The Plunge in Public Satisfaction with Prabowo's Performance

Herdiansyah Hamzah, a constitutional law expert at Mulawarman University, has said that the significant decline in public satisfaction with Prabowo Subianto’s performance corresponds directly with conditions on the ground. He said civil society has frequently criticised the president’s ambition to fulfil his campaign promises through the implementation of the free nutritious meals programme.

In fact, he said, the programme has already failed in its governance. One indication is the alleged corruption case involving former leaders of the National Nutrition Agency, the institution responsible for the MBG project.

Herdiansyah, who sits on the presidium of the Indonesian Caucus for Academic Freedom, said the governance failure of the MBG project has not only led to systemic corruption. This ambitious project, he said, has also harmed the future of national education.

“Imagine the government choosing to pour large sums of money into this project rather than accommodating the needs and welfare of teachers,” he said when contacted on Monday, 27 July 2026.

The decline in public satisfaction with President Prabowo Subianto’s performance was revealed in a survey by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting. The pollster put the president’s approval rating in July 2026 at 51.1 per cent — a fall of 30.1 per cent compared with the satisfaction level nine months earlier.

Herdiansyah assessed that the drop in satisfaction has not been accompanied by efforts to improve and evaluate government policy. As evidence, he cited problematic programmes such as MBG and the red-and-white village cooperatives, which continue despite mounting public criticism.

“I suspect these protests will grow wider because, instead of listening to public protest, Prabowo is in a sense issuing a challenge,” he said.

He highlighted the president’s recent statement labelling journalists and NGOs as londo ireng — a term implying foreign stooges. According to him, such labelling of citizens reveals Prabowo’s anti-criticism character.

“I think this is what will fuel increasingly widespread protests, even moving towards civilian disobedience,” said Herdiansyah.