Prabowo Criticises Governor's Rp8 Billion Official Vehicle: As President, I Use Maung!

President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto has highlighted the use of budgets at the regional level, which he deems not entirely productive. Prabowo even alluded to the purchase of official vehicles for regional heads at a staggering value of Rp8 billion.

According to Prabowo, there are still many basic needs of the community that have not been met, such as the construction of village bridges, yet regional budgets are being used for non-priority matters.

“Many expenditures that should be carried out by districts and provinces are not implemented. For example, earlier the bridge, the village bridge, the people have to shout, the president has to intervene. Sorry, there is village funding, where has the money gone? Where is the regent, where is the governor’s funding? But okay, I take responsibility. So, we must be open, we must be fair,” he said during a question-and-answer session with journalists at Prabowo’s residence in Hambalang, Bogor, which aired on Thursday (19/3/2026).

He assessed that the current regional spending pattern is still inefficient, including in the use of budgets for officials’ facilities.

“Many officials, in my opinion, this is inefficient. You see it yourself. Let’s be open. There is a district, eh the regional government buys an official vehicle for the governor, how much? Rp8 billion,” he revealed.

As a comparison, Prabowo emphasised that he uses a domestically made official vehicle at a much lower price.

“I am the President of Indonesia. I use the Indonesian-made Maung vehicle. Its price is Rp700 million. Maybe because it’s for the president, with bulletproofing, it becomes Rp1 billion. But not up to Rp8 billion. We investigate all of it, efficiency,” he asserted firmly.

Prabowo also stressed the importance of awareness and responsibility among regional heads in managing public budgets, especially to ensure they are truly used for the people’s interests.

“After that, working visits-working visits, that’s what we ask for. Awareness, sense of responsibility, right?” he continued.

He reminded that the main task of regional heads is to serve the community, not just to spend the budget.

“Regent, work for your people, governor, work for your people, that’s what we ask,” Prabowo concluded.