Prabowo's Cowardly Plea Echoes at DPR Demonstration
The crowd at the ‘Weekend Melawan’ rally shouted a cowardly slogan directed at President Prabowo Subianto. The chant rang out loudly in front of the DPR, MPR, and DPD complex in Central Jakarta.
Weekend Melawan speaker Al Araf explained that the cowardly slogan directed at Prabowo was rooted in the head of state’s apathy when the United States and its ally Israel attacked Iranian territory.
When there is any form of violation of international law and the constitution, the first person who must take a stand is the president. Unfortunately, that did not happen, said Al Araf after speaking, on Friday, 6 March 2026.
As president, he said, Prabowo should be bold in stating that imperialism and colonialism by a superpower must be eradicated from the face of the earth.
According to him, the attack carried out by the US-Israel on Iranian territory last weekend was a form of colonialism. However, Prabowo was apathetic, even though other political leaders such as Jusuf Kalla and Megawati Soekarnoputri were brave enough to condemn and denounce the attack.
Al Araf suspects that Prabowo’s apathy toward the international law violations by the US-Israel is linked to Indonesia’s membership status in the Board of Peace (BoP).
Moreover, he said, U.S. President Donald Trump is both the chair and initiator of forming the forum intended to promote peace. “This is what ties Prabowo to Trump,” said the head of the Centra Initiative’s governing body.
Therefore, he continued, civil society coalitions in the Weekend Melawan action urge Prabowo to withdraw Indonesia’s membership status in the BoP.
Al Araf explained that Indonesia’s withdrawal from BoP would not weaken the efforts and legitimacy to promote global peace. That effort could be pursued by Indonesia through the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) or the United Nations Security Council.
So, if anyone says Indonesia’s withdrawal from BoP would merely make us spectators, I categorically say that is wrong, said the Defence and Security Studies lecturer at Brawijaya University.
Earlier, calls for Indonesia to withdraw from BoP membership were also voiced by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), universities, academics, and students.
In a sermon, MUI’s letter Kep-28/DP-MUI/III/2026 urged the government to withdraw membership from BoP. The reason is that BoP is not effective in realising true independence in Palestine.
This assessment is reinforced by the stance of Donald Trump who carried out the attack together with Israel on Iranian territory.