JAKARTA — President Prabowo Subianto has said that a large country such as Indonesia will naturally have to deal with bigger and more diverse problems, stressing that the scale of the country itself creates unique challenges that cannot always be compared with those faced by smaller nations.
Prabowo made the statement while delivering remarks at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Democratic Party at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. In his address, the President acknowledged that Indonesia still has many shortcomings and faces numerous challenges, but he also described the country's ability to remain united despite its enormous geographical and social complexity as a major strength.
“We have many shortcomings, we have many challenges. We are a very large country, so that means the problems are also big,” Prabowo said during the event.
His remarks offered a broader perspective on the difficulties faced by Indonesia as the world's largest archipelagic country. Rather than viewing the country's problems simply as signs of weakness, Prabowo suggested that many of them are a direct consequence of Indonesia's vast territory, large population and geographical diversity.
Size Brings Complex Challenges
Prabowo used the education sector to illustrate his point. He compared Indonesia with Singapore, a much smaller country in terms of geographical size and population.
According to Prabowo, Singapore has around 300 schools covering primary, junior secondary and senior secondary education across the entire country, while Indonesia has more than 300,000 schools spread across its vast territory.
The comparison was intended to demonstrate why providing public services in Indonesia can be considerably more complicated than in a small and highly concentrated country.
Indonesia's schools are not located only in major urban centres. Many educational facilities are situated in remote mountainous areas, small islands and regions that can be difficult to reach. The government therefore has to deal with different geographical conditions, infrastructure requirements, transportation challenges and variations in local needs.
“There are [schools] at the end of mountains, on distant islands, so indeed our problems are big, our challenges are big,” Prabowo said.
The President's remarks underline a fundamental issue in governing Indonesia: national policies have to work across extremely different environments.
A policy that may be relatively easy to implement in Jakarta or another major city can require significantly more resources and preparation when applied to an isolated island or a mountainous community. This challenge affects education, healthcare, infrastructure, logistics, food distribution, telecommunications and other public services.
Indonesia's Diversity Is Both Strength and Challenge
Indonesia is made up of thousands of islands and has a population spread across different regions, cultures and economic environments. The country also has significant differences in infrastructure and economic development between major urban centres and more remote areas.
For the Prabowo administration, addressing these differences is therefore not simply a matter of increasing government spending. It also requires better coordination, more effective institutions and policies that recognise the different conditions faced by communities across the country.
The President has repeatedly emphasised the importance of national unity in dealing with these challenges. At the Democratic Party anniversary event, he pointed to Indonesia's ability to remain united despite its diversity.
He noted that Indonesia has reached the age of 81 as an independent nation and has remained intact despite facing numerous challenges.
Prabowo said the country has been able to remain strong, united and resilient despite its differences and difficult circumstances.
That message was significant because the President's remarks came at a time when political, economic and social issues continue to generate intense public debate.
For Prabowo, differences in opinion should not automatically become a source of division. Instead, they should be managed through democratic mechanisms and a shared commitment to national interests.
Democracy Requires Room for Criticism
In a related message during the same event, Prabowo stressed the importance of maintaining unity and harmony within Indonesia's democratic system.
The State Secretariat reported that the President said a large nation that chooses democracy must be open to criticism and correction. Different views, suggestions and criticism, according to Prabowo, are part of a healthy democratic process as long as they are driven by a desire to work for the interests of the people.
This approach reflects the broader challenge facing a country of Indonesia's size. With a large population and diverse interests, disagreements are inevitable.
The key question, therefore, is not whether differences can be eliminated, but whether the country has strong enough institutions and political maturity to manage them peacefully.
Prabowo's comments suggest that national unity should not mean that everyone must have the same opinion. Instead, unity should allow different views to exist while maintaining a common commitment to the country.
From Geography to Public Services
The scale of Indonesia's territory creates practical challenges for the government.
Education is only one example. Delivering healthcare to remote communities presents similar difficulties. Hospitals, clinics, doctors and medicines must reach areas that can be separated from major cities by mountains, seas or poor transportation links.
Infrastructure development faces comparable obstacles. Roads, ports, airports, bridges, electricity networks and telecommunications infrastructure must be built across thousands of islands.
The government must also ensure that economic development does not remain concentrated in Java and other major urban centres.
This is one reason why regional development has become an important part of Indonesia's long-term national strategy.
The country's natural resources are also distributed across different regions. Mining, agriculture, fisheries, plantations and energy production can take place far from Indonesia's major industrial and financial centres.
As a result, infrastructure and logistics are critical to connecting producers with domestic and international markets.
