Jakarta, IO – Presidential hopeful of the Onward Indonesia Coalition, Prabowo Subianto, believes that Indonesia can no longer continue with the neo-liberal capitalistic economic system which does not side with the people, and must return to the nation’s core identity, namely the Pancasila economy.
“A liberal economy will not make our country prosperous. To achieve this we must return to the Pancasila economy,” said Prabowo in his speech at the INDEF-organized gathering of 100 Indonesian economists, Wednesday (8/11).
Prabowo said neo-liberal capitalist economy has only led to the outflow of the nation’s wealth without having an impact on the welfare of the people.
“Speaking of potential wealth, our nickel reserves are the largest in the world. Our tin and bauxite reserves are the sixth in the world. This is a precious capital we must make the most of,” he said.
“The problem is, Indonesia is not very good at preserving and managing it,” he criticized. In his view, this is because thennation is not faithful to the blueprint devised by the founding fathers contained in Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution.
“Economy shall be organized as a common endeavor based upon the familyhood principle. Each country has a different culture. The West likes neo-liberal capitalism, but our culture and our nation’s founders did not design it that way,” said Prabowo.
Therefore, Pancasila economy is a middle way between capitalism and socialism that supports national interests, is egalitarian and brings social justice.
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“We as a nation must take charge. We do not want the government to be a mere referee,” he added.
In realizing the development strategy based on the Pancasila economy, Prabowo said he would maintain the solid economic foundation that had been laid out by previous Indonesian presidents, especially Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
“There is no denying that Jokowi has laid quite a solid foundation. The economy has improved quite significantly. We can see that many expressways and public roads, power plants, airports, and more,” said Prabowo.