After the Indonesian parliament revised its military law in March 2025, social media users recorded another month of video of President Prabowo Subeanto, falsely claiming that it showed he threatened to act against the military if it exploits its power over the people. The videotape started in January when he spoke to the country's security forces during leadership activities and did not include any such threats.
“President Prabowo is Relatives! President Prabowo made a comment after the military law, warning the army (if the people suffer, they will be eliminated),” read the Indonesian text in a Tiktok post uploaded on March 22.
The video, viewed over 900,000 times, shows Prabowo speaking in front of U.S. military and police leaders. He said they should serve the people because their funds and resources come from them.
“The people (is) the people who make you from head to toe, the people feed the army and the police, the people give the army and the police the power to hold the weapons monopoly,” Prabowo said.
“And, with such a great trust, by handing over power to you, your expectations, demand (give) the highest dedication.”
Screenshot of fake posts taken on April 10, 2025
this The same proposition is also distributed on Facebook and snack videos.
The posts emerged after parliament amended a law, allowing military members to take on more government roles despite criticisms that it would expand the role of the armed forces in civilian affairs (archived links).
The revision was driven primarily by the Prabowo Alliance and aimed at expanding the role of the military in a long-standing defense-wide range affected by powerful armed forces. The amendment sparked protests and concerns against the era of the late dictator Suharto, former Prabowo, who used military figures to combat dissent (archived link).
However, videos circulating online have nothing to do with the newly revised law.
Reverse image search on Google led to uploading longer videos to official YouTube account on January 30 President Secretariat (archive link).
The title says: “President Prabowo made instructions at the 2025 Indonesian Military and Police Leadership Conference in Jakarta on January 30, 2025.”
Screenshot comparison between clips in fake posts (L) and videos from the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube account
Prabowo did not mention any information about military law, nor did he threaten the army or the police.
As On April 16, there were no official reports that the former military general said he intended to “eliminate the army and the police.”
Prabowo spoke publicly about the revised military law in a roundtable interview with seven Indonesian journalists on April 6. He dismissed the public's concern about the return of the military's “dual function” which refers to the historical role of the armed forces in defense and civilian governance in the Suharto era (related here and here's the archive).
He also insisted: “The key point of the amendment is to expand the retirement age of TNI commander“think that if leaders are age-changing each year, the organization cannot develop.
