Indonesia’s cabinet secretary is sanitising genocide in Gaza |
Indonesia’s cabinet secretary, Teddy Indra Wijaya, recently attempted to defend the government’s position on the situation in the Gaza Strip. His defence relied on two claims. He said casualties have “significantly decreased” in the six months following a diplomatic agreement signed in Sharm El-Sheikh in October 2025. Instead of more than 70,000 Palestinians killed during the peak of Israel’s assault in 2024 and 2025, he said deaths have fallen to around 600 to 1,000 people. He also argued that the violence cannot stop instantly and that casualties will continue even if the intensity declines.
These statements demand scrutiny.
Presenting a reduction in casualties as progress sets a deeply troubling standard. Six hundred deaths are not evidence of peace. Six hundred deaths mean six hundred Palestinians were still killed.
By highlighting declining numbers, Wijaya reduces mass killing into a statistical comparison. Palestinian lives become numbers that rise and fall on a chart. When the numbers decline, the policy is framed as working.
This logic strips away the human reality in Gaza.
Each death represents a person killed under bombardment, siege, and deprivation imposed by Israel. Families buried under destroyed homes. Children killed in airstrikes. Doctors trying to treat the wounded in hospitals without electricity, medicine, or fuel.
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Reducing these deaths into indicators of improvement normalises mass destruction.
Genocide does not become acceptable because the pace of killing slows down.
Genocide does not become acceptable because the pace of killing slows down.
Wijaya’s second claim reveals an equally troubling position. He argues that the violence cannot stop immediately. The implication is clear. Continued Palestinian deaths are something the world must accept while diplomacy unfolds.
That claim does not reflect reality. It reflects a willingness to tolerate ongoing violence.
Bombing stops when bombing orders stop. Airstrikes end when military commanders halt them. Border crossings open when authorities lift the blockade. Humanitarian aid enters when the siege ends.
The killing continues because political power allows it to continue.
Israel’s genocidal campaign persists because it receives diplomatic and military backing from the United States. That support shields Israel from meaningful consequences. As long as Washington maintains that protection, international appeals remain limited in impact.
Against this backdrop, Wijaya presents Indonesia’s participation in the Board of Peace as evidence of serious diplomatic engagement.
The claim is difficult to sustain.
Analysts such as Neil Quilliam of Chatham House warn that the framework risks undermining the very Palestinian statehood it claims to support. Authority rests with a central board chaired for life by Donald Trump. Operational bodies hold the real decision making power.
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Palestinians do not control these institutions.
A Palestinian administrative committee exists, but its members were vetted by Israel under United States oversight and operate with limited authority. They may manage day to day administrative tasks. They do not control the political structure governing their territory.
This is not sovereignty.
It is externally supervised administration.
The framework also separates Gaza from the West Bank for years while conditioning Palestinian self-determination on strict security benchmarks. Critics warn that such arrangements risk repeating the failure of the Oslo process, where negotiations promised independence while Israeli control expanded.
Meanwhile Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank continues without interruption. The Board of Peace does nothing to halt it. It focuses narrowly on Gaza while the broader system of occupation deepens.
Indonesia has long claimed to stand firmly with the Palestinian people. That position carries moral weight across the Muslim world. But statements like those made by Wijaya weaken that claim.
Framing hundreds of deaths as progress lowers the moral standard for human life. Arguing that the violence cannot stop immediately prepares the public to accept continued Palestinian deaths as inevitable.
Neither position reflects the urgency of the crisis in Gaza.
Genocide cannot be evaluated through declining casualty statistics. It cannot be managed through diplomatic frameworks that exclude meaningful Palestinian authority.
It demands clear language, immediate pressure, and the refusal to treat mass death as a tolerable outcome.
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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.