Prabowo's Unscripted Speeches: A Deliberate Choice Amid Staff's Caution

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has revealed a preference for summarizing prepared speeches and speaking in his own words, rather than strictly adhering to detailed scripts. This was disclosed by the President during his address at the peak of the 25th anniversary of the Democratic Party, held at the Indonesia Arena in the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) area, Jakarta, on Wednesday night (9/9). Prabowo explained the reasons why his staff often remind him to stick to the prepared text. He stated that while his staff prepare very good speeches, complete with ample data and infographics, he prefers to summarize the essence of the presentation. He even held up the multi-page speech script, showing it to the audience, and remarked, 'The presentation is very good, there are so many graphs.' However, Prabowo admitted that he prefers to summarize the essence of the presentation and hopes not to make any mistakes in his speech this time. 'Hopefully, I won't misspeak. But actually, if humans make mistakes, we just apologize,' he said. This is not the first time Prabowo has mentioned his staff's advice to stick to the text to avoid going off-topic or making errors. Previously, at the peak commemoration of the National Awakening Party's (PKB) anniversary in Jakarta, Prabowo joked in front of PKB cadres wearing shirts that read 'Prabowonomics.' At that time, Prabowo candidly imitated his presidential advisors warning him against speaking spontaneously. 'Many of my advisors say, 'Sir, you cannot, Sir, speak without a text.' The safest is just to read, Sir, there's no way there will be any wrong words in there,'' Prabowo imitated, to the laughter of the PKB audience. He quipped that reading a full speech text from the podium would likely make both himself and the audience sleepy. 'So, this is a prepared speech (looking at the text and mumbling to read). Shall I read it? Shall I read it (showing the paper to the audience), haha. Forget about you, I could fall asleep at this podium too,' he joked. He then referred to the many journalists present and joked that the media usually deliberately wait for his spontaneous statements outside the script to turn them into news material. 'No, today I am polite. Today I am polite,' Prabowo joked at the time. Throughout this year, several of Prabowo's spontaneous remarks, or statements believed to be outside the script, have invited controversy. Among them were instances where he referred to journalists, media, or observers who are often 'nyinyir' (cynical) as 'Londo Ireng.' Londo Ireng is a historical term for indigenous people who were stooges or sided with the Dutch colonialists, used to describe domestic parties who are perceived as consistently cynical towards national progress and tend to follow foreign narratives. Regarding Prabowo's 'Londo Ireng' statement, the Head of the Government Communication Agency (Bakom), M Qodari, asked the public not to get caught up in the diction but to focus on the substance of the president's alignment with the people. Another instance was the statement regarding 'Demo Bayaran' (Paid Demonstrations) when responding to protests and demonstrations that occurred in society in June 2026. At that time, Prabowo openly stated that he knew the masterminds or parties financing these demonstrations. In response to the controversy at the time, Prabowo's government coalition parties defended him, stating that the statement was a form of the President's concern that the democratic space should not be tarnished by money politics.