Vice Chair of Commission X Parliament States Prabowo to Cut Budget Due to Iran War

Vice Chair (Waka) of Commission X of the Indonesian Parliament, Lalu Hadrian Irfani, commonly known as Lalu Ari, stated that President Prabowo Subianto plans to cut budgets in response to the escalating conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran in the Middle East. Lalu Ari noted that Prabowo has communicated this budget efficiency plan through various government ministries.

“Yes, the President has taken steps through the ministers. The aim is to save fuel oil (BBM) due to the Middle East war,” said Lalu Ari when met in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), on Tuesday (17 March 2026).

Lalu Ari revealed that the escalation of the Middle Eastern conflict has disrupted Indonesia’s fuel reserves. The government, he said, needs to discuss and calculate the capacity of these reserves.

“One of the steps is efficiency. We allow efficiency measures, but do not reduce education funding. Because education funding is mandatory under our constitution. Therefore, the 20 per cent education funding must be fulfilled,” added the Chair of the PKB Party’s NTB Provincial Branch.

Lalu Ari expressed confidence that President Prabowo would not cut education funding. He also claimed that the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme does not drain education funding. He stated that education budgets have actually increased with the introduction of the MBG programme.

“So the structure of the education budget includes the Free Nutritious Meals programme, rural schools, teacher and lecturer salaries, and then budgets from the Ministry of Education,” said Lalu Ari.

“It is not decreasing but rather increasing. For example, in the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, the government has prepared additional spending of IDR 189 trillion. God willing, we will discuss this during the Eid holidays,” he added.