Prabowo Explains Why He's Establishing URI Amid 'Deep State' Concerns

September 17, 2026 | 03:35 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said the decision to establish the Universitas Republik Indonesia (URI) was driven by concerns over human resources quality and coordination gaps across government institutions.

Prabowo said URI would help prepare future government leaders and administrators based on ability and a merit-based system.

“We have to improve all our institutions. If there is a lack of synchronization between institutions and there is a gap, as you said, that is our challenge. We have to fix it,” Prabowo said on the Presiden Prabowo Menjawab program, broadcast Wednesday, September 16, 2026.

The Gerindra Party chair said the government needed concrete measures to address the problems. He said institutional reform should go beyond structural changes and also focus on the quality of the people working within government institutions.

“What steps can we take to improve recruitment, evaluation, development and preparation? That is what we are doing. That is why, among other things, I established the Universitas Republik Indonesia,” Prabowo said.

URI to Prepare Future Government Leaders

Prabowo said URI was designed to include institutions focused on developing leadership and government administration. One of them is the National Institute of Public Administration (LAN), which he said would be revamped and incorporated into the URI ecosystem.

He said LAN was originally established with a clear purpose of preparing competent government administrators. However, he argued that over time, the institution had become more focused on fulfilling formal requirements in bureaucratic career progression.

Prabowo also referred to France’s model for educating public administrators through the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He said institutions responsible for preparing government administrators should have a rigorous selection process and uphold a merit-based system.

Through URI, the government will seek top graduates from universities across the country, he said.

“Every year, we will gather those with the highest IQs, and these are the people we will prepare,” Prabowo said.

Prabowo Raises ‘Deep State’ Concerns

In explaining the rationale behind URI, Prabowo also raised the issue of a “deep state,” which he described as a group of bureaucrats who believe they are beyond accountability because they have held power in government for a long time.

Prabowo said URI would be part of efforts to train government officials before they take office. He argued that such education was important to ensure officials understand their responsibilities and can align their work with government policies.

“We have to be brave, in the sense that there should be no untouchable bureaucrats. There have been cases where, whether they were aligned with a minister, a power holder or whoever, there were director generals who could not be touched,” Prabowo said.

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