Prabowo Compares Indonesia With Timor-Leste to Defend 'Bloated' Cabinet

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Prabowo Subianto has defended the size of his administration, comparing Indonesia’s government structure with that of Timor-Leste to argue that the number of ministries alone does not determine whether a government is efficient.Prabowo made the remarks during his speech at the closing of the 35th Congress of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) at the Bahrul Ulum Islamic Boarding School in Jombang, East Java, on Monday, August 31, 2026.His comments came in response to criticism that his administration has a “bloated” cabinet and is therefore inefficient.“My cabinet has been called a bloated cabinet, inefficient,” Prabowo said, according to an official broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat, as cited by Antara.Prabowo Compares Indonesia With Timor-LestePrabowo argued that a country’s population and geographic size should be considered when assessing the structure and scale of its government.He cited Timor-Leste as an example, saying the Southeast Asian country has a population of about 1.1…