Sentiles Of NGOs Funded By Foreigners, Prabowo Can Be Considered Anti-Critic

Illustration of NGO funding. (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA - Sociologist from the Jakarta State University (UNJ) Rakhmat Hidayat revealed that President Prabowo Subianto's statement detailing foreign funding at various NGOs would lead to the assumption that the current government is an anti-critic regime.

"President Prabowo's statement could have a bad impact on Indonesia's image in the eyes of the international community, therefore it indicates that the current regime is anti-critic," said Rakhmat, Sunday, June 8, 2025.

Previously, President Prabowo mentioned the existence of NGOs funded by foreigners in Indonesia. Although not specific about names, Prabowo said there were many NGOs financed to pit Indonesians against each other.

Although he emphasized that he was not anti-foreign, the president reminded the public not to be easily deceived by the interests of foreign nations.

"With money, they finance NGOs to pit us against each other. They are said to be enforcers of democracy, human rights (human rights), freedom of the press. In fact, that is their own version," Prabowo said some time ago.

Head of the Presidential Communication Office (PCO), Hasan Nasbi, emphasized that Prabowo's statement was not addressed to all NGOs, but to individuals who tried to divide unity.

He also believes that Prabowo has complete information regarding such NGOs.

Rakhmat explained, actually the donor and NGO institutions have a strategic role.

Based on his experience working together and being involved in international projects, NGOs and foreign donor institutions have roles that cannot be played by the government.

In addition, foreign institutions that fund NGOs in Indonesia contribute a lot to public transformation, such as handling poverty, environmental issues, education, social, and health, where problems in the field are not all able to be overcome by the government.

The existence of foreign institutions actually fills these gaps. That means they have roles and contributions in social development, health development. I see this as an effort to eliminate or counter-productive to the roles and existence of NGOs," concluded Rakhmat.