Prabowo Speaks Candidly, Says 'Black Dutchmen' Still Exist in Indonesia

President Prabowo Subianto has stated that there are still parties in Indonesia who are considered to be serving the interests of other nations. He referred to this group as ‘londo ireng’ (Black Dutchmen).

The statement was made by Prabowo during his speech at the 28th Anniversary Celebration of the National Awakening Party (PKB) at the Jakarta Convention Center on Thursday (23/7/2026).

Initially, Prabowo touched on news coverage which he believes only highlights the negative aspects of the government’s performance, particularly regarding the school renovation programme. ‘There are also media outlets, right, even though we have renovated 67,000 schools, they look for schools that have not been renovated,’ he said.

According to him, these media outlets deliberately feature schools that have not been renovated on the front page to build a negative perception. ‘They take a big photo and put it on the front page. Oh dear… they think we don’t understand, eh? I won’t name which media outlet that is. If I name them, I will do so in due time. You already know who it is. We are a democratic country, we are not anti-criticism, but we are not little children,’ he stated.

Prabowo said the government is not anti-criticism. However, according to him, there are a handful of people who enjoy serving other nations rather than the national interest. He called them ‘londo ireng’. ‘We know there are Indonesians who enjoy serving and devoting themselves to other nations. That is what we used to call Londo Ireng. Yes, those who joined the Dutch to fight against us, these Black Dutchmen still exist today, only now they wear different clothes,’ he said.

‘Journalists, reporters, whatever they are, observers, NGOs, we must ask them, who pays your salary? Who pays your electricity bill? Who pays for your mobile phone? Finding work is difficult, we know that, right?’ he added.

Prabowo also mentioned that there is a major campaign to destabilise the nation, although according to him, these predictions have never come true. ‘So, brothers and sisters, we understand there is a major campaign to make us falter. Indonesia will collapse, in April it will collapse. Eh, April passed and it didn’t collapse. In May it will collapse, May passed and it didn’t collapse. In June it will collapse, in July it will collapse. Every month it will collapse,’ he said.