A Large Economy Requires Large-Scale Management
Indonesia's size also creates opportunities.
A population of more than 280 million people represents a major domestic market. The country's strategic location between the Indian and Pacific Oceans gives it an important position in international trade.
Indonesia also has abundant natural resources and significant potential in sectors ranging from agriculture and fisheries to energy, mining, manufacturing and the digital economy.
The challenge is turning those advantages into broad-based prosperity.
Prabowo has repeatedly argued that economic development should be measured by its impact on ordinary citizens rather than simply by headline economic indicators.
During his speech at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok earlier in September, he stressed that development should benefit people's daily lives and should not be designed merely to benefit a small group.
That principle is closely connected to his comments about Indonesia's large-scale challenges.
A large country needs large-scale solutions, but those solutions also have to reach communities at the local level.
Global Conditions Add More Pressure
Indonesia's domestic challenges are also being shaped by changes in the global economy.
The world economy is facing geopolitical tensions, changing trade patterns, supply-chain disruptions and increasing competition between major powers.
Prabowo recently stressed the importance of cooperation among countries amid growing global fragmentation. Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia, he said that trade is increasingly being used as a strategic instrument while supply chains are being reorganised amid growing distrust between countries.
Indonesia has sought to maintain an independent foreign policy while building relationships with different major powers.
At the same forum, Prabowo reaffirmed Indonesia's commitment to a non-aligned foreign policy and said Jakarta remains open to cooperation with countries across different geopolitical blocs.
For a large economy such as Indonesia, maintaining this balance is particularly important.
The country needs foreign investment, access to international markets, technology, energy supplies and stable trade relationships. At the same time, the government wants to protect national interests and maintain strategic independence.
Unity as a National Asset
Prabowo's message about Indonesia's size ultimately went beyond geography.
The President appeared to frame the country's complexity as something that requires patience, realism and unity.
A nation with hundreds of thousands of schools, thousands of islands and large differences between regions will naturally face problems that smaller countries may not experience at the same scale.
But those difficulties do not necessarily mean that Indonesia is weaker.
Instead, they can be viewed as part of the responsibility that comes with being a large country.
The challenge is to ensure that the country's size becomes an advantage rather than an administrative burden.
That means strengthening institutions, improving infrastructure, expanding access to education and healthcare, increasing economic opportunities and ensuring that development reaches communities outside the country's major economic centres.
Looking Towards the Future
As Indonesia enters its 81st year of independence, Prabowo's comments present a message of realism combined with optimism.
The President did not deny the country's problems. On the contrary, he openly acknowledged that Indonesia has many shortcomings and significant challenges.
But he also pointed to the country's ability to survive and remain united despite its enormous diversity.
For Indonesia, the coming years will require the government to address domestic problems while simultaneously responding to an increasingly complicated global environment.
Economic transformation, human capital development, infrastructure, food and energy security, technological change and geopolitical uncertainty will all influence the country's future.
The scale of these challenges means that there is unlikely to be a single solution.
Instead, Indonesia will need a combination of effective policies, strong institutions, investment, innovation and cooperation between the central government, regional administrations, businesses and communities.
Prabowo's remarks also suggest that public expectations must be balanced with an understanding of the country's geographical realities.
Improving public services across a vast archipelago is not the same task as delivering them across a compact city-state.
That does not mean Indonesia should accept poor services. Rather, it means that the government must develop solutions appropriate to the country's unique circumstances.
A Test of National Resilience
Ultimately, the President's statement that a large country will face large problems carries a broader message about national resilience.
Indonesia's size is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Its vast territory makes administration difficult, but it also provides enormous economic potential. Its diversity can create political and social tensions, but it can also become a source of creativity and strength. Its large population creates complex demands on the government, but it also provides one of the world's largest consumer markets.
The task for policymakers is to transform those challenges into opportunities.
Prabowo's message at the Democratic Party anniversary therefore goes beyond a simple comparison between Indonesia and Singapore. It is a reminder that national progress must be understood in the context of Indonesia's own geography, population and history.
Indonesia cannot eliminate every challenge simply because it is pursuing rapid development. A large and diverse country will always face complex problems.
What matters, however, is how the country responds.
For Prabowo, the answer lies partly in maintaining unity, accepting criticism, strengthening cooperation and continuing to work towards a stronger future.
Despite its differences, Indonesia has remained intact for 81 years. The President's message is that this resilience must continue to serve as the foundation for the next stage of national development.
The challenges may be large, but so too are Indonesia's potential and its opportunities.
The question now is whether the country can turn its enormous scale, diversity and resources into sustainable prosperity for its people.
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