Why Did Prabowo Suddenly Use the Word 'Idiot'?

President Prabowo stated that there is a phenomenon in society where some members of the nation exhibit an attitude of extreme unwillingness to cooperate in building the country. Yet, the nation faces heavy challenges at every turn that require collaboration. This was conveyed during President Prabowo’s briefing at the Working Meeting of the Government Members of the Red and White Cabinet Along with All Echelon I Officials of Ministries/Agencies & CEOs of State-Owned Enterprises, Merdeka Palace, Wednesday (8/4/2026). Prabowo likened this issue to life in a village, where there are always parties who can only comment with minimal contribution. He even used the word ‘goblok’. “I say, in a place, in a village, the villagers see the need to build a bridge, then the majority of the village decides to build it, and they work together to build the bridge, but there might be a group that doesn’t want to join in building the bridge, that’s no problem, those who want to build, come on, those who don’t want to, no problem, please sit and watch or whatever, that’s fine. Criticism is allowed, but I also don’t understand if while I’m building the bridge, there’s someone sitting who doesn’t want to build the bridge but criticises. ‘You’re an idiot, the wood is wrong, don’t put it there, the nails are wrong, they should be here, the chain is wrong. Everything is wrong,’” said Prabowo. He stated that even if they receive criticism, those implementing the bridge construction must not be intimidated or allow the bridge-building to fail because the community needs the bridge. “We who want to build the bridge, what’s our attitude? Are we intimidated? ‘You’re an idiot, your bridge is idiotic’, I’m an idiot but the villagers here need a bridge. I build the bridge for our people,” said Prabowo. Prabowo said this is not a new phenomenon and occurs in many countries; this phenomenon has been around for hundreds of years. For example, when Indonesia was disturbed by foreign nations, there were always components of the nation that facilitated the colonisers, due to attitudes of envy and spite which are part of human nature.