Korea planning to sell 16 of them to Indonesia. Then on 13 April, Prabowo met Putin in Moscow, his fifth meeting with the Russian leader in a year, to discuss oil, gas, and fertilizer.

At home, the government tried to shield people from the oil shock. It capped some fuel sales and kept subsidized prices steady, at about US$0.60 a litre for petrol and $0.40 for diesel, so pump prices did not jump with the world market.

Why it matters

For drivers and businesses, holding fuel prices steady during a global oil shock protects budgets in the short term, though it costs a government that is already short of money. The wider push to line up energy from many partners aims to keep Indonesia supplied even when one region blows up. Watch whether these deals turn into real gas and fuel deliveries, and how long the government can afford to hold prices down.