March 6, 2025
JAKARTA – Just weeks after public protests over government policies and large bureaucracy, President Prabowo Subianto instructed his cabinet ministers to roll out several new populist policies; a move observers call an attempt to regain public trust amid controversies hitting his administration.
The President delivered the instruction during a cabinet meeting and iftar with dozens of ministers and agency heads to discuss updates on several of his priority programs.
The event was held behind closed doors in the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta, but several officials, including First Deputy Home Minister Bima Arya Sugiarto, talked to journalists on what Prabowo told his cabinet during the iftar.
“The President [gave] a few orders related to accessible education,” Bima said on Tuesday. “He plans [to launch] the Sekolah Rakyat [People’s School] and favorite school programs, while also fixing facilities and school buildings in remote areas.”
The two programs have often been considered Prabowo’s quick wins in the education sector. Sekolah Rakyat targets children from poor families while the favorite school program, officially called the Garuda School, is an initiative to create schools specialized for high-performing students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Details about the Garuda School remain sparse, but other officials claimed that the Sekolah Rakyat is expected to kick off and take in students later this year.
“The President asked us to accelerate the program by working with governors, regents and mayors. We’ll identify [the locations] and make a more detailed plan according to the President’s directives,” Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf said after the iftar event on Tuesday.
He added that the future Sekolah Rakyat would be boarding schools that can accommodate students of elementary, middle and vocational schools.
Read also: Growing dissent puts Prabowo’s leadership to test
Before Tuesday’s iftar event, Prabowo hosted another cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss a new program he called the “Red and White Village Cooperatives”, which is aimed at strengthening the economy of villages.
Each cooperative will have a warehouse that can house six stalls where local agricultural products can be stored or sold, according to Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan after Monday’s meeting.
The senior minister added that the program would be rolled out in up to 80,000 villages across the country, financed through loans from state-owned lenders that will be paid in three to five years using village funds.
Stress test
In the first three months of his presidency, Prabowo managed to hit the ground running by quickly launching many of his priority programs, including the free nutritious meal program. The administration reaped the rewards by getting a high approval rating as shown by a survey published in January by the research arm of Kompas daily.
But Prabowo faced his first major test in the past weeks when frustration at his austerity measures, large cabinet and policies deemed to be against the people’s welfare transformed into nationwide student protests under the Indonesia Gelap (Dark Indonesia) movement.
A major corruption scandal involving state energy giant Pertamina and the controversial launch of sovereign wealth fund Danantra piled on the public scrutiny.
Prabowo addressed criticisms of his administration during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting by saying that “criticisms were only fair” but should not make his ministers hesitate in their work for his priority programs, according to deputy minister Bima.
He went on to say that cabinet members saw Tuesday’s meeting as part of Prabowo’s way to “motivate” and “consolidate” his ranks.
“[There has been] endless consolidation. There wasn’t any special message, but it’s just [Prabowo’s] way of building unity [in the cabinet].”
Making up lost ground
Political analyst Agung Baskoro said Prabowo showing commitment for more “concrete populist policies” that are close “to the people’s wallets, stomachs and minds” on Tuesday was his way to regain public trust after a series of scandals and unpopular policies.
His decision to make the cabinet meeting an iftar event also served to portray an image that the nation’s political elites remain tightly knit despite the recent controversies.
“The public views the month of Ramadan as a month of forgiveness,” Agung said. “Prabowo is leveraging this impression to show that he and his ministers are doing the same.”
Read also: New policy to cut overlaps in free meal rollouts
Kennedy Muslim, researcher with pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia, said that the President had “no other choice” but to expedite the rollout of his populist policies to restore public confidence in his administration.
“There’s no other way for President Prabowo but to use policies that can give him a quick win with impacts that can be directly felt by the public.”