President Prabowo Cites Russian Proverb as He Calls for Global Cooperation

RRI.CO.ID, Vladivostok – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto mentioned a Russian proverb during the 11th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, to express the need for each country in the world to cooperate. He compared it to an Indonesian term to describe the same spirit.

The proverb is "Odin v pole ne voin" (Один в поле не воин). It literally means "one man in the field is not a warrior," meaning that there is safety in numbers.

"I understand that the Russian people have a saying, 'Один в поле не воин'. There can be no victory if you fight alone," he said in the forum on Thursday, September 3, 2026.

Prabowo then compared an Indonesian term with a similar meaning. The phrase is gotong-royong, meaning "working together".

"In Indonesia, we have the same saying. We say 'gotong-royong'. Any heavy burden becomes light when we carry it together," the president said.

"We have different languages, but we have the same ancient wisdom from our forefathers," he said.

Prabowo later said that every topic that the forum discussed about Indonesia-Russia cooperation has one reason: to ensure that people in both countries can look at their children and believe in a better future. Thus, he invited both countries to work together.

"Our young people will not ask which block we belong to; they will ask what we built for their future... let us ensure that every agreement announced in Vladivostok produces a result that our people can see and can feel. Let it be said of this forum that, in a season when some others were building walls, we build bridges," Prabowo said in his conclusion, followed by applause.