Prabowo Admits Teacher and Civil Servant Salaries Are Poor, Blames State Fund Leakage
President Prabowo Subianto has stated that the leakage of state wealth has a severe impact on the national budget. He admitted that the salaries of teachers and civil servants remain poor because state funds are continuously stolen by irresponsible parties.
This was conveyed by Prabowo during the closing ceremony of the National Conference (Munas) of Alim Ulama and the Grand Conference (Konbes) of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) at the Syaichona Mohammad Cholil Islamic Institute in Bangkalan Regency, East Java, on Tuesday (23/6/2026).
“I want to convey in this forum because I want you, the NU community, as leaders, as scholars, as teachers, as guides of the people, to understand why teacher salaries cannot be good, why civil servant salaries cannot be good, why the budget is always insufficient. It is because the money is not there, it is being taken continuously,” Prabowo said.
Prabowo said he has engaged experts to calculate the total state losses resulting from the leakage of state wealth. He stated that the country has lost up to Rp 2,500 trillion.
“We have calculated the leakage, the experts now calculate it to be approximately USD 150 billion per year, Rp 2,500 trillion per year. And I am currently fixing this,” he said.
On the same occasion, Prabowo admitted he was saddened to learn that the state’s wealth was not being enjoyed for the benefit of the nation. He acknowledged this as a collective oversight.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have only been leading the government for about 18 months. I am shocked, surprised, and saddened to see how much of our wealth has been lost all this time. We are not looking for blame, let us consider this a collective negligence,” Prabowo said.
Prabowo then affirmed that he will safeguard the state’s wealth for the benefit of the people during his leadership.
“But I took an oath to protect the nation’s wealth. Therefore, I must do my best so that I do not break my oath to the nation and the people,” he stated.