Dangerous World Order: What the Maduro Case Teaches Indonesia

The controversy surrounding Nicolás Maduro is often framed as a domestic Venezuelan issue, a question of elections, democracy, and leadership legitimacy. That framing is misleading. What is truly at stake is something far larger and far more dangerous: the accelerating collapse of a fair and rules-based world order, replaced by selective enforcement, economic coercion, and power-driven legitimacy.

For countries like Indonesia, a proud member and historic leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Maduro case is not about Venezuela. It is a warning.

From Rules to Power

In theory, international relations are governed by law, multilateral institutions, and shared norms. In reality, we are witnessing the normalization of unilateral sanctions, extraterritorial punishment, and political recognition based not on constitutional processes but geopolitical alignment.

Economic sanctions today function as weapons of war, deployed without bullets, without declarations, and often without authorization from the United Nations. Entire populations are punished in the name of values that are applied inconsistently and selectively.

This is not democracy promotion. This is economic warfare.

Why Indonesia Must Care

Indonesia is not a superpower. But it is also not a spectator. As a middle power with strategic weight, a large domestic market, abundant resources, and an independent foreign policy tradition, Indonesia sits precisely in the category of countries most vulnerable to a dangerous precedent.

If legitimacy is decided by power rather than process, then any country that chooses an independent path, in energy, trade, finance, or diplomacy, may one day face similar pressure.

Today it is Venezuela. Tomorrow, it could be any resource-rich middle power that refuses to align unquestioningly.

Non-Alignment Is Not Neutrality

Indonesia’s non-alignment must never be confused with passivity. Non-alignment is an active doctrine, one rooted in sovereignty, dialogue, and multilateralism.

Indonesia should not defend any individual leader, including Maduro. That is not our role. But Indonesia must defend principles:

• That governments are determined by domestic constitutional processes

• That sanctions require multilateral legitimacy

• That humanitarian suffering is never an acceptable diplomatic tool

This distinction is critical. We defend rules, not regimes.

A Middle Power’s Responsibility

Indonesia should use its credibility to act as a bridge, not between ideologies, but between fractured norms. This includes advocating for:

• Multilateral review of sanctions regimes

• Humanitarian and economic safeguards for civilian populations

• Dialogue mechanisms rather than isolation

As middle powers, our strength lies not in coercion but in coalition-building, across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the broader Global South.

A Warning for the Global South

The most dangerous trend in today’s world order is not conflict between great powers. It is the quiet normalization of economic strangulation as a policy instrument. Once this becomes acceptable, international law becomes optional, sovereignty becomes conditional, and development becomes hostage to geopolitics.

For the Global South, this is an existential issue.

Indonesia’s Strategic Choice

Indonesia must be clear, calm, and consistent. We must reject unilateralism without becoming partisan. We must defend multilateralism without becoming naïve. And we must protect sovereignty, not only for others, but for ourselves.

A dangerous world order is one where power decides legitimacy.

Indonesia’s task is to help build a world where legitimacy is decided by law, dialogue, and mutual respect, or risk becoming a victim of the very disorder we fail to confront.