[rev: orig. unclear if “without a good understanding” applies to influencers or their followers]

President Prabowo Subianto has warned about the risks of stock trading as benefiting only big players and leading to losses for the poor, speaking on Wednesday at a Muhammadiyah meeting in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.

Addressing the annual meeting of the country’s second-largest Muslim organization, the President said he personally felt that investing in stocks was stressful, so he stayed away from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

Stock trading meant a “stressful life, I can do without that”, said Prabowo, whose remarks were broadcast online.

“And let me tell you that in stocks, poor people will always lose. For poor people, [playing the stock market] is generally the same as gambling. Only the big ones win, the strong ones,” he added.

The President also recounted that when he first shared his policy ideas, such as the free meals program, some people had warned that implementing them would cause the stock index to drop and thereby threaten the economy.

He took such warnings as a “mild threat” related to psychological war, defamation and hoaxes, as well as sowing discord in his administration. He responded by saying, “Tell them I don’t have any stocks. And the people in the villages don’t have any stocks,” inferring that “bourse players” would feel the biggest impact when stock valuations dropped, and no one else.