Misbakhun Explains Prabowo's Remarks on the US Dollar
Mukhamad Misbakhun, the chairman of Commission XI of the House of Representatives, explained President Prabowo Subianto’s remarks about people in rural areas not using the US dollar. According to him, the president’s statement aims to reassure the public amid the rupiah’s weakness against the US dollar. ‘What the President said is an effort to calm the public. Do not read it too explicitly,’ Misbakhun said after a meeting with Bank Indonesia at the DPR building, Monday, 19 May 2026.
The rupiah has continued to weaken against the dollar. As of Tuesday morning, 19 May 2026, at 10:30, the rupiah stood at 17,722 per US dollar. It has been stuck around 17,000 since early April 2026.
According to Misbakhun, the president’s statement is aimed at preventing public panic. If not managed, it could lead to political instability. ‘Because the public would be busy talking about rumours like this and that,’ he said. ‘The president reassuring the people is a very normal thing.’
Prabowo Subianto had earlier addressed the depreciation in his remarks at the launch of the Desa Merah Putih Village Cooperative outlets in Nganjuk, East Java, on Saturday, 16 May 2026. He said those who should be worried about the dollar’s strength are people travelling abroad. ‘As long as Purbaya (Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa) can smile, there is no need to worry. No matter how many thousands of dollars, villages do not use dollars,’ the eighth President of Indonesia said.
Professor Syafruddin Karimi, from the Faculty of Economics and Business at Andalas University, assessed that the statement aimed to calm public psychology. Panic can worsen exchange-rate pressures. However, he warned that public calm should not be built on oversimplifying the problem. ‘Villagers do not use dollars in markets, shops, paddy fields, or livestock pens. Nevertheless, they still live within a national pricing system heavily influenced by the dollar,’ he said when contacted.
The impact of rupiah’s weakness on rural areas, according to the economist, is indirect. When the currency weakens, the costs of imported oil and gas, fertilisers, animal feed, pesticides, medicines, farming equipment, packaging plastics and imported consumer goods rise in price.
These costs move through the distribution chain—ports, warehouses, distributors, trucks, sub-district markets, village kiosks—until reaching households. ‘Therefore, villages do not need to pay in dollars to feel the impact of the dollar,’ he said.