Non-Western Responses to Russia’s War in Ukraine: Learning from Indonesia

Abstract

Using Indonesia, one of the leading voices in the so-called Global South, I trace the diverse narratives of non-Western elites on interpreting the war in Ukraine, the relationship between Russia and the “non-Western” world, and the NATO factors. The lack of knowledge about Russia and Ukraine, coupled with the strong anti-Western sentiment, has created a more pro-Russian sentiment in the Indonesian narratives about the war. This tendency was made stronger by the postcolonial thinking in Indonesian elite discourse, creating an ‘understander’ narrative rooted in the local postcolonial history instead of being driven by external, material factors.