Prabowo to Sing the Internationale with Workers at May Day 2026

President of the All-Indonesia Labour Confederation (KSPSI) Andi Gani Nena Wea stated that President Prabowo Subianto is scheduled to attend the 2026 May Day celebration at the National Monument area in Central Jakarta in two days’ time. During his attendance, he said, Prabowo will deliver a state speech interspersed with singing national songs together with the leaders of labour confederations. “He will sing the Internationale struggle song,” said Andi during a press conference for the 2026 May Day Celebration on Wednesday, 29 April 2026. In addition to singing the Internationale, he continued, the President will also provide surprises for the labour unions during the 2026 May Day celebration. However, he did not detail what those surprises would be. The reason is that the surprise will be delivered directly by the Head of State. “It is related to online motorcycle taxis, ILO ratification, and labour welfare policies,” he said. Meanwhile, during May Day 2025, the Head of State also sang the Internationale. At that time, with a clenched fist, Prabowo sang the Internationale in front of hundreds of thousands of workers. In its history, the Internationale was created by a worker named Eugene Pottier on 30 June 1871 or after the fall of the Paris Commune. Andrew Hussey in the book “Paris: The Secret History” stated that the Internationale was initially created by Pottier in exile. The lyrics of this song were intended as a depiction of workers’ struggle experiences. After Pottier’s death, the Internationale was then translated into several languages, particularly in socialist and communist countries such as China, the Soviet Union, Korea, and Vietnam. In Indonesia, the Internationale was first known in 1920. At that time, a person named Suwardi Suryaningrat adapted the Internationale lyrics from Dutch to Malay. The adaptation, which contains three stanzas of lyrics, was written by Suwardi in the Sarekat Islam newspaper, Sinar Hindia Number 87 dated 5 May 1920. To this day, the Internationale is always sung during International Workers’ Day commemorations, one of which is in Indonesia.