Fadli Zon Criticises Saiful Mujani over Prabowo Remarks, Discusses Traitorous Behaviour

Deputy Chairman of the Gerindra Party, Fadli Zon, has criticised remarks by political analyst Saiful Mujani that went viral regarding ‘bringing down Prabowo’. Fadli Zon stated that Saiful Mujani does not understand the meaning of democracy.

Fadli Zon initially explained the accusations against President Prabowo Subianto, one of which is that Prabowo is authoritarian. He said that Prabowo is actually a figure who has chosen the path of democracy from the beginning.

“I have also accompanied him and can testify that if anyone says he is authoritarian, it is ahistorical. Ahistorical because Mr Prabowo has chosen the democratic path from the start. After he finished his military service around 1999 and entered the civilian world, Mr Prabowo chose to join civil organisations. This included participating in the political party convention in 2004 and then founding the Gerindra Party,” said Fadli Zon at the Ministry of Culture office, Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (8/4/2026).

In addition, Fadli Zon noted that Prabowo has experienced four defeats in presidential contests. According to him, despite losing multiple times, Prabowo never gave up on democracy.

“Competing in 2009 as a vice-presidential candidate, lost. At that time, I was the secretary of his team. Similarly in 2014, running again as a presidential candidate, and in 2019, running again, lost again. So, that’s four losses if we look at it. What does that mean? Mr Prabowo never gave up on democracy, never gave up on the democratic path. So, if we see Mr Prabowo participating in contests multiple times, losing, and alhamdulillah, in 2024, he finally won,” he said.

Fadli mentioned that Prabowo’s victory came with the support of 58 per cent of voters, or around 96 million voters. He expressed astonishment that Prabowo’s journey is belittled by calling him authoritarian.

“So, if someone who claims to be an intellectual says that Mr Prabowo is authoritarian, in my view, it is ahistorical. Especially since that person has a background in the democratic world. Sometimes, those who claim to be the most democratic do not understand the meaning of democracy,” he stated.

Fadli then discussed analysts and experts who have never directly experienced democracy. He said they sometimes feel superior to those who are directly involved. “Sometimes, observers are people who do not know the game. Like in football, they are the commentator. Non-playing captain. Sometimes, they think they are better than the football players,” he added.

He then alluded to the expert Saiful Mujani. He referenced Saiful Mujani’s unconstitutional statement about wanting to bring down Prabowo.

“So, because he is an observer, even he received… who is Mr Saiful Mujani? People should know him, understand democracy, especially as a professor. But has he ever participated in a democratic contest? Ever? Try becoming a legislator in a party or something, getting public support, then he would understand the meaning of democracy. Do not provoke unconstitutionally to bring down,” he said.

Reflecting on this, Fadli urged all parties to avoid traitor-like behaviour. He said traitors are always present in every era.

“So, we want to avoid, meaning, traitor-like behaviour. Because in our history, often in certain situations, during the first Dutch military aggression, the second Dutch military aggression, there were always parties stabbing from behind. So, while our leaders were focused on fighting the Dutch, there were those stabbing from behind. So, the characteristics of such traitors are always present in every era,” he explained.

“And in my view, that matches the proverb: traitors stab from behind, cut in the fold, fish in troubled waters. Something like that. Now, this is what I think is a bad culture. There are cultures we must develop, and cultures we must abandon. The culture of cutting in the fold, in my view, is not good. So, the characteristics of traitors are like that,” he continued.

Palace Responds

The video of Saiful Mujani saying to bring down Prabowo has been widely discussed on social media. In the circulating video, Saiful Mujani spoke about bringing down Prabowo to save the nation.

“My alternative is not the formal impeachment procedure like that, it won’t work. The only way is, can we consolidate ourselves to bring down Prabowo, only that. If advising Prabowo doesn’t work, the only way is to bring him down. That is saving, not saving Prabowo, but saving ourselves and this nation,” said Saiful Mujani in the viral video, as seen, on Sunday (5/4).

Deputy Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya then responded to it. He said there is still much work to be done.

“Wah, I have a lot of work. I haven’t seen what he said. Something like that,” said Teddy at the Presidential Palace complex, Jakarta, on Tuesday (7/4).

Teddy said Prabowo is focused on big things. He mentioned many more strategic matters that Prabowo is working on.