Notes on One Hundred Fifty Days of Red and White Cabinet: Unrelenting Work for the Country
Naturally, as a new cabinet, which is relatively new, in its first 130-140 days, 150 days, we certainly would require a period of adaptation.
However, I am able to discern that there is close cooperation and rapid work completion, which have been carried out in a highly intensive and serious manner.
– President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto,
Plenary Cabinet Meeting, March 21, 2025 –
Sunday, October 20, 2024, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka took their respective oath as President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia before the Leadership and Members of the People’s Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia. Without delay, in the evening, President Prabowo Subianto accompanied by Vice President Gibran Rakabuming promptly announced the Ministers who will assist them in the government cabinet for the 2024-2029 tenure. On the next day, Monday, October 21, 2024, the cabinet which was named the Red and White Cabinet, was inaugurated by President Prabowo and stood ready to collaborate in order to serve the people and to realize a just, abundant, and prosperous Indonesia towards an Advanced Indonesia in 2045.
Friday, March 21, 2025, the Red and White Cabinet has shown its dedication for the country after surpassing 150 days. During the period, the arduous efforts and works of the Cabinet to optimize its services and provide its best in the interests of the nation and the people of Indonesia have continued unabated. A multitude of programs have been carried out and numerous achievements have also been recorded by the Government within the period.
“In many aspects, naturally, as a new cabinet, which is relatively new, in its first 130-140 days, 150 days, we certainly would require a period of adaptation. However, I am able to discern that there is close cooperation and rapid work completion, which have been carried out in a highly intensive and serious manner by each and every one of you,” President Prabowo Subianto said when he chaired the plenary cabinet meeting, Friday (March 21, 2025), at the meeting room of the Presidential Palace, Jakarta.
The Head of State has equally expressed his appreciation for the hard work, collaboration, and solidity shown by members of the Red and White Cabinet in carrying out development programs and improving the people’s welfare.
“The results that we have been able to achieve would not have been possible to reach without our common arduous work, without your combined hard work as a team. We are one team, it would be impossible to achieve success without a close team work,” President Prabowo remarked.
Furthermore, President Prabowo called on the members of the Red and White Cabinet to continuously communicate all the Government’s programs and performances to the people, so they will obtain comprehensive and accurate information.
“We have carried out a great number of work since the last cabinet meeting (plenary cabinet meeting, January 22, 2025). Perhaps, due to the so many initiatives undertaken, breakthroughs achieved, and policies adopted, that the narratives to the people may have been lacking, incomplete, and less intensive. Indeed, I deem necessary to improve the communication to the people,” he underlined.
The Government continues to conduct periodic evaluation in order to ensure that the programs undertaken are proceeding effectively and efficiently, and well-targeted. The following are some notes on 150 days of the Red and White Cabinet:
Free Nutritious Meals
The Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program, which launched on January 6, 2025, continues to roll out and has successfully reached all provinces across the country, enjoyed by around three million recipients. MBG is a strategic program aimed at improving the quality of life of the people and creating excellent human capital through better access to nutrition.
Despite smooth progress, President Prabowo has ordered all related parties to continue accelerating the implementation of this program so that by the end of the year it can reach all Indonesian children.
“We want to move faster, but we need to take it step by step, with good management and administration, because this is the people’s money; thus, it must be managed properly. God willing, by the end of this year, all Indonesian children and pregnant women will receive nutritious meals every day. The beneficiaries will reach a total of 82.9 million people—one of the largest programs in the world,” said the President at the launch of the Government Regulation on the Governance of Electronic Systems in Child Protection, Friday (03/28).
Free Health Checkups
The Free Health Checkup (CKG) program, which is aimed at the general public, was officially launched by the Government on February 10, 2025. This program is part of the Government’s effort to improve public health and reduce preventable diseases. Through CKG, the public can access various health checkup services, including screenings for heart disease and cancer, nutritional assessments, and mental health screenings.
Ministry of Health recorded that as of March 16, 2025, the program had reached more than 777,000 registrants at 9,285 community health centers (puskesmas) in 502 regencies/cities in 38 provinces.
“We have started rolling out the Free Health Checkup program for every citizen. It has started and is now running. I think this is also a breakthrough—not every country in the world has a program like this,” said the Head of State.
