Lights, air-con switched off in Indonesia's govt offices as Prabowo's budget cuts bite

JAKARTA – Ms Rinda (not her real name) and around 30 of her colleagues have worked for the past week with most of the lights in the office switched off, after President Prabowo Subianto ordered budget cuts for ministries and government agencies.

- Linda Yulisman

Three out of every four fluorescent light clusters in her 200 sq m office have stayed dark since Feb 5.

"The room used to be very bright. The dim light darkens our mood. Under such circumstances, we cannot work optimally," the 35-year-old civil servant at the Ministry of Industry told The Sunday Times.

Public sector offices are now locked at 4.30pm, marking the official end to the workday, whereas in the past, they were locked only after staff finished their work.

The air-conditioners in Ms Rinda's office are cut off at that time, and the main tower lifts stop working, forcing her and her co-workers to move to nearby cafes to continue discussions or finish their tasks.

Similar scenes are played out in many other ministries and government agencies throughout Indonesia, a country that has 4.8 million civil servants, as Mr Prabowo has ordered 306.7 trillion rupiah (S$25.8 billion) of budget cuts in 2025.

He plans to use the savings to pay for his priority programmes, including his flagship 400 trillion rupiah free-meal scheme for students and pregnant women.

The budget cuts amount to 8.5 per cent of the total 3,621 trillion rupiah 2025 budget.

In his remarks conveyed virtually at the World Governments Summit 2025 on Feb 13, President Prabowo said that his administration could save around 10 per cent of the annual state budget through "careful management" of state funds.