Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto once again warned people to watch out for foreign intervention that tries to derail the country’s achievements, even saying that Indonesians will not fall into their traps.

At the launch of police-run public kitchens, Prabowo said Friday that his budget-heavy free meal rollout — which he admitted was subject to skepticism — had done wonders for job creation and put the economy “on the right path”. The retired army general slammed foreign media for criticizing his decision to involve the police and military in building food security. He suddenly turned to English in a statement that appears to be addressed to the foreign powers.

“Dear friends, Indonesians are not stupid. We know what’s happening. We know who is funding the movements aimed at mocking us. They are afraid of our strength and prosperity. We have no intention of interfering with other nations. We just want our people to live well,” Prabowo said.

The ex-defense minister also shot down criticisms by “obscure economists who tried to bring down Indonesians’ morale”. He listed some of Indonesia’s economic achievements, including how state-owned enterprises’ profit had “risen by fourfold” within his first year of presidency, after suffering from losses. 

"We will disappoint everyone who wants Indonesia to remain poor. I'm not asking you all to hate, fear, or suspect foreigners. We have to learn from foreign powers, but we must not be naive," Prabowo said.

Since assuming power in Oct. 2024, Prabowo often made references to “foreign lackeys” or antek asing in Indonesian. He never explicitly mentioned the country he was referring to. As for his foreign policy approach, Prabowo sticks to his “one thousand friends is too few, one enemy is too many”, signaling his interest in befriending all countries.

In recent weeks, Indonesia has been grappling with threats of downgrades. MSCI, whose decisions are influential in the investment world, recently flagged concerns over the transparency of Indonesian stocks, even warning of a possible downgrade to “frontier market” status. The announcement has triggered a wave of capital flight. Credit rating agency Moody’s slashed Indonesia’s sovereign outlook from “stable” to “negative”.