Prabowo Claims Soldiers Are Skilled at Finding Rest: 'Can Sleep During Ceremonies'

President Prabowo Subianto has reminded his aides in the Red and White Cabinet to look after their health. Speaking half in jest, Prabowo asked his ministers not to collapse from exhaustion.

He even offered to share special knowledge on staying fit. “Ministers, generals, don’t drop. If you want the secret, I’ll teach you later,” Prabowo said in a speech at a grand harvest event held by the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) in Malang, East Java, on Friday, 17 July 2026, as quoted from a press release issued by the Presidential Secretariat.

The Head of State then shared his experiences from his own military education. Prabowo said soldiers have their own ways of seizing opportunities to rest.

“Soldiers are clever at finding time to rest. You can even sleep during ceremonies. These are Military Academy and Police Academy graduates — they all have those skills, sleeping in class,” Prabowo said.

Nevertheless, the former Defence Minister from the era of President Joko Widodo stressed that cadets undergoing military education today no longer sleep during lessons.

“Not anymore, that was in the old days. In your time, you don’t sleep in class, right? You don’t, right? Because nutrition is now good,” Prabowo said.

In his speech, Prabowo also expressed pride in his Red and White Cabinet, which he considers to have been working swiftly and without rest. According to him, his aides are chasing the targets set by his administration.

“Frankly, many high-ranking state officials, ministers and agency heads have collapsed and been hospitalised because of hard work,” Prabowo said.

Prabowo claimed the government he leads is aware that the Indonesian people have endured living conditions unworthy of a great and wealthy nation such as Indonesia for far too long.

“That is why the government I lead is determined to do its best to achieve the highest targets in the shortest possible time,” Prabowo said.

The Chairman of the Gerindra Party added that he does not want Indonesia to become a nation that takes things easy. “We will prove to the world that the Indonesian nation is rising with our own strength,” he said.