PROPOSED arrangements granting US military “blanket overflight access” in Indonesian airspace signal a material shift away from Asean’s long-standing commitment to neutrality.
Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) warns that, without clear limits and transparency, the deal risks drawing Southeast Asia deeper into major power competition and weakening an already fragile regional order.
“Expanding military access without transparency risks turning our region into a silent partner in conflicts we neither control nor consent to. Sovereignty must not be reduced to a procedural formality, but anchored in human rights and accountability to the people,” said APHR Co-Chairperson and Member of the Indonesian House of Representatives Mercy Chriesty Barends.
At the centre of the proposal is an unresolved question: whether Indonesia will retain meaningful authority to approve, restrict, or veto specific US military missions using its airspace. While the arrangement is reportedly framed around contingency operations, crisis response, and mutually agreed exercises, these categories remain broad and open to interpretation.
This potential shift comes as Asean faces growing internal divergence over security alignments. Some member states are deepening cooperation with the United States, while others are strengthening ties with China.
This trend risks fragmenting Asean’s longstanding principle of non-alignment and weakening its collective ability to manage external pressures. Indonesia has historically played a key role in anchoring this principle, making any recalibration of its posture regionally significant.
“These concerns are compounded by Asean’s limited response to ongoing regional crises. In Myanmar, the military junta continues to commit widespread and systematic human rights violations with impunity, while Asean mechanisms have failed to deliver meaningful accountability or protection. Against this backdrop, expanding military arrangements without robust safeguards risks further exposing the gap between Asean’s stated commitments and its practice,” said APHR Co-Chairperson and former Malaysian MP Charles Santiago.
APHR reiterates that preserving ASEAN’s relevance requires more than rhetorical commitment to neutrality. It demands transparency in security agreements, effective democratic oversight, and firm adherence to human rights and international law.
Without these safeguards, Southeast Asia risks becoming not a zone of cooperation, but a contested space shaped by external military competition.— April 15, 2026
APHR is a coalition of current and former parliamentarians from Southeast Asia who use their unique position to advance human rights and democracy in the region