Prabowo Highlights Colonial Subjugation: Our Dignity Was Once Placed Beneath a Dog

Prabowo said this in his speech at the 19th plenary sitting of the Fifth Session of the 2025-2026 legislative term, at the Parliament complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday 20 May 2026.

Initially, Prabowo spoke about the experiences of the founding fathers who endured colonisation.

‘Towards the management of our country’s economy, it was in fact formulated by our founding fathers; our founders were not naive or gullible. They felt colonisation; they felt being colonised,’ he said.

Moreover, Prabowo noted that Indonesia’s founders had experienced what imperialism is. They even felt that the dignity of the Indonesian nation was placed lower than that of a dog. ‘They felt that the Indonesian nation was placed in a rank below a dog. They saw and felt that Nusantara’s wealth had been taken by colonisers for centuries,’ he told.

Prabowo urged that we should not admire nations whose wealth comes from plundering the wealth of other nations. Furthermore, the wealthy nations sometimes try to teach us things they do not themselves practise.

‘We should not be too in awe of nations whose wealth comes from seizing the riches of other nations,’ he said.

‘Let us not be self-deprecating; let us not always admire what they teach us, while they themselves do not practise what they teach us,’ he added.