Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto's state address at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Annual Session on August 15 has drawn harsh criticism from civil society activists. His narrative of stability and growth was deemed as merely rhetoric, while the facts on the ground show that the people are increasingly marginalised and the oligarchy is growing stronger.
Centre of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) Executive Director Bhima Yudhistira believes that the 8 percent growth target set by the president is impossible to achieve with the extractive economic model of the New Order regime of former president Suharto.
"If we repeat it, the results will be the same: economic fragility and ecological disaster", Yudhistira asserted. He also believes the president's use of the term "serakahnomics" (greedy economics) is merely an admission that previous policies have left major problems behind.
Prabowo's claim of creating millions of jobs was also disputed by Jumisih from the National Network for Domestic Worker Advocacy (Jala PRT). She stated that in reality, mass layoffs, a rise in informal sector employment and poor working conditions are occurring.
"If the work relationship is unequal, wages are inadequate, and there's no social security, that's not job creation, but an extension of the hands of capitalists", she said.
From a human rights perspective, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) Chairperson Muhammad Isnur emphasised that the president is turning a blind eye to obvious violations.
"Indigenous communities are losing their land and being criminalised, but this isn't mentioned at all in the speech", said Isnur.
Meanwhile, Iqbal Damanik from Greenpeace Indonesia warned that the "people's mining" narrative and the involvement of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) in natural resource management constitute a form of militarisation of development.
"In Merauke [South Papua], indigenous communities are forced to confront the armed forces. This is not popular sovereignty, but repression", he asserted.
Comedian Dodok even criticised the president's speech as a rehash of old patterns. "He's talking about mining for the people through the TNI. This is very Suharto-like. Tyranny is rampant, and comedy is the solution", he said.
For civil society, the 80th state address reaffirmed a development direction that neglects the people. Independence without partisanship becomes merely ceremonial, while the oligarchies strengthen and democracy shrinks.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Pidato Prabowo di HUT RI 80 Dinilai Hanya Retorika, Rakyat Tetap Tersingkir".]
