Presidential Personal Affairs Observer Attacked: Not Part of Criticism

President Prabowo Subianto at the TNI Raya Harvest activity in Supporting the Food Security Program at Abdulrachman Saleh Air Base, Malang Regency, East Java, Friday (17/7/2026). (Photo: Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau)

JAKARTA - Political observer Ayip Tayana regrets the prevalence of negative content that attacks President Prabowo Subianto's personal life on social media (medsos).

According to him, although freedom of opinion is guaranteed in a democracy, it is not appropriate for criticism to be shifted to personal insults.

Ayip in a statement in Jakarta, Sunday, exemplified the mention of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) or narcissistic personality disorder that was pinned on President Prabowo.

"This is not criticism, but more on personal insults. This nation must be able to distinguish between criticism and what is called insults. Talking about Prabowo NPD is not criticism. This president must be criticized, but if you talk about the president with NPD, it's not criticism, I think," said the Executive Director of the National Data Index.

Ayip assessed that personal attacks that undermine someone's dignity are not part of freedom of expression. Because, criticism should be more targeted at the policies or actions of a President, not just those that encourage public anger.

"There is no argument there, no responsibility, it is only used to inflame emotions, inflame anger, and the goal is only for that. Just want others to be angry with his statements," he said.

The problem, he continued, is that such content is actually the one that gets high interaction in the community and is considered a representation of public opinion.

According to him, this is what must be straightened out in the midst of the fast-paced flow of information due to social media and artificial intelligence (AI).

"In Indonesia, if the content has a negative or emotional tone and then attacks a certain political group, it tends to get high engagement. Don't let things like that even linger. Democracy requires freedom of speech, but also requires maturity and responsibility," he said.

Ayip assessed that such phenomena are indeed widespread on social media, but do not represent the overall view of the community. Because, from the perspective of political legitimacy and the majority of people's assessment, it is just the opposite.

First, Prabowo was elected with very strong legitimacy, namely winning with the support of 58 percent of the Indonesian people.

"Electorally and constitutionally, Mr. Prabowo won 58 percent with one round against two candidates who should have been two rounds. That legitimacy is very strong," he said.

Then, according to Ayip, President Prabowo's satisfaction level is also high. According to the latest Poltracking survey, 74.2 percent of the public believe in President Prabowo's government and 72.2 percent are satisfied with the government's performance.

"This means that these various survey results can be used as an indicator that public support and trust for the government of President Prabowo is still at the majority level," he said.

However, Ayip highlighted that a high level of satisfaction does not mean that everyone is satisfied with all government policies.

"Dissatisfaction with certain aspects is certainly there. If there is dissatisfaction with certain programs or policies, it must be evaluated by the government. This high satisfaction figure should be appreciated, but the findings of dissatisfaction in certain sectors must also be evaluated by the government," he said.