Snake Oil to Quell Public Anger

September 23, 2025 | 01:09 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Two cabinet reshuffles failed to address the root causes of the public anger in the August demonstrations. The legal sector offered only gimmick reforms.

LIKE a doctor performing clinical trials of a drug, President Prabowo Subianto is giving a placebo to his patients. Trying to address a number of serious problems in the first year of his administration, he is only providing snake oil that does not address the issues.

The two cabinet reshuffles after the huge demonstrations at the end of August were a short term response to quell public anger. Prabowo has failed to address the roots of the problems through policies and governance as demanded by the demonstrators.

The origin of the mass anger that emerged in the August demonstrations is the economic slowdown and the actions of an elite showing no empathy. The Indonesian Economists Alliance has made seven demands to address the economic emergency. They claim that the economic machine has ground to a halt as a result of Prabowo’s populist programs that have cost vast amounts of money without having any significant impact on the majority, such as the free nutritious meals and the red-and-white cooperatives initiatives.

The new Finance Minister is not an economist who makes policies with a solid technocracy. Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa appears to be a pragmatic Finance Minister with a topsy-turvy idea of policy logic. Paying out Rp200 trillion of state funds from Bank Indonesia for bank loans is not a miracle cure that will stimulate the business sector. Indonesia’s main economic problem is the reduction in people’s buying power, not the lack of credit.

Neither Prabowo nor Purbaya have improved the main problems that triggered the protests. For example, they have not stopped paying out budget funds for priority programs that are the main reason for the economic stagnation. One of the aims of Purbaya’s Rp16.3 trillion fiscal stimulus is actually to encourage the red-and-white cooperatives.

And Prabowo’s misdiagnosis of public issues also applies to other sectors. He has allowed Listyo Sigit Prabowo to keep his job as the National Police Chief, despite the unmistakable evidence that this former adjutant of President Joko Widodo is unable to uphold the law in a fair and professional manner. Under Listoyo, the police have become even more violent and repressive in dealing with protests, have been reluctant to investigate corruption and have been using the law to provide backing for crooked tycoons.

It is true that Prabowo replaced the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, who is in overall command of the police and the military. But the new man is a member of the old elite from his old boy network. The appointment of Djamari Chaniago, one of Prabowo’s seniors from the Military Academy, only reinforces militaristic nature of this administration. The President responded to the demands from Gen Z with a 76-year-old soldier.

The latest cabinet reshuffle is Prabowo consolidating his power. The dismissal of Budi Gunawan, the reorganization of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the dismissal of ministers from the Jokowi era shows that Prabowo wants to rid himself of all the elements of his predecessor and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the largest party that he had hoped would join his coalition. The PDI-P put forward a number of conditions for joining the coalition: no dismissal of Budi Gunawan, retention of the BRIN leadership and a number of ministerial posts.

Prabowo should prioritize solutions after his consolidation. But at present, there is no sign of him using his presidential prerogative to appoint competent individuals to reform the legal and security institutions, which are the source of the problems causing public anger.

Simply replacing Listyo Sigit is not enough to improve the National Police. The problems within the institution are engrained and deep-rooted, from the recruitment process to chronic structural issues. Djamari Chaniago does not have the experience to reform the police.

And even reforming the National Police will not do enough to put things right with the law enforcement system. Improvements to the institution must happen simultaneously with those in other law enforcement bodies, including the Attorney General’s Office. Like the police, prosecutors often arbitrarily press charges and serve as an extension of the government to sideline political opponents.

Without improvements to the deeply flawed legal system, a cabinet reshuffle will not provide any meaningful economic stimulus as a miracle cure to quell public anger. If people’s hopes for Prabowo are too bombastic, perhaps it is because he does not have the ability to diagnose the main illnesses afflicting Indonesia or to provide effective remedies.

Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine

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