This paper considers Indonesia’s role in Pacific regional politics. During the last decade, Indonesia has intensified engagement with the South Pacific countries. Indonesia’s integration into regional and sub-regional groupings in the Pacific has enabled the country to manoeuvre within the region and to exert political influence on a growing number of South Pacific countries. Some Pacific leaders consider Indonesia as a ‘new friend’, a term used to label nontraditional partners that have a minor role and stay for a short-term in the Pacific region (Maclellan, 2015). However, Indonesia’s partnerships with South Pacific countries could change its role to a greater one in the Pacific region in future.