Prabowo Issues Ultimatum to Unpatriotic Officials and Scientists to Resign from Positions

JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto has issued a harsh ultimatum to officials and intellectuals who lack a spirit of patriotism to step down from their positions. “Choose: defend your people or serve others. I will not tolerate those who are unpatriotic. No matter how intelligent you are, if you do not defend your own nation, there is no place for you around me; go find someone else,” said President Prabowo Subianto in his speech at the groundbreaking of 13 downstreaming projects in Cilacap, Central Java, as reported by ANTARA on Wednesday (29/4/2026). Prabowo stressed that the intelligence of scientists and technocrats should be used for the interests of the people, not for things that harm the Indonesian nation. He also urged intellectuals to become “Professors of Red and White” who stand to defend the people and do not use their cleverness to cover up corruption and the plundering of state funds. “Some want to run away. Just run away. Go ahead and run away there. Maybe some want to flee to Yemen, go ahead. Where do you want to flee to? Hey, smart people, open the news, look, we are placed as the safest country in the world now,” said the President.