Interpreting multilateral diplomacy in the Indonesian Parliament’s debates on climate crisis and sustainability

Abstract

Generally ‘diplomacy’ belongs to the tasks of the executive government, especially to the foreign affairs services. Nowadays, diplomacy includes everyone, including parliaments in a multilateral setting, especially when discussing global issues, such as climate change. This article discusses the parliamentary diplomacy practices of the Indonesian Parliament which are claimed to support multilateralism and foreign cooperation in international gatherings. The data is studied from the international events that this committee organized and Indonesian parliamentary meetings abroad in 2017–22, seen from the ideal parliamentary aspects of deliberation, representation, responsibility, and sovereignty. The data reveals that while the climate crisis is agreed to be more critical and awareness has been built among the members of parliament in this committee, the whole parliamentary members or the Indonesian Parliament as the institution does not fully acknowledge it yet. Legislation has not yet been enacted to tackle the climate crisis. Consequently, despite such sporadic efforts, the actions remain small, and inter-parliamentary diplomacy does not result in anything concrete. Multilateral diplomacy from parliament is still limited in this case.