JakartaPost-Oct 22, 2026
The Presidential Advisory Board (Wantimpres) is facing a legal challenge at the Constitutional Court over its unlimited membership, with a petitioner arguing that President Prabowo Subianto’s recent appointment of 26 advisers risks burdening the state budget. The court registered on Oct. 16 a judicial review petition filed by law graduate Muhamad Riziq Maulana challenging Article 7(1) of the 2024 Wantimpres Law, which allows a sitting president to determine the number of advisory board members without any upper limit. The petitioner sought to restore a nine-member limit that was stipulated under the previous 2006 law, arguing that the absence of an upper limit could allow the council to expand without sufficient justification, especially since Prabowo also employs another team of special advisers. “The government already employs ten presidential special advisers, whose responsibilities are not that different from members of the advisory board,” Maulana said in his petition. “Added to the advisory board members, this brings the total number of people advising the President to 36. This goes to show that there is no real urgency to allow the Wantimpres membership to remain unlimited,” he added. The nine-member limit for a presidential advisory board was removed by the September 2024 revision of the Wantimpres Law, a month before Prabowo assumed office. Maulana argued that the nine-member cap would help balance professional expertise needed for the President while keeping an efficient spending of the state budget. He noted that an adviser was entitled to receive up to Rp 76.5 million (US$4,237) a month in financial benefits. “With the state budget in such an unstable condition, this amount [of salary and allowances] is significant and affects the state budget,” he said. The establishment came amid mounting pressure on the state budget, including the costs of disaster response across the country, which have raised questions over the administration’s priorities. Maulana also warned in his petition that allowing the President to decide on Wantimpres membership with no ceiling on the number of members risks giving Prabowo an unchecked power to consolidate support.
