Just four months after Prabowo Subianto was inaugurated as President, the public raised their dissatisfaction with several of his administration’s policies, which appear to be growing. Student demonstrations and civil society protests since mid-February 2025 indicate that Prabowo’s new government have institutional reforms and an administration-style shift that has not yet been effectively communicated to the public.

This month’s demonstrations are particularly significant for two reasons. First, February marks the founding month of two political parties that have influenced Prabowo’s economic and political thinking: the old Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI), established by Sutan Syahrir (whom the mentor of Prabowo’s father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), founded on February 6, 2008, by Prabowo itself.

Second, the demonstrations signal that Prabowo’s administration is far from attempting to establish an authoritarian regime. Despite accusations of fascism, Prabowo has directed security forces to avoid repressive measures against protesters, instead opting for a persuasive approach. One notable instance was on February 20, when Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi was sent to engage with student protesters, persuading them to disperse peacefully while promising to consider their demands.

Nevertheless, Prabowo’s repeated assertion that his administration’s policies are rooted in the economic-political thought of Prof. Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, who championed democratic socialism. His idea of economic-political seems still far from technocratic planning and effective political communication. Former Vice President Boediono criticized Prabowo’s administration for its failure to integrate expert-driven technocratic planning with political legitimacy. Boediono himself is often associated with neoliberalism, an economic philosophy strongly opposed by Prabowo and inconsistent with Indonesia’s constitutional economic framework. But still, his critique still warrants attention.

Prabowo’s Economic Policies in the Framework of Sumitronomics

Among the many economic policies attributed to Sumitro’s economic philosophy, often referred to as Sumitronomics, there are three key initiatives have sparked considerable public debate:

First, Prabowo aims to fulfil his campaign promise of providing nutritious meals, accelerating the program to reach full implementation by this year. The initiative targets 82.9 million children, leading to an increase in the budget from IDR 71 trillion at the start of the year to IDR 171 trillion by the end of 2025.

Second, in an effort to ensure citizens’ constitutional rights to health, education, and decent living, the state budget has been restructured for greater efficiency. Unnecessary expenditures and ceremonial costs have been reduced, allowing the government to focus on fundamental public needs, including education, healthcare, and the ongoing school nutrition program.

Third, the administration is working to improve efficiency and professionalism within SOEs by revising the BUMN Law. This legal reform serves as the foundation for establishing the Sovereign Wealth Investment Fund Agency within the name Daya Anaga Nusantara (BPI Danantara), which will oversee assets from seven SOEs worth IDR 15,939 trillion.

Evaluating Prabowo’s Policies Through the Sumitronomics Framework

How does Sumitronomics assess Prabowo’s economic policies? It is essential to revisit the three pillars of Sumitro’s economic philosophy, which were conceptualized during the New Order era as the Trilogi Pembangunan (Development Trilogy): (1) high economic growth, (2) equitable distribution of development benefits, and (3) stable and dynamic national progress.

Will Prabowo’s policies drive economic growth? If we refer to Keynesian economic theory, which was adopted by Sumitro, maintaining public purchasing power through full employment requires government intervention. While various policy options exist, governments generally prioritize providing essential public services such as education, healthcare, and subsidies without social discrimination.

The nutritious meal program exemplifies this approach, ensuring basic nutrition for school children, pregnant women, and toddlers. Beyond addressing stunting issues, this policy could also impact social inequality between families with few and many children.

As of 2024, households with 4–6 members accounted for 58.63% of the population, according to Indonesia’s Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS). The BPS also reported a 0.46% decline in poverty from March 2023 to March 2024, followed by a 0.29% decrease by September 2024. This indicates a growing middle-income population with larger families, reflected in an increase in Indonesia’s per capita income from IDR 75 million in 2023 to IDR 78.62 million in 2024.

A rising middle class with larger families presents both opportunities and challenges, such as higher weekly household spending and reduced daily per capita consumption. Consequently, government intervention is necessary through a school meal policy implemented equitably, not just for the lower class, since the expanding middle class with larger families is the demographic most affected.

Balancing Socialism with Pragmatism

The nutritious meal program is socialist-oriented and will undoubtedly spur economic growth by driving substantial government social spending while promoting equitable agricultural and rural development. This aligns with Prof. Sumitro’s belief that economic progress should begin in rural areas. This approach was not exactly the same, but it was equal to distributing the budget for economic processes at the grassroots with economic process.

However, as a state policy, pragmatism is inevitable when balancing the national budget. Budget efficiency is a necessary approach to refocus and reallocate financial resources toward economic growth priorities. As a result, non-essential government expenditures—such as extravagant seminars, unnecessary official travel, and their associated kickbacks—have been significantly reduced. As President Prabowo aptly stated, “To change how the government spends its budget, we must exercise fiscal restraint until expenditures are well-targeted and properly allocated.”

This message needs to be understood clearly by all the citizens since we already know how the public bureaucracy today still needs some efficiency, not just the money, but also the process to make it more reliable for society.

Nevertheless, Prabowo’s administration must ensure that its pragmatic efficiency measures are accompanied by thorough planning, competent bureaucracy, and technocratic support from public policy experts. Otherwise, efficiency efforts might inadvertently undermine citizens’ rights that should be guaranteed.

In a democratic governance framework, pragmatism in public policy must be complemented by transparency and accountability to maintain public trust and satisfaction with Prabowo’s leadership. A case in point is the rapid and somewhat abrupt passage of the BUMN Law, which laid the groundwork for the establishment of BPI Danantara. To uphold public confidence, the government must clearly explain the rationale behind BPI Danantara’s formation, particularly as its organizational structure is set to be announced on Monday, February 24, 2024.

Prabowo’s socialist-oriented policies, inspired by his father Sumitro Djojohadikusumo’s economic philosophy, will gain public support if they adhere to established democratic principles, namely: pragmatism (delivering tangible benefits), technocracy (well-planned governance), transparency, accountability, participatory governance, and, most importantly, respect for civil liberties and human rights.

# @Hanief Adrian @Abdullah A Afifi