In 2026, Indonesia twice offered itself as a peacemaker — first in the US-Iran conflict, then in the Korea tensions — and twice was passed over in silence. The episode illuminates a quiet but consequential truth in international affairs: neutrality, however sincerely held, is not the same as influence. A nation earns a seat at the table not by declaring its impartiality, but by making itself structurally indispensable to those who are fighting.