Prabowo: No Other Nation Will Pity Us
President Prabowo Subianto has said that no foreign nation will feel sorry for Indonesia. He remarked that certain nations have even persistently sought to sow division and steal Indonesia’s wealth.
According to Prabowo, this has been the case for a long time. “No other nation feels sorry for us; from long ago they have even wanted to divide us, divide et impera,” he said in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on Friday, 10 July 2026, as broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat.
The chairman of the Gerindra Party said the Indonesian nation was once insulted and regarded as lower than dogs during hundreds of years of colonisation. Indonesia’s wealth, he said, was also continually exploited by foreign nations.
Prabowo said that to this day Indonesia is still looked down upon. “There are certain groups, certain nations that are envious of us,” he said.
The former defence minister said these foreign nations were envious because Indonesia is rich. They therefore think about how to steal that wealth. “If possible, Indonesia breaks apart,” Prabowo said.
For that reason, Prabowo said a great nation is one that is united. He said this lesson can be seen throughout the history of human civilisation. “Especially its elites, its leaders must be united. They must be sincere about it,” he said.
The Indonesian nation, he argued, must not harbour grudges or become fragmented. He said a great nation is not one full of spite, suspicion, and self-interest or narrow group interests.
At the event in West Lombok on Friday, Prabowo inaugurated the Meninting Dam in West Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara. Through the occasion, he also simultaneously inaugurated five dams across three other provinces.
Prabowo said dam construction requires time, money, and resources. The process, he said, may only be completed after several presidents come and go. “I am grateful that I am the one inaugurating this dam,” he said.
The five dams inaugurated by Prabowo were the Meninting Dam in West Nusa Tenggara, the Keureuto Dam and Rukoh Dam in Aceh, the Jlantah Dam in Central Java Province, and the Sidan Dam in Bali. These projects were built between 2015 and 2025.
He revealed that the construction of the five dams cost Rp 9.79 trillion. “The five dams we inaugurate today are the nation’s investment,” Prabowo said.