Jakarta — Few people know that Indonesia’s president-elect for 2024-2029, Prabowo Subianto, played a pivotal role in founding SMA Taruna Nusantara, one of the country’s top high schools today.

Dirgayuza Setiawan, the son of the late Dr. Boyke Setiawan, who was a trusted confidant of Prabowo, recently shared the proposal for the establishment of SMA Taruna Nusantara, which was co-written by Prabowo and his father in 1988. This proposal had been stored in Dr. Boyke’s personal archives. The document was submitted to the Minister of Defense and Security (Menhankam) and the president at the time.

“Since SMA Taruna Nusantara is trending, I want to share an interesting story. Back in February, Mr. @prabowo suddenly asked me to check my late father’s archives: ‘Yuza, please find my proposal to the President and Menhankam for the establishment of SMA TN. Your father kept it,’” wrote Dirgayuza on his Instagram story @dirgayuza on Tuesday, September 10.

“After searching through my father’s cabinet, I finally found the document he was looking for,” he continued.

Dirgayuza posted several photos of the proposal’s contents, including initial sketches of the school, the table of contents, the foreword, and a timeline for the school’s development from 1988 to 1990.

In the proposal’s foreword, Prabowo and his team explained that the establishment of SMA Taruna Nusantara was driven by a sense of duty to build the nation and contribute to Indonesia’s post-independence development.

“The idea for this project arose from a heartfelt call to contribute to the nation’s development. As the years of our independence increase, the challenges we face grow ever more difficult and steep,” reads the foreword.

One of the key ways to build the nation, as outlined in the proposal, was through education, with a special emphasis on mastering science and technology.

Indonesia, according to the proposal, is rich in resources and has many talented young individuals. “It would be a grave mistake to waste this potential by not providing them with the education suited to their talents and abilities.”

The proposal envisioned that SMA Taruna Nusantara would provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities for education, allowing the nation’s best and brightest to develop their talents and skills for the benefit of the country’s future development.

“In an era of rapid global advancements in science and technology, as a free nation, we must not fall behind. With this resolve, the Project Proposal for a Science-Focused High School was prepared,” Prabowo and his team wrote in the proposal’s foreword.

Dirgayuza also revealed that the initials “PS” and “BS” found in the document referred to Prabowo Subianto and Boyke Setiawan, respectively.

Dirgayuza is known for editing several of Prabowo’s books, while his late father, Dr. Boyke Setiawan, was a retired TNI officer who served as the rector of UKRI, an educational institution he founded in 2017. Before this, Boyke was a trusted advisor to Prabowo, managing one of his sports and recreation businesses, the Polo Club. (RR)