Remind Prabowo Subianto, Intelligence Observer: Don't Become a Negarawan who is Absent in the Middle of Power

JAKARTA - President Prabowo often emphasizes the importance of leadership sustainability and openly calls President Jokowi a "political teacher". The difference between statesmen and politicians, seen from the courage to put the interests of the people and the law above personal loyalty and short-term interests.

This was conveyed by intelligence observer, Sri Rajasa Candra to VOI through his written message, Thursday, January 1.

Sri Rajasa said that in classical leadership ethics, a statesman is distinguished from a regular politician by the courage to put the people's interests and the law above personal loyalty and short-term interests. A statesman thinks across generations, not just across electoral lines.

"However, the policies that are born actually show the opposite tendency. Practical political interests are more dominant than the courage to make structural corrections. Loyalty to the old power is maintained, even protected, while public demands are often ignored. In political psychology, this pattern is in line with the concept of authoritarian personality, namely the tendency to maintain power through institutional control and elite networks, not moral legitimacy," he said. Sri Rajasa.

He added that the phenomenon of "Dark Indonesia" was not just an emotional expression. It reflects the simultaneous dimming of political, legal, and bureaucratic reforms. And more dangerous is the emergence of indications of the consolidation of dynastic power supported by collaboration between the political elite, security apparatus, and the power of the rentier economy. In this kind of configuration, the country risks turning into a tool for a handful of groups, not a common home for all citizens.

"Indonesian history shows that authoritarian power rarely collapses when it is weak. It falls when it feels the most solid and immune to criticism. The 1998 reform was born from a collective awareness that the state had deviated too far from its constitutional purpose. Today, the nation is again at a crossroads. Democracy does not die overnight; it fades slowly, through compromises that are left behind," he said.