Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto arrived in Cebu on Thursday morning for the 48th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the first major regional gathering since the start of the war between the United States and Iran put pressure on energy-import costs and shipping routes across South-East Asia.
Mr Prabowo travelled in an Indonesia-built Maung tactical vehicle for the official welcome, a symbol of his administration's domestic-manufacturing push. Officials said the leader would press counterparts to coordinate on freight-insurance arrangements for tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, alongside discussions on critical-minerals processing and the South China Sea.
Indonesia's economy expanded 5.61 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, official data released last week showed, supported by household consumption, government spending and direct investment. Fiscal-deficit pressures remain a concern for analysts who warn that subsidies linked to global energy prices have widened.
On May Day Mr Prabowo signed a series of measures aimed at lower-paid workers, including Presidential Regulation No. 27 of 2026 mandating health insurance and a minimum 92 per cent wage distribution for online-platform transport workers, and a new task force on layoffs and labour welfare. The government said it would inaugurate 1,386 fishing villages this year under separate provisions ratifying ILO Convention 188.
The Cebu summit runs through Friday and is expected to produce a joint communiqué on energy security and a separate statement on Myanmar. Bilateral meetings on the sidelines will include Mr Prabowo's first formal encounter with Philippine president Bongbong Marcos since the start of the year.
Civil-society groups in Jakarta have urged the president to use the trip to push for stronger ASEAN language on Myanmar's ruling junta, citing continued violence in Sagaing and Rakhine states.