Prabowo warns SOEs against falsified financial reports: "Do not trifle with me"

President Prabowo Subianto has warned all state-owned enterprises and the leadership of Danantara not to manipulate financial reports. He emphasised that he does not wish to receive falsified reports or statements crafted merely to please leadership.

This statement was made by Prabowo during a one-year anniversary celebration for Danantara on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

“I ask you not to trifle with me any longer. There must be no false reports, reports that merely seek to please so that manipulation can occur,” said Prabowo before the senior leadership of Danantara and SOEs, as quoted on Thursday, 12 March 2026.

Prabowo stated that this warning was delivered publicly because Danantara holds tremendous responsibility in managing national wealth. The institution represents a consolidation of various strategic assets belonging to the Indonesian nation.

“Danantara is the strength and future of the archipelago. Strength means power or energy, and the future is tomorrow. This institution must preserve and manage the power of our nation for the future,” he said.

The President also emphasised that managing state assets requires integrity and strong political will. Furthermore, sound management depends not only on systems but also on the correct intentions of those managing them.

Despite issuing this warning, Prabowo expressed considerable satisfaction with Danantara’s performance over the past year. He revealed that initial reports he received showed a significant increase in asset management.

“I received the report and I am quite pleased. Return on assets in 2025 compared to previous years increased by more than 300 per cent,” he said.

He viewed the decision to consolidate the management of various state enterprises under a single command as the correct approach.

Prabowo also highlighted the complexity of SOE management, which had previously been scattered across various entities. He acknowledged being newly informed that the number of companies related to SOEs could exceed a thousand entities.

“There is no management lesson anywhere in the world that says one management can oversee a thousand entities simultaneously,” he said.

Return on Assets Above 5%

On this occasion, Prabowo also expressed hope that Danantara would achieve a return on asset (ROA) above 5%. According to him, a good company should have a minimum ROA of 10%.

Prabowo noted that Danantara’s current return on assets has already increased 300 per cent from previous years. However, this still falls far short of the expected target.

“This is still far from our goal. Colleagues, a good company’s return on assets should be at least 10%. If it is excellent, 12%, if it is outstanding, 15%. We must have a good target, which is 10%. But we understand that this may not be achieved in the first years,” said Prabowo at the one-year Danantara celebration on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

Prabowo stated that Danantara’s current ROA is only 5%, still far from the target. Given that the BUMN assets are valued at up to USD 1 trillion, the SOEs should deliver an ROA of up to USD 50 billion.

“If only 5 per cent return on assets, it means Danantara should return USD 50 billion to the state each year—USD 50 billion is equivalent to 800 trillion rupiah. So the Danantara leadership, your target is still far away,” said Prabowo.

Uncertain Global Situation

On this occasion, Prabowo also outlined the current global situation.

According to the head of state, the world today is filled with uncertainty. Crises are occurring everywhere. However, these crises can create opportunities for the nation to advance.

“But colleagues, crises always generate opportunities, crises are tests, crises are stepping stones. The strong will survive, the weak will continue to suffer. This is a lesson from history,” said Prabowo.

“I am convinced and confident that the Indonesian nation has been given extraordinary natural wealth and we are capable of emerging from this crisis. We will emerge from this crisis stronger,” he continued.

Prabowo said that crisis is a blessing in disguise. It is indeed fraught with difficulties and challenges, but it compels the government to accelerate good intentions.

“We already have a food self-sufficiency plan, alhamdulillah, it has been partially achieved. We already have an energy self-sufficiency intention that we are confident we will achieve within four years,” said Prabowo.

“But this compels us to accelerate. We must speed up. We have many alternatives. We are confident that we will address this problem. Many countries are in far more dire circumstances than we are,” he continued.

Further, Prabowo stated that Indonesia possesses abundant palm oil and other commodities such as cassava, maize, and sugarcane.

“We will have sufficient cassava. We can obtain biofuel from maize and sugarcane. Colleagues, we have geothermal resources that are very substantial—if I am not mistaken, the second-largest reserves in the world, not yet fully exploited,” said Prabowo.

“Colleagues, we will implement electrification and renewable energy from solar power. In the shortest time possible, we will build 100 gigawatts. That is already my directive, that is already my decision. And we will prove to the world that we are faster and more effective in this regard,” he continued.