Mandatory Domestic Foreign Exchange Storage from Exports
The Government has renewed the policy on the domestic storage of foreign exchange earnings from natural resource (SDA) exports by issuing Government Regulation (PP) Number 8 of 2025, which amends Government Regulation Number 36 of 2023 on Foreign Exchange Earnings from the Business, Management, and/or Processing of Natural Resources. This regulation was signed by President Prabowo Subianto on February 17, 2025, and took effect on March 1, 2025.
Under this regulation, the Government requires exporters in the mining (excluding oil and gas), plantation, forestry, and fisheries sectors to deposit 100% of their foreign exchange earnings from natural resources into the national financial system for 12 months in a special account at national banks. Meanwhile, for the oil and gas sector, the regulation still refers to PP Number 36 of 2023. This policy aims to maintain the resilience and stabilization of the national economy as well as to enhance the optimal use of natural resources for the prosperity of the people.
“Once implemented, this policy will increase our foreign exchange reserves by US$100 billion a year. Since it starts on March 1, maybe this year we’ll see around US$80 billion in reserves,” said the President.
Simultaneous Inauguration of 961 Regional Heads
President Prabowo, on Thursday February 20, 2025, officially inaugurated 961 regional leaders from 481 regions across Indonesia in a landmark ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. The simultaneous inauguration—comprising 33 governors and deputy governors, 363 regents and 362 deputy regents, as well as 85 mayors and deputy mayors—marked a historic moment in Indonesia’s governance and underscored the strength and maturity of the country’s evolving democracy.
The day after the inauguration, all newly sworn-in regional heads took part in a retreat at the Magelang Military Academy, Central Java province, which run until February 28, 2025. The retreat offered a comprehensive program covering leadership, national strategic policies, regional governance, geopolitics, and global affairs. The initiative is designed to enhance regional governance, strengthen coordination between the central and local governments, and foster interregional synergy—all in pursuit of delivering more effective and unified public services for the people.
Launch of the Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency (Danantara)
President Prabowo Subianto Monday, February 24, 2025, officially announced the issuance of three key legal instruments aimed at strengthening the management of State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) and national strategic investments. These include Law Number 1/2025 on the Third Amendment to the SOEs Law, Government Regulation Number 10/2025 on the Organization and Governance of the Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency (Danantara), and Presidential Decree Number 30/2025 on the Appointment of Danantara’s Supervisory and Executive Boards.
On the same day, President Prabowo officially launched Danantara, a key step in advancing the Government’s strategic approach to managing national investments. Danantara is expected to play a vital role in optimizing Indonesia’s natural resource management to support sustainable growth and ensure prosperity for the people, in line with Article 33, Paragraph 3 of the 1945 Constitution.
“Danantara is not merely an investment agency, but a strategic instrument for national development that will optimize the way we manage Indonesia’s wealth,” the President firmly said.
The establishment of Danantara is also aligned with the Government’s downstream strategy, with President Prabowo emphasizing that its managed funds must be directed toward high-impact projects that generate domestic added value, create quality jobs, and drive long-term national prosperity.
He stressed the importance of managing Danantara with the highest standards of prudence, transparency, and accountability.
“This is the wealth of our children and grandchildren—it must be well-protected. I call on community leaders to strictly oversight, multi-layered risk assessments, and community involvement. Every decision and policy must be open to audit and scrutiny at all times,” the President remarked.
Launch of Gold Bank Services
The Government has continued to take measures to strengthen national economic resilience. Following the launch of Danantara and the issuance of a new policy on the retention of foreign exchange from natural resource exports, President Prabowo officially launched the first gold bank services in Indonesia on Wednesday, February 26, 2025. The inauguration marked a significant milestone in national gold management, as Indonesia’s gold production continued to grow, reaching 160 tons per year.
“Today, as we approach 80 years of independence, for the first time in the history of Indonesia, a country that is home to the sixth largest gold reserves in the world, we will have a gold bank. I would like to thank all parties who have worked hard to make this possible,” President Prabowo said during the inauguration.
The gold bank services are expected to boost the people’s gold savings, increase the state’s gold reserves, and strengthen Indonesia’s monetary stability. This measure is projected to boost the gross domestic product (GDP) to Rp245 trillion, generate 1.8 million new jobs, and preserve the country’s foreign exchange by ensuring that gold is processed and stored domestically.
Establishment of the Red-and-White Village Cooperatives
The Government has also made efforts to strengthen the economy in the smallest units of society, including villages. To reinforce village economies, approximately 70,000-80,000 Red-and-White Village Cooperatives will be established shortly. The cooperatives will be developed using three approaches: building new cooperatives, revitalizing existing cooperatives, and establishing and developing cooperatives.
