Komisi XI DPR Sebut Prabowo Tenangkan Warga: Yang Terpengaruh Dolar Orang Kaya
Chairman of Commission XI of the DPR, Mukhamad Misbakhun, stated that President Prabowo Subianto’s directives regarding the weakening rupiah and strengthening US dollar are intended to reassure citizens. Misbakhun believes that the use of the US dollar in financial transactions primarily affects wealthier individuals.
“What was conveyed by Mr. President regarding the value of tasks, he is right that the public is asked to remain calm, especially rural communities, because they are not directly related to transactions using dollars. What is affected are transactions that use imports, wealthy people who travel abroad,” said Misbakhun to reporters, Sunday (17/5/2026).
Misbakhun believes that Prabowo’s directives serve as a reminder to Bank Indonesia (BI) to pay attention to the rupiah and ensure it is controlled. According to Misbakhun, the rupiah’s value must be maintained and returned to an ideal level, as this will greatly impact people who have been using dollars in transactions.
“What kind of people use dollars in transactions? Those whose raw materials are imported. And one of the imports we are concerned about is from commodities that have been supporting economic growth,” he said.
The strengthening dollar is feared to put pressure on inflation because import costs will increase. In addition, the rupiah has now exceeded Rp17,000 from the macroeconomic assumptions in the 2026 APBN.
“Of course, what was conveyed by Mr. President Prabowo regarding the exchange rate is to calm the public, so that the public does not panic, so that the public remains calm and the public is not affected by things that want to disrupt our national economic stability,” he said.
However, according to Misbakhun, there is an implicit meaning in Prabowo’s statement that the issue of the weakening rupiah should be used as a topic of discussion in society. For this reason, BI is asked to immediately take stabilization measures and concrete efforts to restore the rupiah to adequate strengthening, because BI stated that the rupiah is undervalued.
“And Mr. President also said that Indonesia’s economic fundamentals are very strong. When economic fundamentals are very strong, why does the weakening of the rupiah occur? And the rupiah is one of the currencies in the region that has experienced a very significant weakening. And of course we at Commission XI give Bank Indonesia the opportunity to take strategic steps on how to make efforts to strengthen the value of the rupiah back to a price or value that I think is appropriate,” said Misbakhun.
Since 1 USD exceeded Rp17,000, this decline is considered to have continued to around Rp17,600. So that people who used to never talk about the strong dollar, now people in coffee shops are starting to talk about the weakening rupiah and the strengthening dollar.
According to Misbakhun, the psychological figure of Rp17,000 had occurred in previous government periods which then caused a monetary crisis in 1998. However, the current conditions, according to Misbakhun, are very different from previous eras.
“This is what Bank Indonesia must maintain even though the situation now is very different from 1998. Our fundamentals are very strong at this time and our economic structure is also much stronger compared to those periods,” said Misbakhun.
“But BI must also take concrete steps because if this continues, it could affect public trust in the Bank Indonesia institution because it is considered unable to maintain or defend the rupiah exchange rate at its actual position,” he added.
Previously, Prabowo mentioned the role of Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa in maintaining financial stability. Prabowo said that as long as Purbaya can still smile, the country’s finances are in a safe condition.
“Ministers, some take care of legal matters, some take care of finance, yes. Purbaya is very popular now. As long as Purbaya can smile, don’t worry,” he said when inaugurating 1,061 Merah Putih Village Cooperatives in Nganjuk, East Java, Saturday (16/5).