President-elect for the 2024-2029 term, Prabowo Subianto, emphasized that democracy will now be stronger in Indonesia due to the development of the internet and social media. He stated that democracy is a system of government at its core about the sovereignty of the people, where the people hold power and have the right to choose their leaders.
“Because the population of Indonesia is large, a representative system is implemented. So, the people have the sovereignty to choose their representatives to enter parliament. In the presidential system, the people have the right to choose their president, their regent, their governor, and this is standard and applicable, and it is the will of our people,” explained Prabowo in an exclusive interview with tvOne titled “Prabowo Subianto Speaks for Indonesia”, on Wednesday evening (22/5).
Further, when asked whether his government will be resistant to criticism, Prabowo asserted that criticism is very necessary and must be objective.
“It must and is allowed, that’s what criticism is for, the check and balances I mentioned earlier are secured through criticism, but the intention of the criticism must be constructive or destructive. But in principle, criticism is necessary, in my opinion, however, it must be objective,” Prabowo replied.
Regarding freedom of the press, Prabowo stated that it is very important even though some media offices in Indonesia have become business conglomerates owned by a few individuals.
“Mainstream media is a business and a business has owners, so, does mainstream media owned by a few people truly reflect the interests of the people or their own interests?” said Prabowo.
However, Prabowo hopes that amid the rapid development of social media, the public can access information from a broader range of sources and not be dominated by just a few media owners.
“Now, there’s a new phenomenon called the information revolution, now known as new media with the internet and social media, and so on, like TikTok. Information can reach the people quickly,” Prabowo stated.
“So, in my opinion, democracy will be stronger now, democracy will be stronger now, so it can’t be that 5-6 people control the opinion of a nation,” he concluded.
