Prabowo Subianto's War Campaign Against Corruption In Popular Perspectives

JAKARTA - Do you still remember President Prabowo Subianto's campaign ahead of the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections? Prabowo claims to be the only candidate capable of fighting the corrupt elites in Indonesia. He appeared as a powerful figure, imaging himself as a 'strong person' with a fierce and explosive speech style. As a result, Prabowo was twice lost in Joko Widodo's hands.

In the 2024 presidential election campaign, Prabowo ran again. But this time the image of the former Kopassus commander changed 180 degrees. He became a 'gemoy' figure, a fat, friendly, and funny parent. His speech style on the podium is no longer fierce, but suddenly becomes weak. Campaign materials remain the same: eradicating corruption.

"Changes can only occur if we eradicate corruption to its roots," Prabowo said in his various campaigns ahead of the 2014 presidential election.

After being elected President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo continued to make a determination to eradicate corruption. He even said he would form special forces to pursue corruptors to Antarctica!

"Even if he (the corruptor) runs to Antarctica, I send special forces to look for them in Antarctica," he said at the closing of the Gerindra Party Rapimnas in Senayan, Jakarta, August 31, 2024.

These claims are pretty clear, but is he really following up?

Popularism is the main weapon of every politician who advances in the struggle for power. They are on behalf of the people, to represent themselves when echoing a fight against the elite.

princip Laclau, an Argentine political expert, in his book On Populist Reason said that this populist struggle should have a root in the experience of social suffering. This experience as a sufferer encourages the people to unite, through a strong sense of solidarity.

Prabowo clearly wants to place himself as part of the people', even though he actually came from political elites, even since his great grandfather. Because he wanted to be accepted as part of the ordinary people, he also displayed many rhetoric in every campaign during the 2014, 2019, and 2024 presidential elections.

Looking back, Prabowo's family history has also intersected with allegations of corruption. Prabowo's father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo were three times summoned by the Military Police Corps (CPM) on charges of corruption while serving as Minister of Finance in 1957, namely March 26, May 7, and May 8. Sumitro came on the first two calls, but missed the third summons and fled abroad.

After examining the rhetoric of Prabowo's campaign, many experts described him as a populist chauvinist, populist oligarchy, or volatile populist. There is even a view that the 8th President of the Republic of Indonesia applies military populism.

In the last trial, Prabowo stood as a symbol of military force based on rhetoric that the Indonesian National Army (TNI) is an integral part of the 'people'. For the former Minister of Defense of 2019-2024, the military is the moral foundation of the common people.

Prabowo projects himself as a charismatic military leader who symbolically realized the complaints and demands of the people, especially regarding the issue of corruption which is widely considered to have strong roots.

Since Prabowo was sworn in on October 20, 2024, a number of corruption cases have indeed been disclosed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Attorney General's Office. Some are mega-corruption cases, such as PT Pertamina which reached Rp968.5 trillion. Then PT Timah's corruption with a total state loss of Rp300 trillion.

Then the Wilmar Group's palm oil corruption case amounted to Rp11.8 trillion, a credit financing case for the Indonesian Export Financing Agency amounted to Rp11.7 trillion, and the last Chromebook corruption at the Ministry of Education and Culture amounted to Rp9.9 trillion. The Chromebook case dragged the Minister of Education and Culture in the era of President Jokowi 2019-2024, Nadiem Makarim.

The total state loss caused by the corruption case disclosed in 11 months of Prabowo's reign is greater than the disclosure of corruption since the era of President Suharto after 1998, until the end of Jokowi in 2024. The biggest corruption cases revealed after the reform were Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) of IDR 138.44 trillion. The rest are worth less than IDR 100 trillion, such as Duta Palma (IDR 78 trillion), Asabri (IDR 22.7 trillion), and Jiwasraya (IDR 16.8 trillion).

It seems that Prabowo has actually fulfilled his campaign promise to eradicate corruption. However, when the decision to grant amnesty to Hasto Kristiyanto and an abolition to Tom Lembong, both of whom were sentenced to corruption cases, Prabowo was seen as a contradiction.

Especially when Prabowo gave the Mahaputera Star Adipradana award for Burhanuddin Abdullah. Even though the former Governor of Bank Indonesia 2003-2008 was convicted of corruption.

Despite his brilliant career at Bank Indonesia, Burhanuddin was finally caught in a corruption case. He was proven to have used the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YLPPI) of Rp. 100 billion for legal assistance from five Bank Indonesia officials, the settlement of the BLBI case, and amendments to the Bank Indonesia Law.

The Corruption Court (Tipikor) judge sentenced Burhanuddin to five years in prison, subsidiary to six months in prison, plus a fine of Rp250 million. Burhanuddin was released on March 6, 2010, after being sentenced on October 29, 2008.

Prabowo has indeed allowed one member of the Red and White Cabinet, namely the Deputy Minister of Manpower, Immanuel 'Noel' Ebenezer Gerungan to be arrested by the KPK for corruption cases. Noel was arrested on August 21, 2025, and was named a corruption suspect the following day. However, it is not enough to prove the President's commitment to eradicating corruption, considering that in his reign many giant budget programs have allowed the emergence of other Noel-Noel''.

Transparency International stated that the eradication of corruption in Indonesia was very slow. In 2024, the score of its corruption perception index (IPK) has even fallen to 37, far from the 80-point threshold for a clean and accountable government.

If the war against corruption against Prabowo Subianto's idea, which was framed as one of his populist promises, in the end, it would target political enemies and protect allies, obviously it only benefits yourself, not the public interest.