Prabowo: State Must Stand on Law, Constitution, National Consensus

President Prabowo delivers remarks in front of all Echelon I officials from ministries/institutions, as well as Chairpersons of SOEs, held at the Presidential Palace Compound in Jakarta, Wednesday (04/08).

President Prabowo Subianto stressed the importance of upholding the law, constitution, and national consensus as the primary foundation for maintaining the unity of the state and Indonesia’s democratic life.

He emphasized that the state must stand above the law, constitution, and the 1945 Constitution.

“No state without law, no state without a basic law, without a constitution. Without a constitution, there is no state. Only jungle law, the law of the gun, and our people do not want that,” President Prabowo said during the Government Work Meeting with members of the Red and White Cabinet, all Echelon I officials from ministries/institutions, and Chairpersons of SOEs, held at the Presidential Palace Compound in Jakarta, Wednesday (04/08).

The Head of State emphasized the importance of all responsible parties to work hard to enforce the law based on national agreements and consensus. In that context, he reminded them of two major consensuses in the nation’s history, namely the 1928 Youth Pledge and the birth of the 1945 Constitution.

“All responsible and wise parties must work hard and fight to uphold constitutional law, law based on agreements, law based on consensus. Consensus is agreement, our great agreement. Our brilliant agreements are two in history: the 1928 Youth Pledge—one nation, one people, one language, a great consensus. We do not want to be divided into groups,” added the President.

According to him, the Youth Pledge is a crucial milestone that united the Indonesian nation amid diversity. The nation’s founders, he continued, demonstrated greatness of spirit by choosing Indonesian as the unifying language, even though it did not come from the majority group.

“If principle of democracy is said to be the rule of the majority, back then, the Javanese nation or Javanese ethnic was the largest,” said President Prabowo.

“We chose the language of a very small ethnic in Sumatra, from Riau. In that area, Malay became the national language, and the majority accepted it. Now we have a unifying language. From Sabang to Merauke, they speak Indonesian,” he added.

In addition, President Prabowo explained that the second equally important consensus was the formulation of the constitution in 1945, which established Indonesia as a state with the Pancasila ideology. The Head of State stressed that Pancasila serves as the basis for building a state that respects religious diversity and does not prioritize any particular group.

“In conditions like this, we always hold firmly to these great consensuses. We have chosen to govern the country with democracy. Democracy means sovereignty in the hands of the people,” he said

In closing his remarks, the Head of State called on the entire government apparatus to remain steadfast in the values of unity, law, and democracy to preserve national integrity and to maintain state stability.

President Prabowo once again reminded that Indonesia is not just a large country, but a country built on noble agreements that must be upheld, strengthened, and passed on to future generations. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (EST/LW)