West Java Lingkar 98 Consolidates, Affirms Support for President's Populist Programmes

Activists from Lingkar 98 West Java and the 98 Resolution Network held a consolidation meeting in Bandung, urging fellow reformists to reflect on 28 years of contributions to Indonesia’s political democracy. The groups argue that the 1998 movement remains incomplete, as political democratisation has not progressed simultaneously with economic democratisation, resulting in what they describe as a pseudo-democracy. “When natural resources are controlled by a handful of groups through what is called ‘greedynomics’ during the reform era, it hijacks political democracy and the livelihood of the people,” said 98 Resolution Network spokesperson Agus Teddy Sumantri in a written statement on Monday. He stressed that the democratic system must be based on socio-democracy, not Western-style liberal democracy which only guarantees freedom at the ballot box. “This Western-style democracy ignores the people’s access to the nation’s wealth. Constitutionally, Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution mandates that the state’s natural resources be managed by the state to improve the people’s welfare,” Teddy stated. The group outlined eight points of view and stance. Firstly, they fully support President Prabowo Subianto’s steps to execute the reform mandate by seizing corruptors’ assets to subsidise the people, evidenced by recent confiscations of money from various corruption cases. “To provide a deterrent effect, we urge law enforcers to punish corruptors involved in the free nutritious meal programme with severe penalties, at least life imprisonment, for betraying the people, the state, and the trust given by President Prabowo,” Teddy said. Secondly, Teddy assessed that the current anti-corruption approach is more progressive as it targets corruption related to state revenue sources, natural resource management, and misuse of concession permits. “The government has prevented revenue leakage through mis-invoicing practices estimated at Rp 100 trillion per year and transfer pricing around Rp 75 trillion per year,” he explained. Thirdly, in line with the demands for agrarian reform and Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, President Prabowo established the Forest Area Enforcement Task Force through Presidential Regulation Number 5 of 2025 to curb illegal forest occupation and collect administrative fines. “The task force has seized 5,901,512.89 hectares of land, consisting of 5.88 million hectares of oil palm plantations and 12,371.58 hectares of mining areas, which will be redistributed for the people to manage through cooperatives. We ask the government to promote transparency in its management,” Teddy said. Fourthly, the groups urged all stakeholders to embody President Prabowo’s spirit in upholding Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, calling on state managers to uphold efficiency and anti-corruption principles. “We will continue to monitor so that no one misuses the President’s good intentions by easily shifting leakages from one place to another,” Teddy stated. Fifthly, Teddy noted that President Prabowo has deconstructed the state budget structure as a tool to protect the people and ensure citizens live prosperously. He said the President overhauled corruptive spending and idle regional transfer funds, reallocating them to the Free Nutritious Meal programme. The groups condemned neoliberal-minded critics who label this populist programme as ‘budget burning’ and market distortion. “With the uncovering of corruption cases in the National Nutrition Agency, we ask the government to immediately evaluate its governance,” Teddy said. Sixthly, the groups dismissed intrigues accusing the government of cutting education budgets for the meal programme. Seventhly, they respect all forms of criticism against the government. Teddy noted that President Prabowo has proven himself open to corrections regarding alleged irregularities in the meal programme’s management. However, he observed an anomaly in current social movements, which adopt a neoliberal mindset. “Some parties question welfare budgets and accuse the strengthening of state-owned enterprises as an engine for people’s economic empowerment of being a market distortion,” Teddy said. Lastly, in facing geopolitical pressures that weaken the national economy, they called on all elements of the nation to strengthen unity and brotherhood in a peaceful atmosphere. He stated that the political democracy achieved must become a tool to accelerate equitable welfare. “We will continue to actively open dialogue to explain the direction of President Prabowo’s strategic programmes while overseeing their implementation,” Teddy concluded. The groups also support the government in continuing pro-people programmes such as Kampung Nelayan, Free Nutritious Meals, Food Self-Sufficiency, and the Koperasi Merah Putih. “However, we also remind policymakers to create programme governance that is accountable, transparent, and can be justified,” Teddy concluded.