Fadli Zon Says Prabowo's Leadership Is a Real Manifestation of Common-Sense Politics

Jakarta — Minister of Culture Fadli Zon attended a book review event for journalist J. Osdar’s work entitled “Prabowo: Common-Sense Politics Without a Stage” at Parle, Senayan, Jakarta. On the occasion, Fadli stated that Prabowo’s leadership represents a real manifestation of ‘common-sense politics’ rooted in the constitutional mandate.

In his view, Fadli considered the book to have successfully captured the consistency of Prabowo’s thinking, which has been built over decades rather than being mere short-term political image-making. He said he has known Prabowo since they were active together at the Center for Policy and Development Studies (CPDS) in 1993. According to him, the policies being implemented by the President today are the execution of that long dialectical thought process.

“Pak Prabowo has not changed. What he is doing today is the exercise or implementation of common sense itself. For him, common sense must not stop at the discussion room or intellectual debate — it must be carried out through the political path,” said Fadli in a statement on Monday (16 February 2026).

Furthermore, Fadli drew a thread connecting Prabowo’s steps with the intellectual traditions of the nation’s founding fathers. He cited how Bung Karno had the PNI, Bung Hatta had PNI Pendidikan, and Sutan Sjahrir and Muhammad Natsir established political parties as vehicles to ground their ideologies.

Fadli also emphasised Prabowo’s commitment to steering the nation’s economic direction back to Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution. Strategic policies such as food self-sufficiency, energy self-sufficiency, and the free nutritious meals programme were seen as efforts to correct excessive economic liberalisation practices.

“Our great task now is to correct neoliberalism. Pak Prabowo wants to return our economy to the constitutional path, which is imperative in nature: the land, water, and natural wealth are controlled by the state for the prosperity of the people. That is structuralist economic ideology, or an economy that places National Interest First,” said Fadli.

Fadli explained that the Prabowo administration currently has three main pillars being built to achieve these objectives. First, getting institutions right — reforming state institutions to function properly. Second, getting intervention right — measured and appropriate state intervention policies. Third, getting coordination right — effective cross-sector coordination.

Fadli expressed hope that the book would serve as a space for reflection and a reminder that power is fundamentally a tool for serving the national interest with composure and maturity.

The book review event was also attended by a number of national figures, including Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Meutya Viada Hafid, Member of the House of Representatives Aboe Bakar Al Habsyi, Rocky Gerung, and literacy activists. The event continued with a book discussion moderated by Effendi Gazali, with speakers including Jimly Asshiddiqie, Aris Marsudiyanto, Suryopratomo, and Anindya Novan Bakrie.