PDI-P Secretary-General: During Jokowi's Administration, There Were Many Criticisms That Turned Out to Be True

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Secretary-General of PDI-P, Hasto Kristiyanto, has reminded the government and coalition parties not to ignore criticisms from the public.

Reflecting on the experience during President Joko Widodo’s administration, he noted that many criticisms ultimately proved to be correct.

“In the opening remarks earlier, I also stated that criticism is healthy for democracy. Actually, PDI Perjuangan also wants to share. When we were in the government, especially during President Jokowi’s second term, many criticisms emerged,” said Hasto when met at the PDI-P Party School on Saturday (18/4/2026).

“And then it turned out that many of the criticisms given were indeed truths,” he continued.

“Therefore, we do not want parties in the government to experience what PDI-P went through at that time,” he stated.

He stressed that criticism should be seen as a form of love for the nation and country, not as an attack on the government.

“Thus, let us turn various criticisms into a form of love for the nation and country to provide contributions when seeing issues in the implementation of policies with good vision from President Prabowo but in practice causing various problems,” said Hasto.

“For example, spending on free nutritious meals. Although the programme is highly ideological and touches the needs of the people, in practice PDI-P has observed many things voiced by the public and these must be responded to openly,” he concluded.

“Now, criticisms regarding food issues are reported to the police. Criticisms against the government are reported to the police. Yet this republic was built through dialectics,” said Hasto in a speech at the seminar commemorating the Asia-Africa Conference (KAA) at the PDI-P Party School in South Jakarta on Saturday (18/4/2026).

According to him, criticisms of the government should not be viewed as hatred or enmity. Instead, criticism is a manifestation of concern and love for the nation.

“If we criticise the government, it does not mean we do not want the government to succeed. On the contrary, when we criticise the government, it is because we care and love the homeland for this republic,” he said.