Prabowo's remarks at Danantara town hall sparks transparency concerns

President Prabowo Subianto delivered a closed-door address to 1,500 state-owned enterprise (SOE) leaders at the Danantara Indonesia Town Hall Meeting on Apr. 28, held at the Jakarta Convention Center. The unexpected decision to exclude the press from the event has raised concerns about transparency, particularly given the public role of SOEs in shaping Indonesia’s economic trajectory.

The event was hosted by Daya Anagata Nusantara (Danantara), Indonesia’s newly formed investment management agency. Key figures in attendance included President Prabowo, , alongside the key leadership of Danantara: CEO Rosan P. Roeslani, COO Dony Oskaria, CIO Pandu Sjahrir, Supervisory Board Chair Erick Thohir, Deputy Chair Muliaman D. Hadad, managing directors, and board members, as well as top officials from SOEs across the country.

The event began with remarks by Rosan, but just as President Prabowo was set to speak, journalists were asked to leave the venue without explanation. Simultaneously, the live broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat was abruptly cut. What was initially positioned as a public address quickly became a closed-door meeting.

Inside the session, President Prabowo reportedly emphasized the importance of managing Danantara as a national asset with full transparency and strict adherence to good governance. He later explained that the closed nature of the meeting was due to the number of direct reprimands he issued to SOE leaders, which he said would have been “uncomfortable” to deliver in public.

Still, the media blackout drew criticism. The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) described the move as a deliberate attempt to withhold information from the public, further solidifying concerns about a lack of transparency. The government’s decision to initially grant media access to the event, only to bar them once the speech commenced, raises serious questions about their consistency and commitment to transparency.

Adding to the opacity, public information regarding Danantara remains severely limited. Its official website offers only a brief outline of the institution’s vision and mission, conspicuously lacking crucial details about its structure, strategic projects, and financial management, despite the institution’s rapidly expanding scope and importance.

Rosan Roeslani during the town hall stated that as of Mar. 21, the sovereign wealth fund now encompasses 844 state-owned enterprises, including their subsidiaries and sub-subsidiaries, marking one of the most significant consolidations of state capital in Indonesia’s history. He added that the combined assets of the SOEs currently stand at US$900 billion. Building on this projection, President Prabowo expressed confidence that the assets managed under Danantara could eventually surpass U$1 trillion (approximately Rp 16,800 trillion).

Furthermore, as part of its expanding portfolio, Danantara is now also considering the inclusion of the Gelora Bung Karon (GBK) complex. Often cited as one of the country’s most valuable state assets, GBK is estimated to be worth over US$25 billion (approximately Rp 450 trillion), covering an area spanning 279 hectares. Since the GBK complex is currently managed by the GBK Complex Management Center (PPK GBK), a Public Service Agency (BLU) under the State Secretary Ministry, its asset transfer to Danantara would follow procedures that differ from those governing state-owned enterprise assets.

Some experts are voicing concerns regarding the potential consolidation of all SOEs under Danantara, specifically questioning the future autonomy of each SOE’s corporate action and the continuation of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social functions. Some have drawn comparisons to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal in Malaysia, where former PM Najib Razak was implicated in the misuse of funds for political ends, concerns are mounting about potential mismanagement. Given Danantara’s direct reporting line to the president, doubts linger about whether similar risks can be effectively mitigated in Indonesia.