Indonesia: Media, politics meet in Prabowo Subianto’s government

Seven journalists become politicians, up from one in outgoing cabinet

Indonesia’s new government

By Elitha Evinora

JAKARTA: Indonesia is entering a new era of leadership as a new government and a new cabinet have filled the Istana Negara (State Palace) where the president works and conducts his daily activities.

Sentiments towards the government of Subianto since he was declared winner of the 2024 General Election have generated interesting topics for discussions, locally and internationally.

This level of expectation is due mainly to the fact that the outgoing president Joko Widodo, who has coloured Indonesia’s leadership for the past 10 years, has held ample places in people’s hearts, even though there were acts of protest at times.

Prabowo, however, came in with a reputation that he is anti-media that does not seem to reflect reality.

Prabowo has appointed the largest government in recent history with more than 100 members: 48 ministers, 59 deputy ministers and five   other high-ranking, minister-level officers: attorney-general, head of intelligence unit, head of presidential staff, head of presidential communication office and Cabinet secretary.

In the Red and White Cabinet formed announced on October 20, seven members with press backgrounds were chosen to hold ministerial positions. They include Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid, Minister of Cooperatives Budi Arie Setiadi, Deputy Minister of Population and Family Development Isyana Bagoes Oka, Deputy Minister of Tourism Ni Luh Enik Ermawati, Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Nazar Patria, and Deputy Minister of Finance Thomas Djiwandono.

Prabowo’s Anti-Media reputation is attributed to an old report that shows Prabowo Subianto warning the media to “be careful” that resurfaced when he was still the presidential candidate number two.

He conveyed the warning as he was giving a speech at the 2019 Labour Day commemoration in Central Jakarta, according to Kompas.com.

“Media people, be careful, we are taking notes on your behavior,” Prabowo said, which was immediately greeted by the laborers,” he allegedly said.

“We are not goats that you can force to do this and that. Be careful. Be careful, the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

Prabowo talked about how there have been many lies, cheating in the country while Indonesia’s wealth has been taken. The oppression of the people, he said, needs to end.

He claimed that the media contributes to the destruction of democracy.

“For the media, I salute you for still daring to come here. It will go down in history. Hey, media, you helped damage democracy in Indonesia,” he said.

On the other side, Joko Widodo, who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024 and the first president to not emerge from the country’s political or military elite, is known to have been in good terms with the press in Indonesia. Throughout his tenure, he was known to be a “media darling”, even though there was only one minister with a press background, Budi Arie Setiadi, the Minister of Communication and Information.

In a speech during an Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) event, then vice presidential candidate Prabowo said that no one should doubt his commitment to democracy as he has been an active participant of the democratic system in the past two decades, Jakarta Post reported on January 5, 2024.

In a speech recently, Prabowo also praised the role of the press as a counterweight to government policies.

“Press freedom, checks and balances, they are there to control those in power,” he said.

Prabowo admitted that some of criticism from the press was harsh to him, but stressed it was very necessary to keep the government accountable.

“A dynamic freedom of the press, which sometimes goes too far and makes us angry when we read it, is to control us (the government), to tell us that something is wrong with our country,” Prabowo said.