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

President Prabowo Subianto reminded his aides in the Red and White Cabinet to look after their health. In a light-hearted manner, Prabowo urged the ministers not to collapse from fatigue. He even offered to share special tips for maintaining fitness. ‘Ministers, generals, don’t collapse. If you want the knowledge, I will give it to you later,’ Prabowo said during a speech at a mass harvest event for the Indonesian National Armed Forces in Malang, East Java, on Friday, 17 July 2026, as quoted from a Presidential Secretariat broadcast. The Head of State then shared his experiences from his military education. Prabowo said soldiers have their own way of finding time to rest. ‘Soldiers are clever at finding time to rest, you know. Even during a ceremony, they can sleep. These graduates of the Military Academy and the Police Academy, they all have that knowledge, sleeping in class,’ said Prabowo. However, the former Minister of Defence under President Joko Widodo stressed that cadets undergoing military education nowadays no longer sleep during lessons. ‘Not anymore, that was the old days. In your era, you don’t sleep in class, right? You don’t, right? Because nutrition is good now,’ Prabowo said. In his speech, Prabowo also expressed pride in his Red and White Cabinet, which he considers to have worked swiftly and without rest. According to him, his aides are chasing the targets set by his administration. ‘Many high-ranking state officials, ministers, and agency heads, frankly speaking, have collapsed and been hospitalised due to hard work,’ Prabowo said. Prabowo claimed his administration realises that the Indonesian people have long endured a life that a large and wealthy nation like Indonesia should not experience. ‘Therefore, the government I lead is determined to do its best to achieve the highest goals in the fastest possible time,’ said Prabowo. The Chairman of the Gerindra Party conveyed 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.