TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Prabowo Subianto's confession about his political orientation, which partly adopts Western values, has raised criticism. In an interview with Tempo, Prabowo claimed that Indonesia must embrace certain Western values in order to make progress.
"I was shocked by Prabowo's blunt confession about his political goal," General Secretary of the Alumni Association of the Indonesian National Student Movement Ahmad Basarah, said on Monday, October 28, 2013.
Basarah claimed that he was shocked because previously, Prabowo often praises Bung Karno's nationalism aspiration, which focuses on political sovereignty, economic self-sufficiency, and cultural independence. He argued that Prabowo's views are in contradiction Soekarno's political ideas.
"Western countries always use developing countries as objects of economic and political exploitation," Basarah said.
Basarah later added that Soekarno was very critical towards capitalism, which is considered to be the root of imperialism. He argued that capitalism and liberalism values will not fit with Indonesia's ideology of Pancasila.
WAYAN AGUS PURNOMO