Prabowo Threatens to Sack Naughty Directors-General in Ministries

President Prabowo Subianto has emphasised that he will dismiss naughty directors-general (dirjen) in ministries. This is a manifestation of his commitment to delivering a clean government.

Prabowo assesses that the fundamental problems in the bureaucracy are not solely in the system, but also in the long-standing culture and habits.

“I see that we must clean up our environment. We must clean up our culture. We must clean up our governance. Things that tend to involve deception. Smuggling, right? Under-invoicing, right? All those practices,” Prabowo stated firmly in a written statement, quoted on Sunday (22/3/2026).

According to Prabowo, deviant practices can no longer be tolerated and must be consistently addressed in the government. In the discussion, President Prabowo stressed the importance of internal reforms within each institution.

“That’s why I ask all my colleagues in all agencies: You clean yourself, or you will be cleaned later, and I see that some of my ministers are already starting to look right. There are people who seem soft, but there are naughty directors-general, they will be sacked immediately,” explained Prabowo.

This assertion was reinforced with an example at the cabinet level. President Prabowo mentioned the steps taken by the Minister of Public Works (PU) as part of the internal clean-up efforts.

“If you look at my Minister of PU now, Mr Dody, he’s a good person, but if there are those who want to play around, he acts decisively, he sacked two directors-general,” said Prabowo.