Trump’s Board of Peace and Sukarno’s CONEFO: Two visions, two worlds

During a recent discussion regarding Indonesia’s engagement with United States President Donald Trump’s proposed Board of Peace, my colleague Dr. Rizal Sukma recalled the Conference of the New Emerging Forces (CONEFO), Indonesia’s founding president Sukarno’s bold, internationalist vision.

While historical references to CONEFO are often relegated to the archives, its core principles feel strikingly contemporary. What follows is not a mere historical reconstruction, but an attempt to rearticulate Sukarno’s moral imagination in light of today’s fractured global order.

The proposal for a board of peace emerges during a period of profound global exhaustion. Prolonged conflicts, unresolved occupations and humanitarian catastrophes have created a widespread yearning for stability. Trump’s proposal speaks directly to this desire, defining "peace" primarily as the absence of open warfare, sustained through dialogue among major powers and managed via elite bargaining.