Prabowo and Gibran Not Seated Together During Plenary Cabinet Session, Here's What the State Secretary Says

Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi has given an explanation regarding the seating positions of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who did not sit side by side during the Plenary Cabinet Session at the State Palace on Monday (20/7). According to him, the arrangement was made purely on the basis of the technical requirements of the meeting.

Prasetyo revealed that during the session, President Prabowo needed to deliver a comprehensive presentation supported by data and the use of visual aids.

“Because he (President Prabowo) wanted to explain a great many programmes, if you noticed, the number of programmes also had to be accompanied or supported by data. That is why yesterday he used a visual aid in the form of a teleprompter. That is what answers the question about the layout,” Prasetyo said at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Tuesday (21/7).

He emphasised that the President’s position at the centre and the Vice President’s position in a different row was not an indication of any problem in their relationship or of unequal standing. Prasetyo assured that the two remain solid in running the machinery of government.

“There is no (issue of equality). We are at our most united at the moment, and everyone is working hard to achieve what is the line set by the President, the line of the work programme and national priorities,” he asserted.

The Plenary Cabinet Session was a routine mid-year agenda to evaluate the performance of the first semester. Prasetyo noted that the previous plenary session had been held on 13 March 2026.

At the meeting, President Prabowo evaluated the government’s achievements over roughly 21 months of the Red-and-White Cabinet’s leadership. In addition to presenting the accomplishments achieved, the President also gave special instructions regarding the acceleration of programmes for the remainder of the year.

“He wants us, in what remains of the second semester, to accelerate the priority programmes whose implementation we still need to hasten,” Prasetyo concluded.

For information, at Monday’s (20/7) plenary session, President Prabowo was seen seated alone in a front chair facing the cabinet. Meanwhile, Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka sat in the row of the Coordinating Ministers, specifically next to Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto.