TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dradjad Wibowo, a member of the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno campaign team’s board of experts, said the pair would not curb the growth of the country’s unicorns despite Prabowo’s statement in last night’s presidential debate that the presence of unicorns would ease the channeling of money from the country to abroad.

“The warning did not mean [Prabowo] would hamper the development of unicorns, but rather encourage Indonesia to monitor and support e-commerce to optimize its functions and further promote local products,” said Dradjad in a short message to Tempo, Monday, February 18.

He added that Prabowo did not want to see growing startups become easy targets of acquisition by foreign digital giants.

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Dradjad, however, said Prabowo’s statement last night did serve as a warning, allowing for the existence of a digital platform catering mostly to the online sales of foreign products—particularly from China.

In last night’s presidential debate, Prabowo Subianto opined the growth of the country’s unicorns could ease the flow of funds from the country to overseas. “With these unicorns, and great technology, I’m worried that this could speed up the flow of our money to overseas,” he said during the second presidential debate at Sultan Hotel in Jakarta on Sunday, February 17.

CAESAR AKBAR