Politics Weekly: Prabowo's Narrative About Foreign Lackeys' NGOs, Up to the Election of New PKS Leadership

, Jakarta - A number of political events colored the news from the homeland in the past week. At the beginning of the week, the President Prabowo Subianto stirs controversy by once again throwing around the narrative of a foreign lackey to non-governmental organizations.

Last Tuesday, the Veterans Forum of the TNI sent a letter proposing that the People's Representative Council and the People's Consultative Assembly discuss <pemakzulan Gibran> Nominate Raka as the vice president.

The Prosperous Justice Party also recently set its leadership this Wednesday. Sohibul Iman was elected as the Chair of the Consultative Assembly. PKS . Then, PDIP Chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri met with Gerindra elites amid cabinet reshuffle speculation. Here is the national political news for the week.

1. Prabowo Accuses Foreign-Funded NGOs as Stooges

President Prabowo Subianto accused foreign parties of funding civil society organizations or NGOs to create division in Indonesia. He made this statement while delivering an address during the ceremony commemorating the Birth of Pancasila at Pancasila Building, Central Jakarta, on June 2, 2025.

Initially, Prabowo invited all the people of Indonesia to unite and not have any differences that would lead to conflict. He mentioned that this is what foreign nations actually hope for because foreign powers do not like Indonesia to progress.

"For hundreds of years they have come, for hundreds of years they have pitted us against each other, until now. With their money, they finance NGOs to pit us against each other. They claim to be upholders of democracy, human rights, press freedom, but those are their own versions," Prabowo said.

However, Prabowo argued that he was not inviting the Indonesian nation to be suspicious of foreign nations. He emphasized that Indonesia must not be played around by any nation.

Head of the Presidential Communication Office Hasan Nasbi argued that not all foreign-funded NGOs want to be a pawn in Indonesia. He explained that Prabowo's statement was only directed at certain NGOs that always try to cancel government priority programs.

"I want to cancel the government's priority programs, not continue them," he said at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.

However, Hasan states that Prabowo's statement is not aimed at suppressing the role of civil society and freedom of expression.

Sontak, Prabowo's accusations were condemned by civil society organizations promoting democracy, human rights, and the environment.

The Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, emphasized that the main enemy of the Indonesian nation is not foreign-funded NGOs. He said that the enemies that paralyze Indonesia are elites involved in corruption.

The lecturer from the Indonesia National Law College also touched on environmental corruption that exploits natural resources and the efforts to manipulate laws for the benefit of those in power among the elites.

"Moral corruption that turns national interests into family, child, daughter-in-law, grandchild, and cronies' interests. All of this is done by corrupt political elites," Usman said through a written statement to Tempo on Monday, June 2, 2025.

The Indonesian Environmental Forum (WALHI) believes that Prabowo's accusation about foreign parties funding NGOs to sow discord in Indonesia is not correct. "Because many NGOs are also funded by foreigners to help the government and the public," said the Executive Director of WALHI South Sulawesi, Muhammad Al Amin, in a written statement on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.

According to him, regardless of whether there is foreign funding, NGOs will always remain critical as long as the government makes policies that deviate from the public's expectations.

Civil Society Coalition deplores Prabowo's statement and believes that it is not in line with the increasingly democratic and global times.

"It is ahistorical for President Prabowo to claim that NGOs are acting as stooges. NGOs have become actors ensuring checks and balances within the current state and government system in Indonesia," read the statement from the Civil Coalition shared by Centra Initiative Chairman Al Araf to Tempo on Thursday, June 5, 2025.

The coalition reminds regimes that reject NGOs automatically do not want to be monitored by the public. "Thus, such regimes have the potential to abuse their power," Al Araf said.

2. Impeachment Proposal for Gibran to Enter DPR/MPR

The Forum of TNI Retirees has written to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the House of Representatives (DPR) regarding a proposal for the impeachment of Gibran Rakabuming Raka as vice president. The letter numbered 003/FPPTNI/V/2025 was addressed directly to MPR Chairman Ahmad Muzani and DPR Chairman Puan Maharani.

Sekretaris Forum Purnawirawan Prajurit TNI Bimo Satrio mengatakan, surat itu telah diterima oleh Sekretariat Jenderal MPR dan DPR. “Sudah dikirimkan pada Senin, 2 Juni,” katanya saat dihubungi pada Selasa, 3 Juni 2025.

The letter was signed by representatives from the TNI Veteran Forum, including Lieutenant General TNI (Retired) Fachrul Razi, Air Marshal TNI (Retired) Hanafie Asnan, Lieutenant General TNI (Retired) Tyasno Sudarto, and Rear Admiral TNI (Retired) Slamet Soebijanto.

The forum of retired officials presented a number of their legal opinions on the proposal. They believe that the process of nominating the eldest son of former President Joko Widodo or Jokowi is not separated from the intervention of family relations through then Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Anwar Usman.

For retired military personnel, Gibran also possesses the values of propriety and suitability as a vice president. According to them, the former Mayor of Solo still lacks capacity and experience to serve as vice president.

The accusation of Gibran's connection in a Kaskus account named Fufufafa was also included in the legal arguments by the retired military personnel. They also touched on the alleged corruption involving Gibran and his brother, Kaesang Pangarep, which was reported by Ubedilah Badrun to the Corruption Eradication Commission in 2022.

Deputy Chairman of the MPR Bambang Wuryanto said that the leadership of the MPR is not necessarily going to discuss the impeachment proposal for Gibran as the vice president.

