Prabowo Partners with Megawati on Pancasila Day, Gerindra: Their Friendship is Very Strong

President Prabowo Subianto and the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia Megawati Soekarnoputri talk after the Pancasila Birthday Anniversary ceremony in Jakarta on Monday (1/6/2026) (ANTARA/HO-BPMI Presidential Secretariat)

JAKARTA - Gerindra Party spokesman, Bahtra Banong, responded to the moment when President Prabowo Subianto joined the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia and PDIP General Chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri on the birthday of Pancasila on June 1. According to Bahtra, Prabowo and Megawati have a very strong friendship.

"That shows that Pak Prabowo's relationship with Mrs. Mega, his friendship, we can see that it is a very strong friendship. And if we look at the history, Pak Prabowo and Mrs. Megawati have a history of friendship that is quite long, quite long," said Bahtra at the DPR building, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, June 2.

"So maybe that's what caused that at every momentum of every meeting, Mr. Prabowo showed a more familiar relationship with Mrs. Mega than the others," he continued.

In addition, according to Bahtra, the leaders of the nation must also unite and unite to face various global challenges in the future. Not only with Megawati, he said, Prabowo also invited the former president and vice president of the Republic of Indonesia.

"Yes, if I see it, this is something good. It means that in times of global situations or challenges, our geopolitics, our geo-economy which indeed require unity, these are our leaders," he said.

"Not only Mr. Prabowo with Mrs. Mega, of course with other leaders. Yesterday Mr. Jusuf Kalla also came, with other vice presidents also coming. That shows that indeed our leaders have been able to unite to face challenges," continued Bahtra.

The Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the DPR assessed that Prabowo's attitude of embracing other leaders should be emulated by the younger generation of the country, stressing the importance of building a state civilization in a cooperative manner.

"This is the attitude of Mr. Prabowo which needs to be emulated for the younger generation, for our politicians, our elites, that Mr. Prabowo always respects the previous leaders," explained Bahtra.

"Mr. Prabowo every time he gives a speech always invites how we can unite, how we can build this nation together, to get along. Because indeed our national culture is different from other nations and this should be an example of this kind of attitude," he added.

Even so, Bahtra emphasized that 'together' with Prabowo and Megawati was not a signal that PDIP would join the government. According to him, although PDIP chose to be outside the government, the party with the bull symbol still supports the Prabowo-Gibran government program.

"Well, if we are, then PDIP, for example, until today we see PDIP friends, I am also in Commission II, they always support President Prabowo's priority programs, especially those related to the interests of the people, the interests of the people. I see it today. And Gerindra, Mr. Prabowo also conveyed in his speech at the DPR plenary session that he was not anti-criticism and even thanked PDIP for always reminding him that there were things that might be considered by PDIP to be inappropriate," he said.

"But we appreciate criticism, this is our nation, a democratic nation. We must appreciate all opinions, appreciate all criticism, and it is a vitamin for the government to continue to take the right policies so that the target is also right for all Indonesian people," concluded Bahtra.