AJI Demands President Prabowo Apologise for Calling Journalists 'Londo Ireng'

Secretary-General of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Bayu Wardhana, has demanded that President Prabowo Subianto apologise for likening journalists to ‘londo ireng’. According to Bayu, the metaphor discredits the journalistic profession as a critical group.

‘Londo ireng’ is understood to mean an Indonesian person regarded as a traitor or defector who sides more with foreign interests than with their own nation. “The President should apologise for this and improve his speeches,” Bayu said via a WhatsApp message on Friday, 24 July 2026.

Bayu said that attaching the term ‘londo ireng’ to journalists was a baseless accusation, as journalists work to report facts, not foreign interests. He cited, for example, journalists’ reporting on the food poisoning case linked to the free nutritious meal programme, one of Prabowo’s priority initiatives.

He asked the head of state to view such reporting as constructive criticism rather than a personal attack. “The President should not attack the messengers, but instead fix the bad facts, for instance by improving the governance of the MBG programme,” he said.

According to Bayu, Prabowo’s remarks labelling journalists and other critical groups as ‘londo ireng’ were on a par with the insult levelled at journalists by lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea some time ago. He therefore urged Prabowo to correct his speech and offer a public apology.

Speaking at the peak of the 28th anniversary celebration of the National Awakening Party (PKB) on Thursday, 23 July 2026, Prabowo accused critical groups of being modern-day ‘londo ireng’. Besides journalists, the ‘black soldiers’ Prabowo referred to included experts and non-governmental organisations that do not work for the government.

“We know there are Indonesians who happily serve and devote themselves to other nations. These are what we used to call ‘londo ireng’, who joined the Dutch in fighting against us,” Prabowo said at the Jakarta Convention Center on Thursday evening, 23 July 2026.

“These ‘londo ireng’ still exist today, only now they wear different clothes. Journalists, reporters, observers, NGOs,” the Gerindra Party chairman continued.

Prabowo also criticised journalists for reporting on collapsed schools, even though, he said, the government had repaired 67,000 other schools throughout the year. He claimed journalists deliberately seek out the government’s shortcomings by reporting only negative news.

“There are also media outlets — even though we have repaired 67,000 schools, they go looking for a school that hasn’t been fixed and put a big photo of it on the front page,” he said. “Oh, they think we don’t understand. I won’t name which media, but if I did, you would already know. We are a democracy, we are not anti-criticism, but we are not children.”