Prabowo: Sukarno Does Not Belong to One Party; I Learned a Lot from Him

Prabowo made these remarks during the inauguration of the Ibu Marsinah Museum in Nganjuk, East Java, on Saturday, May 16, 2026. Prabowo admitted that he learned a lot from Sukarno’s teachings as one of the founders of the Indonesian nation.

“The working class, believe me, they all understand that my ideology is the ideology of our nation’s founders. So, actually, I learned a lot from Sukarno’s teachings,” Prabowo said.

“So, please understand that Sukarno does not belong to one party. Sukarno belongs to the entire Indonesian nation,” he continued.

Prabowo said that other national figures such as Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir also belong to all the people of Indonesia. According to him, Indonesia will become a great nation if it can draw strength and inspiration from all its founding fathers.

“Sukarno, Hatta belong to all the people, all of them. Sjahrir, all of them. That is where our strength lies if we want to be great, if we want to progress,” he said.

On that occasion, Prabowo also reaffirmed his commitment to implementing an independent and active foreign policy and maintaining good relations with all countries. He said that Indonesia’s principle is to have many friends and avoid hostility.

“So we draw strength from all parties. That is the greatness of Indonesia. That’s why, many regions are at war. Indonesia is independent and active. A thousand friends are too few, one enemy is too many. We respect everyone,” he continued.

Prabowo recounted the moment when the Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka, was touched by the warm welcome he received when he visited Indonesia. Prabowo emphasized that Indonesia does not discriminate between countries.

“His country only has 1 million people. But we treat it the same as a large country. That is Indonesia, that we respect,” he said.

Prabowo also mentioned the government’s efforts to improve relations with several neighboring countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, China, and Malaysia. Prabowo said that various issues that had been pending for years are now starting to be resolved.

“Indonesian culture, we respect, and we do not want to have enemies. That’s why I initiated that when I become president, Indonesia’s foreign policy is an independent and active policy, non-aligned, and Indonesia wants to be a good neighbor. We want to be the good neighbor, and our policy is the good neighbor policy,” he said. (amw/dhn)