I write this to refute an article published by ANTARA, Indonesia’s state owned news agency, and authored by a former Chair of Indonesia’s Regional Representative Council (DPD RI) for 2009 to 2016 and a current member of the DPD RI for 2024 to 2029 from West Sumatra. I respond directly to its arguments. I reject its framing, logic, and conclusions.

The article opens by invoking Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Mahatma Gandhi to justify engagement with power at any cost. I reject this comparison. Mandela and Tutu spoke about dialogue after apartheid was named as a crime and after sustained global pressure constrained its architects. Gandhi warned against revenge, not against accountability. None of them argued for cooperation with perpetrators while mass killing was ongoing. In Gaza today, civilians are being deliberately destroyed. Naming that reality is not emotional excess. It is a moral and legal necessity. This is not a dispute between equal enemies. It is genocide.

The article frames Gaza as a security crisis that requires strategic maneuvering. I reject that framing. Strategy applies to war. What is happening in Gaza is not war. Gaza has no army, no air force, and no control over borders, food, water, or electricity. Israel controls all of it. That control has been used to impose mass civilian death, starvation, and forced displacement. These acts meet the legal definition of genocide. When genocide is underway, the task is not to be clever. The task is to stop the crime.

The article praises secrecy as diplomatic wisdom. I reject that claim.........

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