Prabowo: Officials' Salaries Are Small, Compare Them with the Poorest People

President Prabowo Subianto assessed that the incomes of his aides in the government are relatively small. Nevertheless, he asked officials to compare their salaries with those of the poorest people.

Prabowo expressed this at the handover ceremony of forest area enforcement results in the form of administrative fines amounting to Rp 10.27 trillion at the Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday, 13 May 2026.

“I understand the generals, officials, ministers, I know, I know your salaries are small, relatively. But compared to the poorest people?” said Prabowo, quoted from the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube broadcast.

He then added, “So don’t look upwards, look at those who are more difficult than you.”

In his speech, Prabowo also recounted that he had heard that judges’ salaries in Indonesia are now higher than in Malaysia. He got this story from the Chief Justice Sunarto.

“Last week, the Chief Justice met me and he told me, he had just attended a meeting of ASEAN Chief Justices. Then the Malaysian Chief Justice told the Indonesian Chief Justice, he said, ‘Your Honour, I salute Indonesia. For the first time, Indonesian judges’ salaries are above Malaysian judges’ salaries,’” said Prabowo.

The former Defence Minister in the Joko Widodo era stated that Indonesian junior judges’ salaries are also higher than those of Malaysian junior judges. “The salary of the most junior judge in Indonesia is already almost twice that of the most junior judge in Malaysia,” said Prabowo.

He also asked people working in the executive and legislative branches of government not to be envious of the pay rise for judges. Judges’ salaries and allowances increased by up to 280 per cent during his administration.

Prabowo said the salary increase for judges is his commitment. “One of our first steps is to raise our judges’ salaries by almost 300 per cent. I wanted 300 per cent, but the Finance Minister only agreed to 280 per cent. Alright,” he said. In addition, the Gerindra Party Chairman also promised that court clerks’ and judicial staff salaries would increase.