Mahfud MD Urges Prabowo to Name Alleged Backers of Paid Protests

Former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD has commented on President Prabowo Subianto’s claim of knowing who financed recent demonstrations. Mahfud suggested that President Prabowo should openly reveal the parties suspected of funding the protests if he indeed possesses such information and evidence.

The statement was made in response to Prabowo’s speech, in which he claimed to know that certain parties had paid demonstrators to take to the streets recently. “Ideally, Mr. Prabowo should just reveal who was paid and who paid them,” Mahfud said after the launch of the 13th edition of the book ‘Politik Hukum di Indonesia’ in Yogyakarta on Thursday.

According to Mahfud, accusations regarding paid demonstrations should be accompanied by a clear explanation of the parties involved. He assessed that merely stating there were paid demonstrators without revealing the actors behind it would not help improve the situation. “It should just be spoken about openly. This BEM was paid, this is who paid them, like that,” he said.

Mahfud compared the accusation to the criticism that students typically direct at the government. He noted that students generally deliver criticism openly by naming the specific issues, policies, or institutions being targeted. “Students are clear, they say the government’s mistake is here, they name the government, they name the policy. If you just say students were paid, then what are we supposed to fix? When students criticise the government, they mention the case, the free nutritious meal programme, the amount of corruption, the perpetrators, the institutions,” he explained.