Prabowo Jokes MBG Acronym Stands for 'Mas Bahlil Ganteng'

President Prabowo Subianto joked that the full form of the abbreviation ‘MBG’ is ‘Mas Bahlil Ganteng’ (Handsome Brother Bahlil). Prabowo made the remark whilst delivering a speech at the peak event marking the 28th anniversary of the National Awakening Party (PKB) at the Jakarta Convention Centre, Jakarta, this evening.

The moment came as the Head of State greeted Golkar chairman Bahlil Lahadalia, who was also in attendance. “The chairman of the Party of the Functional Groups, Brother Bahlil Lahadalia. They say MBG stands for ‘Mas Bahlil Ganteng’. Could well be,” said Prabowo on Thursday evening, 23 July 2026.

As is widely known, MBG has thus far been used to refer to Prabowo’s flagship project, the free nutritious meals programme. However, in recent times the term MBG has frequently been twisted into ‘Mas Bahlil Ganteng’ through a song believed to have been created using artificial intelligence.

After greeting Bahlil, Prabowo went on to name one by one the other guests present, from the chairmen of other political parties to various kiai and ulama.

Previously, the ‘Mas Bahlil Ganteng’ song featured in numerous TikTok posts. The childlike tune with humorous lyrics evidently tickled netizens and was frequently used as background music for a variety of creative content.

The song went viral further after content creator and influencer Sania Leonardo uploaded a reaction video via the TikTok account @/panggilakubambang.

On investigation, the song was first popularised by the account @/vokaliz_netizen. It was not composed manually by a music composer, but is believed to have used artificial intelligence, or AI.

Golkar secretary-general Muhammad Sarmuji welcomed the viral ‘Mas Bahlil Ganteng’ song, saying the party had no issue with it.

According to Sarmuji, the MBG song is part of netizens’ creativity in appreciation of Bahlil Lahadalia’s hard work as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources in securing fuel stocks amid global energy supply uncertainty and keeping subsidised fuel prices from rising.

“So we are relaxed about it. Especially as the song is ‘cute’, funny and entertaining. If the song can make people happy, Golkar is happy too,” said Sarmuji when contacted on Tuesday, 26 May 2026.

Sarmuji said the public was free to enjoy the MBG song without excessive political pretension.