Offered Imported Cars, Prabowo's Firm Response Shows Off Maung – Here's What He Said

President Prabowo Subianto has emphasised that Indonesia is open to anyone wishing to come and invest, but simultaneously stressed the importance of building national industrial independence so the country does not continue to depend on foreign-made products. “We are friendly, anyone who wants to come to Indonesia is welcome, and many foreigners enjoy coming to Indonesia. We are a friendly nation, but we want to be a nation that rises, brothers and sisters. We will have motorbikes made by Indonesian children, we will have cars made by Indonesian children,” Prabowo said while attending a harvest event in support of national resilience in Malang, East Java, on Friday afternoon. Prabowo then recounted his experience when he was still serving as Minister of Defence. At that time, he was faced with the choice of using cheaper imported tactical vehicles or a domestically produced alternative that was more expensive because the industry was still in its early stages of development. “When I was Minister of Defence, I was offered a good, cheap foreign-made jeep. Then there was this Indonesian-made one, but it was expensive because we had just started. If I chose the cheap one, when would Indonesia have its own jeep? I chose the slightly more expensive one made by our own people, the Maung, which our officers now use,” he said. According to Prabowo, the use of domestically produced vehicles is now increasingly widespread within the Indonesian National Armed Forces. He expressed pride in seeing the Maung jeeps being used across various units, while soldiers in the field are also being equipped with nationally produced electric motorcycles. “District military commanders are now using the jeep too, they look dashing. Of course, it cannot all happen at once. Village supervisory non-commissioned officers have started receiving electric motorbikes. So now when I see those jeeps in the city, I feel proud. Wow, the TNI is now using its own jeeps,” he said.