Prabowo's Quip: More Afraid of Bureaucrats Than Ghosts
President Prabowo Subianto joked that he is more afraid of Indonesian bureaucrats than ghosts. He made the remark while delivering a speech at the Indonesia Economic Outlook 2026 event. The head of state initially called for all fraudulent practices, including corruption, to be eradicated from Indonesia. According to Prabowo, eliminating a culture of dishonesty must go hand in hand with bureaucratic reform.
Prabowo then quoted a statement he attributed to World War II-era British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. “Someone told me that Winston Churchill once said, ‘I’m more afraid of my bureaucrats than I’m afraid of Adolf Hitler.’ So they say, but we don’t know for sure whether he actually said that. But the spirit is roughly along those lines,” Prabowo said at the Auditorium of Wisma Danantara Indonesia in South Jakarta on Friday, February 13, 2026.
Prabowo then admitted to sharing a similar sentiment and cracked a joke by modifying the quote. He said he is more afraid of his bureaucrats than of a kuntilanak ghost. “Let me change it up—I’ll be the one saying it. I’m more afraid of my bureaucrats than I’m afraid of, well, a kuntilanak or something like that,” said the former Defense Minister.
He stressed that Indonesia must reform itself by building a new Indonesia. “So, we must clean things up. We must have the new Indonesia. The new Indonesia must have no corruption,” Prabowo said.
On the same occasion, Prabowo also said Indonesians are clever at circumventing regulations. He even acknowledged that such practices are carried out by business people. Prabowo recounted having met with business leaders some time ago, saying most of them were his friends. Prabowo met with a number of business leaders from the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo) on Monday evening, February 9, 2026, at his private residence in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java. The following day, Prabowo met with five Indonesian conglomerates: Prajogo Pangestu (Barito Pacific Group), Anthony Salim (Salim Group), Franky Widjaja (Sinar Mas Group), Garibaldi “Boy” Thohir (Adaro Energy), and Sugianto Kusuma, also known as Aguan (Agung Sedayu Group).
“I gathered business leaders, most of whom are my own friends, and I told them, ‘That’s enough. You’re already big, already rich. Follow the rules. You’re all smart people,’” Prabowo said.
The Gerindra Party chairman acknowledged that Indonesians are indeed clever. The problem, he said, is that this intelligence is sometimes misused. “In Indonesia, smart people are smart at finding loopholes around regulations. Am I right? We learn this from school,” Prabowo said.