"When an official letter comes to the leaders of the MPR, it enters through the secretariat. In the secretariat, if it is considered important, then we hold a leadership meeting of the MPR to decide how to respond to the input from that letter," said the man, familiarly called Bambang Pacul, when he was met at the parliamentary complex, Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

The PDI-P politician stated that the consideration of the importance of a letter is based on the identity of the sending institution.

The Chairman of the Budget Committee of the DPR, Said Abdullah, said that the letter proposing impeachment of Gibran as vice president cannot be processed directly. "In my opinion, if it is stated that the DPR has received the letter, it cannot be processed out of nowhere," Said said at the parliamentary complex on Wednesday.

She asked that the issue of Gibran's impeachment be set aside first because it is considered to have no urgent importance. According to her, public opinion in the DPR is still largely unfamiliar with the term impeachment. Furthermore, the objective condition that should be addressed is the political challenges ahead, not the matter of impeachment.

The Secretary General of Golkar Party, Sarmuji, said there is no reason to impeach Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka. He believes there is no gap that could lead to Gibran being removed from his position.

"So far, there has been no violation of any laws as stated in the constitution that could lead to Mas Gibran being impeached," he said at the parliament complex on Wednesday.

3. New PKS Management

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has established its leadership structure for the period 2025-2030. The announcement of the PKS leadership lineup was directly made by PKS President Al Muzammil Yusuf during a press conference on the Complete Results of the First Majelis Syura PKS Meeting, held at the Central Level Leadership Board (DPTP) PKS Office in Jakarta, on Thursday, June 5, 2025.

This announcement was made after Muhammad Sohibul Iman was elected as the Chairman of the Consultative Council the day before. Meanwhile, Muhammad Kholid was appointed as the General Secretary of PKS, replacing Aboe Bakar Al-Habsyi who has been in office since September 2020. He now serves as a member of the National People's Representative Council (DPR RI), representing the Electoral District (Dapil) West Java VI.

The chairman of PKS previously, Ahmad Syaikhu, became the Deputy Chairman of the Syura Council along with Suharna Surapranata and Aunur Rafiq Saleh Tamhid.

Then Nurhadi as General Treasurer, Suswono as Secretary of the Consultative Council, Mulyanto as Head of the Central Advisory Board. Then, Muslih Abdul Karim as Head of the Central Sharia Council and Pipin Sofyan as Chief of Staff to the President of PKS.

President of PKS Al Muzzammil Yusuf will complete the structural setup first before determining the short and long-term programs for the party. "Regarding short or long-term programs, we will complete the structure first," he said at the PKS DPP office in South Jakarta on Thursday, June 5, 2025.

She aims to complete all structural matters in her management within one week. The Central Leadership Board of PKS has just announced three position appointments, namely the General Secretary, Treasurer, and Head of PKS Presidency.

4. Megawati Meets Gerindra Elite

The Acting Chairman of Gerindra Party Sufmi Dasco Ahmad and Gerindra politician and Minister Secretary of State Prasetyo Hadi met with the Chairman of PDIP Megawati Soekarnoputri a few days ago.

Dasco shared a photo of the meeting between himself and Prasetyo Hadi when he visited Megawati's residence in Central Jakarta. Dasco said that this meeting was also to deliver a message from President Prabowo, who is also the chairman of Gerindra. The Deputy Speaker of the DPR said that Megawati also entrusted a message to be passed on to Prabowo and vice versa. However, Dasco declined to reveal what the messages were.

"We were indeed sent to convey several things and messages. We also brought back a message from Mrs. Megawati to Mr. Prabowo," Dasco said at the MPR/DPR/DPN RI Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday, June 5, 2025.

Dasco shared three photos in his Instagram post. In one of the photos shared by Dasco, it can be seen that he was received by Megawati in what appears to be a living room. Megawati was accompanied by her daughter, Puan Maharani.

In another post, PDIP's Deputy Chair for Law Affairs, Yasonna Laoly, also accompanied Megawati. The last photo shared by Dasco shows him and Prasetyo posing with Megawati and Puan. They all appear to be smiling.

PDIP is the only party that has not openly supported the government. However, after the 2024 presidential election contest, Prabowo and Megawati, who were in different camps, met on April 7, 2025.

Megawati was also present at the commemoration of the Birth of Pancasila led by President Prabowo Subianto at Gedung Pancasila, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday, June 2, 2025. Politician from PDIP, Guntur Romli, stated that Megawati's presence at the commemoration of Pancasila Day is as the Chairperson of the Guidance Board of the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency.

This meeting arises as rumors are rife that Prabowo is planning to reshuffle his team. However, Dasco denies that the reconciliation with the top leadership of PDIP discussed the plan for the entry of the party with the white-capped bull symbol into President Prabowo's cabinet.

"We need to convey that during the meeting there was no discussion about that matter, and we did not discuss that issue," said Dasco.

The spokesperson for PDIP, Guntur Romli, said that his party has not yet received any information regarding the cabinet reshuffle. This is because, he said, PDIP is still outside of the cabinet.

"Moreover, the reshuffle is the prerogative of President Prabowo. Meanwhile, PDIP until now is still outside the government. Therefore, it's irrelevant to link it with the reshuffle issue," Guntur said when asked for his response by Tempo on Saturday, June 7, 2025.

Hendrik Yaputra, Andi Adam Faturahman, Ervana Trikarinaputri, Daniel Ahmad Fajri, Rafiif Nur Tahta Bagaskara, and Alfitria Nefi Pصند contribute to this article.

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