Prabowo's Story: When I Became Minister Of Defense, I Ban My Family From Being Involved In Defense Projects

Presiden Prabowo Subianto dan Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Forbes Media, Steve Forbes, berdialog dalam Forbes Global CEO Conference 2025 yang berlangsung di Jakarta, Rabu malam (15/10/2025). (dok Setneg)

JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto revealed that during his tenure as defense minister he firmly rejected all defense contracts involving his family members in order to prevent conflicts of interest and as a form of commitment to prevent corrupt practices, collusion and nepotism (KKN).

In a dialogue session with Forbes Main Leader Steve Forbes, which is the culmination of the Forbes Global CEO Conference 2025 event in Jakarta, Wednesday, October 15 evening, President Prabowo explained that corruption could be conjectured like cancer, which if it had reached stage four, would be difficult to "heal". Therefore, the President believes that to prevent corruption, there should be no conflict of interest between him, who at that time served as minister of defense with his family members, some of whom were businessmen.

"When I served as minister of defense, the first night I was minister of defense, I remember, I called my relatives, my nephews, I don't remember whether my younger brother (Hashim Djojohadikusumo, ed.) was in the room, but I said (to them, ed.) I am the defense minister, and you are not allowed to see me for anything related to the defense contract," said President Prabowo when telling things that were done to prevent conflicts of interest during his tenure as defense minister.

However, after three months of running, the President continued to talk about entrepreneurs trying to find loopholes with other roads and methods.

"One day, one of my nephews met me with a project proposal, and I said: Come on! You've never (businessed, ed.) in the defense sector, you don't understand defense, okay, doing business in other fields," Prabowo said, recounting his conversation with one of his nephews.

Then, one time, Prabowo received a report from his subordinates at the Ministry of Defense. In the report, there were three companies that entered the shortlist for procurement contracts at the Ministry of Defense. In the same report, the official at the Ministry of Defense then mentioned that Prabowo's nephew in the two companies was included in the final list of selections (shortlists) for procurement contract cooperation at the Ministry of Defense.

"(I said to my subordinates, ed.) Reject them! I reject all (contracts involving, ed.) my family," said the President.

"I also found it difficult to meet my nephews for three or four months after the incident. But whatever it is, I have to set an example. It's not easy, but it has to be done," said President Prabowo.

The President's commitment to eradicating corruption is one of the issues discussed in a dialogue session for approximately an hour between President Prabowo and Steve Forbes. Not only discussing corruption, President Prabowo and Steve also discussed other issues, including free nutritious eating (MBG), Danantara as Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund, the direction of President's economic policy, the strategy of achieving 8 percent economic growth, and President Prabowo's involvement in the peace agreement in Gaza, Palestine which was signed during the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit for Peace in Gaza in Sharm El-Sheikh City, Egypt, Monday (13/10).