January 18, 2026 | 10:10 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In the dining room of his parents’ house on Jalan Kertanegara, South Jakarta, President Prabowo Subianto hosted his guest, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Sitting across from each other on a white sofa, the two discussed a one-year review of the administration and economic projections for 2026 for about an hour and a half on Saturday afternoon, December 27, 2025.
Yudhoyono, Indonesian President from 2004 to 2014, who had experience in handling the Aceh tsunami disaster, also raised the government’s response to floods and landslides that battered Sumatra in late November 2025. Toward the end of the conversation, Prabowo floated the idea of changing direct local elections into elections conducted through regional legislative councils (DPRDs).
“The contents of that meeting were known only to the two of them,” said Andi Mallarangeng, Chair of the Democrat Party’s Board of Experts, to Tempo on Thursday, January 8, 2026. Meanwhile, Gerindra Party’s Central Executive Board Chair and State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi said the meeting between Prabowo and Yudhoyono did not specifically discuss regional head elections.
Two Democrat Party politicians and a senior Gerindra figure who heard about the meeting said Prabowo asked Yudhoyono to support his administration. Yudhoyono, who served as Chair of the Democrat Party’s Supreme Council, conveyed that his party would stand as an ally of Prabowo. On the issue of elections through regional DPRDs, Yudhoyono left the decision to his son, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, happens to be the Democrat Party’s General Chair.
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