Prabowo: Teacher Salaries Remain Low Due to State Wealth Leakage

President Prabowo Subianto has claimed that the low salaries of teachers and civil servants are due to the leakage of state wealth. The Head of State stated that for years, the nation’s wealth has flowed abroad without providing any benefit to the people. Prabowo made these remarks during his speech at the closing ceremony of the National Alim Ulama Conference and the 2026 Nahdlatul Ulama Grand Conference. “I want to convey in this forum because I want you, NU leaders, as leaders, as ulama, as teachers, as guides of the people, to understand why teacher salaries cannot improve, why civil servant salaries cannot improve, why the budget is always insufficient. Yes, because the money is not there, it is being taken continuously,” Prabowo said in Bangkalan Regency, East Java Province, on Tuesday, 23 June 2026, as quoted from the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel. The Chairman of the Gerindra Party explained that the welfare issues of teachers and state apparatus cannot be separated from the condition of the state’s finances. He claimed that, based on government calculations, state coffers leak approximately US$150 billion, or around Rp 2,500 trillion, each year. Therefore, Prabowo said he is trying to improve this situation by closing various loopholes that cause state revenue losses. According to him, the leakage of state funds is triggered by several factors, one of which is the large number of state-owned companies that continue to operate despite persistent losses. Prabowo assessed that these state-owned enterprises have become a burden on state finances. He admitted he was surprised to learn that the number of operating state-owned enterprises reached 1,000 companies. “I thought there were 300 BUMNs, but when I became President, I found out there are more than a thousand,” Prabowo said. According to Prabowo, during his approximately 20 months in office, he has already shut down around 240 state-owned companies. In total, he aims to close 700 to 800 loss-making state-owned enterprises. On the same occasion, Prabowo also highlighted the practice of under-invoicing by businesspeople, where export values are reported below the actual price, which he considers another cause of state losses. “These businesspeople lie. They say they sold 1,000 tonnes, but they report only 500 tonnes. What does that mean? It means the state loses out. After we calculated, and this figure comes again from the UN, we have lost US$908 billion over 34 years, or Rp 15,000 trillion,” Prabowo claimed.