Jakarta – The Chairman of GP Ansor, Addin Jauharudin, stated that efforts to sow discord through the “Indonesia Dark” issue represent a highly dangerous form of manipulation that threatens national stability and the progress of the nation.
He revealed that this movement is laden with foreign interests seeking to dictate Indonesia’s policy direction, especially efforts to intervene in national development and the downstream processing of natural resources (NR).
“When Indonesia rises, foreign parties always try by all means to hinder it. We must realize that this issue did not arise organically from the people, but is heavily engineered by external parties,” Addin said in an official statement.
According to Addin, since October 2024, it has been uncovered that several foreign institutions such as OSF and IRI have collaborated with some local NGOs in Indonesia to sabotage national strategic projects (PSN) through various means.
The methods used include producing fake research, manipulating public opinion, and mobilizing demonstrations disguised as student movements.
“History shows that superpowers often use issues of identity, religion, and ethnicity as instruments to create instability in developing countries. Some of these instruments have recently been activated,” Addin emphasized.
He added that such patterns must be recognized and countered by all elements of society to prevent Indonesia from falling into scenarios crafted by external parties aiming for disintegration and economic stagnation. The “Indonesia Dark” issue, propagated through various social media channels and student demonstrations, is considered irrelevant to the spirit of a nation that is in the process of building itself.
The government under President Prabowo Subianto has launched 15 downstream natural resource mega projects worth billions of dollars aimed at enhancing national economic independence. This clearly threatens the interests of foreign parties that have long relied on exporting raw materials from Indonesia.
A similar view was expressed by the social media account X @Intel_Imut, which stated that current student actions have been hijacked by several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) funded by foreign institutions such as USAID.
“Unfortunately, today’s student demonstrations are still being exploited and hijacked by NGOs funded by USAID, which have long sought to divide this nation,” the account wrote.
On the other hand, the government continues to show openness to criticism and input from the public. IPB Rector Arif Satria affirmed that President Prabowo is very open to dialogue, especially with academics.
“Meetings with university rectors are not a form of intervention, but an effort to understand aspirations and convey the national development vision directly,” said Arif.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Cucun Ahmad Syamsurijal, also stressed that criticism is part of democracy but must be constructive and not disrupt the established order. He strongly rejected calls for impeachment that emerged in the “Indonesia Dark” protests, calling them baseless and only exacerbating political tensions.
The public is increasingly aware that the “Indonesia Dark” issue is merely a new form of an old strategy of sowing discord and disinformation. Indonesia is growing and developing, and the people do not want to regress due to irresponsible provocations.
