Palace Clarifies Prabowo's Remark on Foreign-Backed NGOs Sowing Discord

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The chief of the Presidential Communication Office, Hasan Nasbi, said not all foreign-backed organizations seek to sow discord in Indonesia.

Responding to President Prabowo Subianto's statement. he said the head of state merely referred to specific non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that aim to divide the country. According to him, such organizations usually attempt to cancel the government's priority programs.

"(These NGOs) want the government's priority programs to be canceled, to be discontinued," he said at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.

Hasan said these groups often discredit the ruling government, as well as ridicule any progress made.

Regardless, Hasan assured that Prabowo's statement was not intended to suppress the role of civil society and freedom of expression. Hasan claimed that the government has always provided space for civil society and the media to criticize government programs.

However, Hasan said, Prabowo does not tolerate groups that seek to sow discord and spread hatred.

"Unity does not mean the absence of criticism, no. Criticism is allowed. But if what it does is sow discord, spreade slander and hatred, produce and spread false information every day, spreading false information, that's what the president emphasized (in his statement)," he said.

President Prabowo Subianto previously accused foreign parties of funding NGOs to sow discord in Indonesia. He conveyed this during  his speech at the Pancasila Day commemoration held at the Pancasila Building in Central Jakarta on June 2, 2025.

This was not the first time 

Prabowo has voiced concerns over foreign interference. Earlier in his presidency, he suggested that protests in various regions were influenced by outside actors.

"Just pay attention, were those protests pure or were they paid for? We need to be objective," he said during an interview with six senior journalists at his residence in Sentul, Bogor, West Java, on April 8, 2025.

He also warned of the potential presence of foreign agents exploiting unrest for their own gain. "In managing a country, we must be cautious, whether there are foreign powers who want to sow discord. This is common practice," Prabowo added.

Previously, civil society and student protests emerged under the spotlight for rejecting the TNI Law revision.  A group of people even established a tent in front of the Pancasila Gate of the DPR Building as a sign of resistance. Even in other regions outside Jakarta, such as Padang, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Makassar, and many other, similar actions were held to reject the ratification.

Eka Yudha Saputra contributed to the writing of this article

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