Ministers' Responses to the Plan for Salary Cuts

Several ministers have responded to President Prabowo Subianto’s plan to cut the salaries of state officials to save the budget. The Minister of Population and Family Development/Head of the Population and Family Development Agency, Wihaji, stated that he would follow Prabowo’s decision.

This Golkar Party politician said that the president’s step is in the national interest. “I am the president’s assistant. Whatever policy is taken by the president, we certainly submit and obey,” he said when contacted on Monday, 23 March 2026.

The Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Abdul Mu’ti, shares the same view. He said he would follow the president’s policy. “I will obey whatever becomes the president’s policy,” he said when contacted on Monday, 23 March 2026.

The Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency, Nusron Wahid, said that this goodness is for the common good and welfare. “As servants and state apparatus, we sami’na wa argo’ a as long as it is for the good and welfare of the Indonesian nation and people,” said the Golkar politician when contacted on Monday, 23 March 2026.

The government plans to implement a salary cut policy for the ministers of the Red and White Cabinet. State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi stated that the policy is still in the study stage.

In the Full Plenary Cabinet Session at the State Palace on Friday, 13 March 2026, President Prabowo Subianto emphasised the importance of saving even though it has not yet entered a crisis. Prabowo gave the example of Pakistan, which has implemented extreme measures, such as reducing working days to cutting officials’ salaries.

“This is just as a comparison. So, they consider this already critical, like we did during the Covid-19,” said Prabowo.

The Minister of Human Rights (HAM), Natalius Pigai, via his X social media account, @NataliusPigai2, said he would follow Prabowo’s instructions. He said he is willing to have his salary cut. “My basic salary is Rp18 million, and I can still make do from allowances and official travel according to the rules,” said Pigai on Friday, 20 March 2026. He permitted his tweet to be quoted by Tempo.