Yesterday's Politics: Calls to Strengthen National Unity and Free Four Indonesian Nationals Abducted in Gabon
Jakarta (ANTARA) – A range of political events yesterday (6 March) drew attention, from Dasco’s call for civil society to strengthen national unity to the freeing of four Indonesian nationals abducted in Gabon’s waters by the TNI and the Indonesian mission in Abuja and Yaounde. Here is ANTARA’s roundup of yesterday’s political news worth revisiting:
- Dasco urges civil society to strengthen national unity
Deputy Speaker of the House Sufmi Dasco Ahmad urged civil society to strengthen national unity because harmony is the key to good governance. ‘We need national unity and contributions that are not empty slogans; that is what we ask of our civil society colleagues,’ Dasco said in a written statement received in Jakarta on Friday. He assessed that the condition of civil society today is starting to deteriorate. Social media, he added, is even used as a forum to taunt one another.
- Gus Yahya: Prabowo accepted by all parties and thus able to mediate conflicts
PBNU Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf alias Gus Yahya said that President Prabowo Subianto is a figure who can be accepted by all sides, and therefore capable of acting as a mediator in the Middle East conflict. ‘President Prabowo Subianto is an actor accepted by all sides, so he has the opportunity to act as a mediator of communications among the involved parties,’ he said after attending a gathering at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta with ulama and leaders of Islamic organisations on Friday. In that gathering, he said, the President reiterated his commitment to do whatever is necessary to help create peace and resolution of the conflict.
- Waka MPR: PPRT law should be expedited to protect people from crisis threats
Deputy Speaker of the MPR RI Lestari Moerdijat said that fast-tracking the Draft Law on Protection for Domestic Workers (PPRT) into law is needed to shield people from crisis threats. ‘Accelerating the PPRT into law is part of realising a protection system for marginal groups most affected by the current economic volatility,’ she said in Jakarta on Friday. She noted that global economic volatility resulting from the US-Iran conflict is beginning to be felt domestically, and marginal groups vulnerable to this impact, such as domestic workers, are among those affected.
- Home Affairs Minister: Additional TKD to disaster-affected areas accelerates recovery
Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) and head of the Post-disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRR) Task Force for Sumatra, Muhammad Tito Karnavian, emphasised that adding around Rp10.6 trillion to Transfer to Regions (TKD) for disaster-affected areas in Sumatra would speed up recovery. ‘We want to strengthen the financial capacity of the provinces affected by disasters—the three Sumatra disaster provinces,’ Mendagri said in a Jakarta briefing on Friday. He delivered this during a dissemination of a Circular Letter on TKD adjustments for the 2026 Budget Year in the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) for disaster-affected areas in the Aceh, North Sumatra (Sumut), and West Sumatra (Sumbar).
- TNI-KBRI Abuja and Yaounde free four Indonesian seafarers abducted in Gabon waters
The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) through its Defence Attaché (Athan) RI in Nigeria has freed four Indonesian crew members who were abducted by pirates on 11 January 2026 off the Gabon coast in Central Africa.
In an official press release from Mabes TNI received in Jakarta on Friday, the Defence Attaché in Abuja, Nigeria said the release occurred on Thursday (5 March) at about 22.05 local time and the four crew members arrived in Lagos, Nigeria today. The TNI Public Information Centre chief Brig Gen Aulia Dwi Nasrullah, when contacted by ANTARA in Jakarta on Friday, said the release came after lengthy negotiations with the pirates.