Prabowo, a former special forces commander, has often used strongly nationalist language since coming to power in 2024, suggesting foreign powers were determined to destabilise Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority country and a global commodities powerhouse.
His speech on Wednesday also made reference to outside interference in Indonesia, though he did not elaborate.
Other senior Indonesian political figures have also reacted strongly to MSCI’s warning.
On Tuesday, former Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi claimed on his Instagram account that Singapore state investors Temasek and GIC were involved in pressuring MSCI to issue the warning to Indonesia.
GIC and Temasek have rejected the allegations.
“The allegations about GIC and our staff are untrue,” a GIC spokesperson told CNA in a statement.
GIC said its investment decisions are not driven by index classifications or top-down views of a market. Instead, it looks at the fundamentals at a company level or asset level.
“We have been invested in Indonesia for over 30 years across asset classes and will continue to invest where we find good, bottom-up, risk-adjusted opportunities,” said GIC.
Separately, Mr Fock Wai Hoong, Temasek Global Investments’ head of Asia Pacific (excluding China and India), said at a press conference on Wednesday that the allegations by the former Indonesian minister are baseless.
“No one from Temasek, neither the institution nor the individuals working for the institution, have ever reached out to MSCI in order to influence any decisions they have ever made around any exchange across the region,” he said, describing the claims as “patently untrue”.