Prabowo’s special envoy Gus Miftah resigns after uproar over him calling street vendor ‘stupid’
A special presidential envoy and celebrity preacher who came under fire after a viral video of him mocking an iced tea seller at a mass religious event, has stepped down from his official position following public outrage.
Mr Miftah Maulana Habiburrahman – also known as Gus Miftah – announced his resignation as the Presidential Special Envoy for Religious Harmony and Religious Facility Development at a press conference on Friday (Dec 6) in Yogyakarta.
“I made this decision not because I was pressured by anyone or because of anyone’s request but … because of the deep respect I have for President Prabowo Subianto and the entire community,” he was quoted as saying by CNN Indonesia.
Following the release of the video earlier this week, which dominated headlines, analysts posited that Mr Miftah’s credibility as a presidential envoy could be a “burden” for Mr Prabowo’s administration.
“He needs to be dismissed because he could be a burden on the government, the cabinet and Mr Prabowo’s image since what he said is contrary (to current government approaches)”, Mr Agung Baskoro, a political observer from Trias Politika Strategis institution, told CNA.
He added that Mr Miftah’s words had the potential to undermine the pro-people image that Mr Prabowo has been emphasising, especially through various populist initiatives such as the free nutritious meals programme as well as efforts to eliminate debts for small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and farmers.
As of Dec 6, over 318,480 netizens had signed a petition launched on Dec 4 via platform change.org calling for Mr Miftah’s dismissal from his position as a special presidential envoy, while numerous comments have flooded Mr Prabowo’s social media accounts using the hashtags “#boycottmiftah” and “#firemiftah”.
