TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto said on Monday that Indonesia must strengthen its self-reliance, warning that no other country would step in to help if Indonesians were in difficulty.
Speaking at the 2026 Pancasila Day commemoration ceremony in Jakarta, Prabowo said Indonesia should avoid dependence on other nations and focus on building domestic resilience.
“No other nation will pity us,” Prabowo said at the Pancasila Building grounds on Taman Pejambon Street, Central Jakarta.
“If our people are hungry, if our people are in trouble, no other nation, no other power, will take pity or help us,” he added.
The president said his administration must avoid policies that prioritize short-term convenience at the expense of future generations. He also argued that no country can be truly independent without economic prosperity.
Prabowo referenced Indonesia’s founding president Sukarno, saying national self-reliance remains central to the idea of sovereignty.
“As our founding father, our proclaimer Bung Karno once advised us, we must dare to stand on our own feet. That is the essence of a sovereign state,” he said.
In the same speech, Prabowo also urged Indonesians to take a more honest look at the country’s condition.
He said Indonesia’s economy has grown over several decades, but questioned whether the benefits of that growth have been evenly distributed.
“For the past few decades, Indonesia’s economy has indeed grown. But has that growth been distributed equally, felt fairly by all Indonesian citizens?” he said. “Let us be honest in facing the reality we are dealing with today.”
The president said Indonesia is endowed with abundant natural resources and is among the world’s major producers of commodities needed by the global economy.
However, he added that the country’s wealth has not always translated into broad-based prosperity.
“We must admit that for too long, our wealth has not been fully utilized for the prosperity of the people,” Prabowo said.
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