Nabiila Azzahra, Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto stated that not all political parties need to join the government to contribute to effective governance. He suggested that parties can offer valuable assistance from outside the cabinet by providing constructive criticism and oversight of the Red and White Cabinet's performance.

"They will correct us. They will improve us. They will oversee us," Prabowo said at the Gerindra Party's 17th-anniversary celebration held at the Sentul City International Convention Center in Bogor on Saturday, February 15, 2025.

The Gerindra Party Chief Patron emphasized that the government must be open to supervision, correction, and even criticism. However, he stressed that criticism should be "correct" and not driven by "vengeance".

Currently, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) is the only major party that has not formally joined Prabowo's government coalition. Despite this, two high-ranking PDIP officials, General Treasurer Olly Dondokambey and Central Leadership Council Chair Said Abdullah, attended the event in Sentul.

PDIP and Gerindra have been rivals in the past three presidential elections, with PDIP losing to Prabowo in the 2024 election. Prabowo emphasized that general elections and regional head elections should be viewed as competitions.

He added that however, once the election is over, all parties should unite. He clarified that unity does not require all parties to be part of the government. "If necessary, then yes, but if not, it's also fine," Prabowo explained.

Prabowo described Indonesian democracy as a system of governance without animosity between political actors, referring to opposing camps as "comrades". "I even think it's wrong to use the term political opponents. There are no political opponents," he said.

He further discussed cooperation among the elite. The former army general believes that a nation's success depends on its elites' ability to collaborate.

"A country, even if it's rich, even if it's vast, even if it has extraordinary natural resources, if its elites cannot work together – especially if its elites are thieves – it's impossible for that country to succeed," he concluded.

– Eka Yudha Saputra contributed to the writing of this article.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1975773/prabowo-not-all-parties-need-to-join-the-governmen