Public Positive Sentiment To Menkeu's Cowboy Style Purbaya Yudhi Sadives, Should It Change?

JAKARTA The communication style of the Minister of Economy, Purbaya Yudhi Sadive, continues to be in the spotlight. Recently, his communication style was commented on by Pertamina Commissioner Hasan Nasbi.

Hasan Nasbi criticized Purbaya's communication style which was considered to have the potential to weaken the government's cohesiveness. According to the former Head of the Presidential Communication Office (now the Government Communications Agency), Purbaya actually seemed to poke at other officials.

"If we talk in the context of the government, fellow cabinet members, fellow governments cannot hold stab standards continuously in public. Therefore, it will weaken the government," Hasan said in a video uploaded on his personal Youtube channel.

Hasan Nasbi's statement, which was criticized for his comments regarding the shipment of the pig head against TempoFrance journalist Christy Rosana, drew mixed reactions. Political communication expert Hendri Satrio assessed that Purbaya's cowboy style could restore public confidence in the government, which had weakened recently.

But from an economist's point of view, Minister of Finance Purbaya must improve his communication style because it is related to market sentiment.

Since being appointed by President Prabowo Subianto to replace Sri Mulyani as Minister of Finance, Purbaya's communication has received the spotlight. Initially, he received negative sentiment from the community because he considered the claim 17+8 after the August demonstration series was only the voice of a small number of people.

However, Purbaya quickly managed to attract the public's hearts through his breakthroughs. Not infrequently he poked at other officials in the government environment. Purbaya even briefly mentioned the president's flagship program, Free Nutrition Food (MBG). He threatened to take a budget that was not absorbed in the program.

But the high-class communication style is liked by the public. At least, this is illustrated from the Kompasyang R&D Data which reports that the Minister of Finance of Purbaya has received an increase in positive public sentiment during his month in office.

Netizens' sentiment towards Minister of Finance Purbaya rose from 23 percent to 47 percent in the period September 8-13 October 2025.

Purbaya is not the first official with a high-speed communication style. Former President Abdurrahman Wahid alias Gus Dur received a level of public satisfaction of 30.7 in the first 12 months of his administration, compared to Megawati Soekarnoputri with 26.7.

Former DKI Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama (Ahok), who in addition to celas-ceplos, is also fierce, getting a performance satisfaction rate of 75 percent from Saiful Mujani Research Center (SMRC) and 63 percent from Poltracking in 2016.

Political communication observer Hendri Satrio assessed that the communication style displayed by Purbaya actually presented optimism among the public, even though he received criticism from Hasan Nasbi.

In fact, according to Hendri, bad comments about Purbaya's communication style were no more than people who did not like Sri Mulyani's successor.

"In fact, in the communication science, what Mr. Purbaya said was close to a theory called cognitive consistency. So people now really need a new optimism for their lives and Purbaya gives it," said Hendri Satrio.

Because of his high-end communication, Minister of Finance Purbaya is said to have a cowboy style. Hendri assessed that this style actually shows that the Minister of Finance is positioning itself as equal to the people. According to him, Purbaya's communication style can increase optimism for the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka government.

"I think Purbaya still remembers himself when he was a people. So what he said seemed to reflect his image when he became a people," said Hendri, who was the founder of the KedaiKOPI survey institute.

"Complaints about deposits of funds made by the provincial government, the people are finally annoyed," he said.

Before being criticized by Hasan Nasbi, Minister of Finance Purbaya was criticized by the Chairman of Commission XI DPR Mukhamad Misbakhun to improve political communication and build a solid economic team. One that was absorbed when Purbaya commented on the unabsorbed MBG budget cuts.

"Pak Purbaya must stop commenting too often on other ministry policies. Focus on the large economic design that he wants to build to support the President's vision," said Misbakhun, Tuesday (14/10/2025).

Purbaya's other comments in the spotlight were when he mentioned that there were 15 regions that kept funds not in the regional development bank, including West Java.

The West Java Provincial Government is said to have kept deposits of IDR 4.17 trillion. Apart from West Java, Purbaya also said that the Jakarta Provincial Government kept deposits of IDR 14.68 trillion and the East Java Provincial Government IDR 6.8 trillion.

Purbaya explained that the data from Bank Indonesia revealed funds deposited in regional cash accounts reached Rp233 trillion, including district government deposits of Rp134.2 trillion, provincial government deposits of Rp60.2 trillion, and city government deposits of Rp39.5 trillion.

Director of the Digital Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) Nailul Huda said that as Minister of Finance, Purbaya must improve its communication style. Purbaya, said Huda, is the number three person in Indonesia because of its strategic position as a state treasurer.

"This must be improved a more organized style of communication, with whom to speak must be regulated, this is what I think should actually be improved," said Huda.

For Huda, the style of communication of keplas-ceplos which is the hallmark of the Minister of Finance Purbaya does not matter. The most important thing is that as Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadive's words certainly have a big influence on market sentiment.

"The most important thing is the content of what Mr. Purbaya said, lest real sector investors doubt our fiscal management, then what must be done is to prove that Mr. Purbaya has the right choice for President Prabowo to manage finances, manage our fiscals," Huda concluded.