Prabowo Worried Young Generation Easily Surrender to Face the World Competition

President Prabowo Subianto (lTim Media Presiden)

JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto highlighted the resilience of the younger generation in facing inter-state competition, which he considered increasingly harsh. He questioned whether the next generation was strong enough to face pressure or was it easy to give up and complain.

Prabowo conveyed this when attending the 50th anniversary of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia as well as the launch of 10 books at the Jakarta Theater, Friday, August 7.

According to Prabowo, difficulties and obstacles are actually an important part of forming a leader.

"The aggravating conditions, the conditions of obstacles, the conditions of obstacles, are precisely these conditions that raise a leader," said Prabowo.

He assessed that people who have never faced difficulties will be difficult to forge into strong leaders.

"Leadership cannot be given as a gift. Leadership is obtained through hard work, through attitude, through the values that exist in a person," he said.

Prabowo then linked this to the challenge of the next generation.

"Will the generations of our successors now be strong enough to face the increasingly fierce competition between nations, or will they easily give up, easily complain, easily ask for help?" he said.

In his speech, Prabowo used Bahlil's life journey as an example of how difficulties can shape character.

Bahlil grew up in a simple family in Papua and in his speech he told the story of working as a bus conductor while still in school.

Prabowo assessed that intelligence is not only born from formal education. According to Prabowo, life experience and difficulties can also shape a person's ability to read the situation.

"Intelligence, I think, is also forged by difficulties," he said.

However, Prabowo said courage alone was not enough to be a leader. Courage must be accompanied by the values of goodness, virtue, and empathy.

"Brave without virtue will emerge as a leader, but perhaps a leader who is not careful, a leader who is not wise, a leader who ends up harming those he leads," said Prabowo.