Prabowo: Don't let it be necessary to be a little authoritarian against corruptors

JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto in his speech called "The New Indonesia." The meaning of the speech is not to give room for corruption.

"The New Indonesia must not, must not have corruption!" said Prabowo in a speech at the Indonesia Economic Outlook 2026 at the Danantara Building, Jakarta, Friday, February 13,

He alluded to leaks and embezzlement, which he said were still large, and assessed that the culture of "looking for opportunities to overcome regulations" must be stopped - both by entrepreneurs and bad bureaucrats.

But the part that caught attention came when Prabowo turned to the issue of democracy and the stigma against him. He called Indonesia "democracy" - then immediately softened with a joking tone, "Democracy is a bit democratic. It's a bit, it's a bit of our democracy, right? It's a bit. If there is no democracy, I won't be president," he said.

Prabowo then alluded to a group that accused him of being authoritarian.

"There are groups that always accuse him, Indonesia is like this, Prabowo is authoritarian," he said.

The president had a sarcastic sentence.

"But if you ask the people, maybe you also need a little authoritarianism... to fight those corruptors," he said.

Once aware that there were various people present, Prabowo cut his sentence with another joke.

"Wow, there are a lot of journalists here... there are many ambassadors here, Western countries again..." and then closed in English.

"I am completely democratic. Completely," he said.