The Red-and-White Village Cooperatives are expected to serve as a hub for village economic activities and to streamline the distribution chain of goods that has long disadvantaged both producers and consumers. This program is anticipated to provide significant benefits that will enhance the wellbeing of village residents.
As part of the national program, the Government will fully support the cooperatives through funding from State-Owned Banks Association (Himbara), which is estimated to provide a loan of Rp5 billion for each village cooperative. The financing may be used to build supporting facilities, such as warehouse, cold storage, savings and loan unit, and village clinics.
“We will soon establish 75,000-80,000 village cooperatives. Some will be based on agriculture, some on fisheries, and others on different focuses. The key point is that we aim to stimulate village economies, grassroots-level economic activities, mobilizing our collective strength to drive the national economy, and it will create a significant impact,” the President remarked.
Construction of Community Schools
Along with the effort to strengthen economic resilience, the Government continuously strives to enhance the quality of Indonesian human resources who will become the nation’s next generation to achieve 2045 Golden Indonesia vision. One of the key initiatives is building and developing Sekolah Rakyat (community schools), which provide access to free, good-quality education at the elementary school (SD), junior high school (SMP), and senior high school (SMA) levels. Community schools with boarding school concepts are primarily intended for disadvantaged communities with target students coming from families included in the decile 1 and decile 2 category in the National Social Economic Single Data (DTSEN).
President Prabowo continuously led intensive discussions regarding the preparation for the launch of Sekolah Rakyat so that this program can be implemented immediately. In the 2025/2026 academic year, 53 Sekolah Rakyat are ready to operate at the first stage, followed by hundreds of other Sekolah Rakyat that are now being prepared. President targets the completion of 200 units of Sekolah Rakyat every year spreading across the country. Collaborative effort to improve the quality of human resources conducted by the Central Government and Local Government through Sekolah Rakyat is expected to produce graduates having not only with excellent academic skills but also with strong characters as the next generation of the nation to break the chain of poverty in society.
“With (Sekolah Rakyat), our goal is to break the chain of poverty. Children from disadvantaged families, poor people’s children, do not have to be poor. For example, if the father’s job is a scavenger, then his children or grandchildren should not be scavengers too. They need to be empowered,” said the President.
Reduction of Airfares
Important events for the people continue to be the government’s attention. Following previous policy to reduce airfares by 10 percent during the Christmas and New Year holiday, during the momentum of Eid Al-Fitr and Nyepi Day the same policy was also implemented. This reduction is a manifestation of the government’s collaboration with many stakeholders, ranging from airlines, State-Owned Enterprise (BUMN), to the aviation fuel provider. This policy was implemented to ease the burden of people while encouraging economic and tourism movement in the country during the momentum of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday and Nyepi Day in 2025.
“To help the public, we successfully reduced the domestic airfares by 13 percent. This applies to flight period from March 24, 2025 to April 7, 2025,” said the President.
Besides the reduction of domestic airfares, the Government also issued a policy to reduce toll fees by 20 percent in various toll road sections for two weeks as well as a 25-percent discount for train tickets on the specified date. Moreover, some Ministry/Institution also arrange a free Eid homecoming (mudik) program.
Policies for Ramadan and Eid-al Fitr
Thursday, April 10, 2025
To ensure the joy of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr 1446 Hijri festivity, government policies were not limited to airfare and train tickets reduced price, nor toll road discounts. The President called on stakeholders to ensure the food supply and food price stability, that commonly surge during Ramadan and Eid. At this moment, rice production, one of the leading Indonesian foods, showed a positive trend. National rice production until April 2025 would be a surplus compared to the previous year, at 2.8 to 3 million tons. In the long term, the Government set a target so that Indonesia would not import them by keeping an annual surplus of around 5-6 million tons.
President Prabowo Subianto asked the cabinet members to ensure the people experienced Eid homecoming (mudik) and Eid festivity with joy. The Government was concerned with all aspects starting with transportations, traffics, tourist destinations, and securities. In addition, the President also emphasized the essential public facilities to keep serving during the Eid holiday, such as hospitals and health services. The President was also concerned with mitigation and disaster prevention.
“I urge public services especially hospitals to be ready, and all health facilities and banking systems to be prepared. Weather forecasts and alerts need to be informed continuously,” the President stated.
