Prabowo's 'Londo Ireng' Remark Risks Increasing Repression, Says YLBHI

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) has condemned President Prabowo Subianto’s remarks in which he likened journalists, analysts, and non-governmental organisations to ‘londo ireng’ (black Dutch mercenaries), warning that the statement could increase the risk of repression. YLBHI Chair Muhammad Isnur stated that the President’s words were not merely a jest, but rather a label branding critical groups as disloyal to the nation, working for foreign interests, and implicitly, as traitors.

Isnur emphasised that any statement made by the President carries political consequences, given that he holds the highest office in government. He expressed concern that characterising journalists, analysts, academics, and civil society organisations as ‘londo ireng’ could provide justification for state apparatus, officials, political buzzers, and government supporters to surveil, intimidate, restrict the activities of, and even criminalise these groups.

He noted that the risk is not abstract, as critical groups have repeatedly faced intimidation, violence, and criminalisation. When a group is labelled an enemy of the nation, he added, surveillance is deemed reasonable, intimidation appears necessary, and criminalisation is justified in the name of stability.

Isnur also challenged the President’s questioning of who pays the salaries of journalists, analysts, and NGOs. He argued that this reverses the fundamental relationship between the state and its citizens, as it is the people who fund the President’s salary, allowances, and facilities through taxation. He stressed that the people pay the President to uphold the constitution, not to determine who may criticise him, and invoked Article 1, paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, which affirms that sovereignty resides with the people. He concluded that criticism is not a gift from the President, but an inherent right of the people to exercise sovereignty, and that democracy requires a free press, an independent judiciary, and a critical civil society as safeguards against arbitrary rule. YLBHI called on the press, academics, students, human rights defenders, and all civil society organisations to strengthen solidarity and refuse to bow to intimidation.