Prabowo joked that he once studied at Oxford, even though he only went to the bookstore

Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto told a little joke that made the participants of the Forbes Global CEO Conference 2025 forum laugh. Prabowo said that he studied at the University of Oxford, although he only visited the bookstore on the British campus. This was revealed by Prabowo in a dialogue session with the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes, Malcolm Stevenson Jr or Steve Forbes, in St. Regis, Jakarta, Wednesday (15/10/2025). On the forum, Steve initially joked about Prabowo, who once claimed to be a graduate of Harvard University, United States. Prabowo then replied that it was just a joke. He even admitted that he studied at the University of Oxford. Scroll TO CONTINUE CONTENT The chairman of the Gerindra party said that the joke about his studies at Oxford happened when he attended the British Queen’s birthday celebration in Jakarta. Prabowo came with one of his party representatives. At the event there were people from the British Commonwealth, who according to Prabowo were very impressed with famous campuses from Oxford to Cambridge. Similarly, people in the United States are impressed by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “You know, British people and so on, Commonwealth people are very impressed when they hear the words Oxford and Cambridge. I find (also) that American-oriented people are very impressed with Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Cornell. So, I understand that,” says Prabowo. Returning to the British Queen’s birthday event, Prabowo said that the party representative accompanying him was a graduate of the London School of Economics, England. It then became the attention of the guests at the event, while he felt ignored. “So, one day I attended an event. It was the (British) Queen’s birthday (celebration) in Jakarta, and I was there with one of my deputies. I was party chairman, he was deputy chairman. But he graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE). So, at that event, all the young British diplomats said he surrounded him and I not. “Because I kept hearing, ‘oh you, Your Majesty, you graduated from LSE, London’. So, my deputy was like, yeah…,” Prabowo continued. Prabowo then interrupted and said that he was studying at Oxford. When he managed to divert the attention, Prabowo then admitted that he was joking and explained that he was just at a bookstore in Oxford. “When I (because I) wanted attention, I interrupted, I actually said, I went to Oxford. And they all turned their attention to me. They surrounded me, ‘Where did you go?’ “No, no, no, actually I went to a bookshop in Oxford,” Prabowo said, drawing laughter from the participants at the forum. Prabowo said such jokes always worked. Prabowo made the same joke when he spoke to former US ambassador Ted Osius, who graduated from Harvard University in the US. Prabowo also admitted that he felt he was at Harvard, but only at the bookstore there. “So, they said, yes, we graduated from Harvard, same class, 1984, right? So, you know, I didn’t want to lose, so I said, no, I also studied at Harvard. “So, where did you study?” said Prabowo. “I said, no, no, I went to the bookstore at Harvard. I did it, I always do it,” he continued. (eva/wnv)