Indonesia's Shadow Cabinet Criticizes Prabowo's Budget, Economic Policies

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Shadow Cabinet highlights various economic issues and budget policies in the era of Prabowo Subianto's government. The Minister of Finance and Budget Governance of the Shadow Cabinet, Bhima Yudhistira, stated that the state budget is often used haphazardly.

However, according to him, the budget comes from the public's taxes. Bhima Yudhistira believes that there is no accountability in the management of the budget in the Prabowo government.

"Starting from populist programs without research and pilot projects such as free nutritious meals and the red and white village cooperatives," said Bhima when contacted on Saturday, July 18, 2026.

He stated that Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, as the Minister of Finance, should check the feasibility of each program supported by the government beforehand. Because, he said, the implementation of the program uses taxes from the people and the country's debt.

"If it's not feasible, don't become a 'yes man'," said the Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies.

Bhima emphasized that a finance minister should dare to enforce a freeze on budget items if the program is not feasible. This includes, he said, not using the Surplus Budgetive Balance for Bank Himbara due to fiscal problems still having a lot of unfinished business.

"As a finance minister, one should know the right rules of the game," he said.

The economic problems during Prabowo's leadership are also considered to tend to be cannibalistic or a substitution for the people's economy. Bhima cited the free nutritious meal project, which actually replaced the role of canteens and SMEs around the schools.

Another example is the red and white village cooperative program, which is considered to act as a retail store. The existence of this government-made cooperative, according to Bhima, competes with stores and distributors of subsidized goods.

"The economic pie doesn't grow, instead there is state capture by the elites who make policies contrary to Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution," said Bhima.

Another issue is the lack of creativity of the state treasurer in managing the people's taxes. This condition is considered risky because it triggers a contraction in the economy of the lower class community.

"There is no significant change in tax policy, not daring to pursue large taxpayers through progressive taxes such as windfall profit tax and wealth tax," he said.

On the other hand, he said, the state seems to be punishing the lower class and SMEs through adjustments to income tax or PPh. Bhima criticized last year's tax buoyancy which was -0.12. This means that for every one percent economic growth, there is a 0.12 percent decrease in tax revenue.

"If Purbaya continues to collect taxes in this manner, the middle class and small entrepreneurs will scream. Meanwhile, the tax ratio remains low and even decreases," he said.

Furthermore, he criticized several economic policies that need correction. First, stopping budget waste starting from freezing the budget for the MBG project implementation.

Prabowo's campaign promise program is considered not to have run according to the goal of tackling stunting cases. Because, according to Bhima, if the goal of implementing the program is to improve children's nutrition, then budget allocation should be done gradually.

"It only needs Rp10 trillion per year, not Rp268 trillion," he said.

He said the government should also return the efficiency of regional budgets. Because, Bhima believes that this reduction policy actually triggers extreme regional tax collection from the community.

Another thing, the government needs to reform public transportation and energy subsidies. The people, he said, have the right to obtain these basic rights in a quality manner.

Further improvements that the government needs to make are related to solving the high-speed train problem. Bhima said the government should not use the state's fiscal to solve this problem because it burdens the people's tax money.

"Also, cancel counterproductive regulations, enforce progressive taxes, close tax loopholes, ensure people can benefit from tax compliance, and do not interfere in monetary affairs," said Bhima.

Read: Prabowo: Do Not Question Military, Police in Farming

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