Prabowo Cites Jokowi in Response to Criticism of His Overseas Trips

President Prabowo Subianto mentioned former President Joko Widodo when responding to criticism regarding the intensity of his overseas visits. Prabowo sees a contradiction in the critiques of presidential foreign travel. He said that while he is attacked for travelling frequently, Jokowi was instead reproached for rarely going abroad during his tenure.

“There was a president like Mr Jokowi, who rarely went abroad, and he was blamed, right? ‘Jokowi never goes abroad. Jokowi doesn’t care about foreign policy,’” Prabowo said during a speech at the National Conference of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi) in Bandar Lampung on Wednesday, 10 June 2026, as quoted from a YouTube broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat.

Conversely, Prabowo said that he, who often goes abroad, is also still being questioned. “I often go abroad, (they say) ‘Prabowo often goes abroad’. Strange,” said the former Minister of Defence under Jokowi.

Nevertheless, Prabowo claimed he does not mind the fuss over his overseas visits. “Noise always exists. What matters is that we are sure of our direction. As long as I am convinced that I am working for the nation and the people of Indonesia, I will never hesitate,” he said.

According to Prabowo, the current global geopolitical situation is chaotic. Therefore, he claims it is necessary to go abroad and build good relations with everyone. “We do not know who is a friend, who is a foe,” he said.

For Prabowo, what should be appreciated is that Indonesia inherited the non-aligned foreign policy principle from the nation’s founders. In this way, he said, Indonesia can be free and active in seeking friends on the international stage.