Gerindra Party chairman and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto joked about his wealth during a recent campaign event in Lamongan regency, East Java, in the wake of criticism about his extensive landholdings.

During Prabowo’s visit on Sunday to Pesantren Sunan Drajat (Islamic boarding school) in Banjarwati village, Lamongan, school head K.H. Abdul Ghofur introduced the former general as "kaya raya", which means “filthy rich", which Prabowo denied.

“Pak Kiai [Abdul] said that I am filthy rich, but that is not true. But it’s true that I am richer than you, isn’t it?” Prabowo joked, as quoted by kompas.com. “Because your look like you have [a limited amount of] money, don’t you?” The audience responded with a laugh to both questions.

Prabowo continued, “I realize that everything I own is from the Almighty, and later when I [my time comes], I don’t know when, I will not be able to take anything with me.”

“Because of this, I am determined to spend the rest of my life serving the people. Everything that I own, I will use for the people. I will fight so that the people become prosperous,” he said.

During the second presidential debate on Feb. 17, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo stated that Prabowo possessed 220,000 hectares of land in East Kalimantan and 120,000 ha in Aceh, to which Prabowo replied that he was prepared to return the property to the government if necessary. (kmt)