Digesting Prabowo's Strategy: from Theory, Nutritious Eating, Efficiency, to Independent Downstreaming

The virtual world is abuzz with the hashtags #KaburAjaDulu #IndonesiaGelap. The real world is abuzz with student and professional actions that show a lot of disappointment. Meanwhile, the world of surveys is different again. A survey conducted by Kompas, for example, noted that 80.9 percent of the public is satisfied with the performance of the Prabowo-Gibran government. What is really happening?

Therefore, when on Thursday (20/2/2025) afternoon, I received an invitation from the Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital, Angga Raka Prabowo, to attend a gathering with President Prabowo Subianto at the Presidential Palace, I immediately responded: thank you and I will attend.

However, the event was temporarily canceled because Angga informed of a postponement on Thursday afternoon. On Friday afternoon, Angga announced that the event was rescheduled to Saturday afternoon and the venue was moved from the Presidential Palace to Padepokan Garudayaksa, Hambalang, Bogor.

“Are you coming, sir?” Angga asked. “Of course. There’s a lot I want to hear,” I replied.

Statecraft is a strategy for managing a country reliably, skillfully and intelligently.

Upon arriving in Hambalang, I remembered the Kompas interview with Prabowo in 2019, who was then running as a presidential candidate. Lastly, I went to Hambalang again with the editor-in-chief forum in late 2023, when Prabowo was still serving as Minister of Defense.

This time, the situation is clearly different because Prabowo has become the 8th President of the Republic of Indonesia. However, there is something that is the same, Prabowo's companion is a young figure he trusts, namely Angga who is currently the Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital. Other young figures who were also present and are often called Prabowo's ring-1 are Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo, Deputy Minister of Finance Thomas Djiwandono, and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono.

The meeting lasted four hours, filled with many questions from the editors-in-chief. And, thank God, there was a lot that I could hear and digest, starting from Prabowo's personal experiences, thoughts, responses to the current situation, and commitments. Everything came directly from President Prabowo's lips, without going through an intermediary, so it could be recorded and collected at some point.

As usual, Prabowo always welcomes his guests warmly. For many who have visited, it must have felt that way. The difference is, if in the last meeting, Prabowo opened the conversation with the issue of horse riding, this time it was about coffee. Apparently, the President who loves to read books has also loved drinking coffee since he was young.

Prabowo also said that the habit of drinking coffee was what drove his success in completing many tasks while attending advanced military education in Kansas, United States. He even said that some of his exam results were worth 9.9 and even 10 because after drinking coffee, he felt he could remember many lessons.

So amazed by his results, some of the professors there even thought he had attended military education at the United States Military Academy (West Point) or the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, England, two of the world's most renowned military schools. "I answered Magelang, they didn't know," said Prabowo, sparking laughter.

The discussion started to get serious after Prabowo opened the meeting. This time, he opened it by explaining the Statecraft theory. In the previous meeting, Prabowo shared his thoughts on the Failed State Theory written by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.

"Statecraft is a strategy for managing a country reliably, skillfully and intelligently," explained Prabowo.

In a theoretical context, statecraft refers to a country's strategy for conducting diplomacy, maintaining national security, building alliances, and facing international and domestic challenges with the aim of maintaining national interests or survival.

According to him, there are three streams of state. First, looking at it from the ideological side (democracy vs autocracy, racism vs liberalism, religion vs secular, capitalism vs socialism). Second, focusing on the economy or prioritizing welfare. The third stream is realism for survival.

Digesting what was delivered for four hours, it seems that President Prabowo emphasized survival. Prabowo is very observant of the geopolitical situation. According to him, we are often taught that relations between countries are fine. In reality, the threat is always there. For example, there is the war in Sudan, Ukraine, and most recently Gaza.

Various alliances were built on the interests of each country. Treatment can vary according to interests. In fact, the threat of nuclear war still exists. Some countries have even prepared underground bunkers to anticipate a nuclear war.

Many countries also allocate large budgets for their national defense. State hegemony occurs between great powers, middle rank powers, and lesser powers, and there are also many failed states. Many other nations have long wanted to control Indonesia, which has abundant wealth.

This thought seems to be the basis for Prabowo to realize his various main programs ranging from Free Nutritious Meals, efficiency, to independent downstreaming. Prabowo also admitted that since childhood he often visited Mohammad Hatta who was the basis for his various thoughts to build this country.

Prabowo also explained the Free Nutritious Meal program, efficiency, and independent downstreaming with passion. How important the program is in Prabowo's eyes, and how Prabowo responded to a number of criticisms of him asked by the editors-in-chief, I will tell in the next article.