Prabowo Reveals Issues Uncovered Over 21 Months

President Prabowo Subianto did not expect the challenges facing his government to be heavier than initially estimated. According to the Head of State, over the past 21 months the government has uncovered a range of problems, from low teacher welfare and limited job opportunities to extreme poverty and economic inequality.

“As President, having been given a mandate together with the Vice President (Gibran Rakabuming Raka), we were sworn in — I myself did not expect just how far beyond our estimates some of these problems would be,” said Prabowo whilst delivering an address at the Plenary Cabinet Session at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday, 20 July 2026.

The Chairman of the Gerindra Party explained that one of the principal problems relates to a significant leakage of state wealth every year.

“There has been a distortion in our economy. Our wealth has been flowing out significantly — thousands of trillions (of rupiah), hundreds of billions of (US) dollars every year,” said Prabowo.

According to Prabowo, this leakage has been driven by various illegal practices, such as export values being declared below their true worth — known as under-invoicing — as well as transfer pricing and smuggling.

Prabowo stated that these unfair practices have become a longstanding problem. “Things that are truly absurd and genuinely unjust for our nation,” said Prabowo.