Prabowo's Habit of Waking Early to Monitor Global Issues: We Are News Junkies
President Prabowo Subianto has revealed his habit of intensively monitoring global issues until the early hours of the morning. He describes himself as part of the “news junkies” who continuously follow the flow of world information.
“This is it, we are news junkies. We’ve been hooked,” said Prabowo during the “President Prabowo Answers” programme, which aired on Thursday (19/3).
The statement was made in response to a question from political analyst Rizal Mallarangeng about how a leader maintains balance amid rapidly changing global dynamics, including rest time.
In response, Prabowo stressed that he still considers sleep important despite having a flexible rest pattern. He admitted that he can sleep in various situations, including during travel.
“This might be knowledge I gained in the military. So for me, for example, if I’m in a car I can sleep, in a helicopter I can sleep, in a plane I can sleep,” he explained.
He also uses short breaks between activities to rest. According to him, intervals of 10 to 30 minutes between agendas can be used to “recharge energy”.
“For me, 15 minutes to charge like that, especially 20 minutes. My ideal is actually 30 minutes,” he continued.
On the other hand, his habit as a “news junkie” often causes him to wake up in the early hours to follow global developments via digital platforms like YouTube.
“Sometimes I sleep at one in the morning, but at three in the morning I wake up again. Why? This is the problem, technology. There’s YouTube. We’re four hours behind the Middle East, then several hours from America. So I have to follow what’s happening. And that’s probably what keeps me always a bit up to date,” he explained.
Prabowo views this habit as important so that he can respond quickly to various global developments that impact Indonesia.
“Because I have the habit of waking up at three, I open YouTube. At three in Singapore, if I’m not mistaken, it’s three in the afternoon in Washington DC. So if President Joe Biden has just said something, I can read it right away. When it’s nine or ten my time for a speech, I’m the first to give my response to Biden’s speech,” he concluded.