Prabowo Says Dutch Colonial Rule Robbed Indonesia of $31 Trillion in Wealth
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JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — President Prabowo Subianto has claimed that the Netherlands extracted an estimated $31 trillion from Indonesia during the colonial era, citing a recently published study. That amount, he said, would dwarf most modern economic benchmarks and highlights the massive wealth drain Indonesia endured under Dutch rule.
Speaking at the opening of the Indo Defence 2025 Expo in Jakarta on Wednesday, Prabowo emphasized the scale of the loss. “A study released just weeks ago revealed that during the colonial period, the Dutch extracted resources equivalent to $31 trillion in today’s money,” he said.
The figure—Rp 504,370 trillion at the current exchange rate—amounts to more than 18 times Indonesia’s GDP of $1.5 trillion, and roughly 140 times the 2025 state budget of Rp 3,621 trillion ($222.6 billion).
The amount is more than 25 times the size of the Netherlands' current gross domestic product, which stands at around $1.2 trillion based on 2024 IMF estimates. It also surpasses the total market capitalization of Bitcoin, currently valued at approximately $1.4 trillion.
At $31 trillion, the figure is nearly nine times larger than the market value of NVIDIA and Apple—two of the world’s most valuable companies—each valued at around $3.3 trillion and $3.5 trillion, respectively. It even exceeds the GDP of the United States, which reached an estimated $28.8 trillion in 2024, making it the largest economy in the world.
“The Dutch took 25 times more than their current national output,” said Prabowo. “Had we preserved that wealth, Indonesia would now be among the richest countries per capita.”
He noted that the looted value is not just historical trivia, but directly shaped global wealth patterns. “At one point, the Netherlands had the world’s highest GDP per capita—off the back of our resources,” Prabowo added.
Despite the past, the President voiced strong optimism about Indonesia’s future. He cited projections that Indonesia will rank among the world’s top six economies by 2045, and reiterated his ambition to eradicate poverty before then.
“I am confident we will eliminate poverty from the Republic of Indonesia well before 2045,” Prabowo said. “That is my belief, and that is my administration’s commitment.”
The speech was delivered in front of senior military leaders and global defense industry executives attending Indo Defence 2025, a major regional defense exhibition held at Jakarta’s JIExpo.