For economic empowerment, the Government announced Eid allowances and a 13th-month salary bonus for 9.4 million government officials all around Indonesia including state civil apparatuses, government employees with work agreements, judges, national defense forces, national police, and [government official] retirees. The policy is stated in the Government Regulation Number 11 of 2025. In addition, the government regulated that the Eid allowances were given not later than seven days before Eid.
Not only formal employees, but the Government also paid special attention to online drivers and couriers as they have a great contribution to supporting transportation and logistics services in Indonesia. The Government urged online transportation service companies to pay Eid bonuses in cash for the online drivers and couriers, considering the working hours.
Disbursement of Regional Civil Servant (ASN) Teachers Allowance Directly to Teachers’ Bank Accounts
Improving teachers’ welfare is essential in an effort to improve human resources quality which aligns with the focus of the Government. The Government, on Thursday, March 13, 2025, launched a new mechanism of allowance distribution for regional civil servant (ASN) teachers directly to the recipients’ bank accounts. The launch reflects the Government’s commitment to improving teachers’ welfare and ensuring more transparent and efficient state financial governance. Since 2010 until 2024, teachers’ allowance has been transferred by the Ministry of Finance to the Regional General Cash Account, before being distributed to teachers’ accounts. Under this new mechanism, regional ASN teachers’ will receive their allowance faster. A total of 1,476,964 ASN teachers and 392,802 non-tenured teachers will have their allowance transferred directly to their accounts.
Acceleration of Downstream Programs
The Government continues to demonstrate its open-ended commitment to carrying out downstream projects with an aim to ensure that the management of Indonesia’s natural resources provides maximum benefits for economic equity and improved welfare. In a limited meeting led by President Prabowo Subianto on Monday, March 3, 2025, the Government has agreed to kick off 21 downstream projects in the first phase worth US$40 billion. Furthermore, President Prabowo has set 26 commodity sectors as national downstreaming priorities, covering mineral, oil and gas, fisheries, agriculture, plantation, and forestry. Downstreaming is expected to bring concrete and positive impacts including creating job opportunities, creating added values, lowering down import, increasing export, and strengthening Indonesia’s competitiveness. The Head of State also urged that downstreaming should not stop at the initial stage, but rather serve as a gateway to a broader industrialization process.
President Prabowo on March 17, 2025 inaugurated precious metal refinery plant of PT Freeport Indonesia in Gresik regency, East Java province. The plant which is a part of ecosystem in the national mining downstreaming industry serves as a means to strengthen Indonesia’s self-reliance in refining and processing of precious metals industry. During the inauguration, the President told that Indonesia should no longer sell raw materials but also be able to process it into final products with very high added value at home.
On Thursday, March 20, 2025, President Prabowo also inaugurated Industropolis Batang Special Economic Zone in Central Java province as a part of national downstreaming efforts. This zone is expected to serve as the new center for industrial growth in Indonesia and also to boost national economic transformation based on downstreaming and industrialization.
Support for the Sports Development
President Prabowo also demonstrated his support for the development of sports in Indonesia, including football. During his working visit to East Java province on March 17, 2025, President Prabowo inaugurated the renovation and construction of 17 stadiums across Indonesia. These stadiums have been inspected, met the requirements of, and approved by FIFA. The total cost for renovating 16 stadiums and constructing 1 stadium reached Rp1.74 trillion, with the project running from 2023 to 2024.
In their first 150 days, the Red and White Cabinet generated various programs and policies with aims at executing the Asta Cita (President Subianto’s eight missions) and realizing a just and prosperous Indonesia. The efforts to advance the nation is just beginning, several continuous improvements, innovations, and breakthroughs are essential to deliver meaningful outcomes to the public. Undoubtedly, this effort requires collective movement from all elements of the nation. Let us remain optimistic and move forward together toward a better Indonesia.
Building a nation is not an undertaking that is achievable in a span of only 5 to 10 years.
Building the Indonesian nation is a long-term struggle, commenced in 1945 and continues to this day.
We, all elements of the society, must be magnanimous. We address differences through dialogs. We accept criticisms bigheartedly, but we should not allow ourselves to be confronted with each other. We must work diligently for our people.
–President Prabowo Subianto,
Plenary Cabinet Meeting, March 21, 2025—
(UN)(AW, EST, RIF, DH, TCUD, RD, & RAS/LW)
