Prabowo: I Want to Be President Because Indonesia Has Been on the Wrong Path Since the 1990s

President Prabowo Subianto has said Indonesia has been on the wrong path since the 1990s. This assessment, he claimed, was what led him to repeatedly run for the presidency. Prabowo said many have questioned his reasons for persistently contesting the presidency. “Some analysts and podcasts have said, ‘Prabowo really wants to be president,’” he stated during a speech in Bandar Lampung, broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat. The Chairman of the Gerindra Party noted that he failed to become president four times before winning the 2024 Presidential Election. The first, he said, was during the Golkar Party presidential convention in 2004. He subsequently lost as a vice-presidential candidate in 2009 and as a presidential candidate in 2014 and 2019. Prabowo claimed he ran repeatedly not merely to secure a position. The former defence minister said he had felt Indonesia was heading in the wrong direction for decades. “I want to be president because I have seen since the 1990s that Indonesia was heading in the wrong direction. I have already seen it,” he said. During the 1990s, Prabowo was still serving in the Indonesian military. He was an active soldier until his discharge in 1998. That period also witnessed various historic events, from the Asian financial crisis, the resignation of former president Soeharto, the independence referendum of East Timor, to the first amendments to the 1945 Constitution. Prabowo delivered this speech at the 18th National Conference of Hipmi held at the Novotel Hotel Bandar Lampung, Lampung Province. The conference carried the theme “Synergy of Young Entrepreneurs Building National Economic Strength”. The event also served as the forum for electing the chairman of Hipmi for the 2026-2029 period.