3) Prabowo's Plan for Palm Oil Self-Sufficiency
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government is expanding the food estate project in South Papua. Without governance, environmental destruction is inevitable.
GOVERNANCE is in short supply in Indonesia. In the administration of Prabowo Subianto, transparency and accountability—the fundamental principles of public management—have been eroded by increasingly apparent conflicts of interest. The food estate project in South Papua is one example of this.
Instead of halting the food estate project, which has repeatedly proved a failure, the government is using all possible means—from tinkering with the regulations to deploying troops—to ensure the success of one of Prabowo’s flagship projects. The government claims this national strategic project, located on 2.29 million hectares of land in Merauke Regency, South Papua, will result in rice self-sufficiency by 2027, and will meet the domestic demands for sugar and bioethanol the following year.
South Kalimantan tycoon Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, alias Haji Isam, has been brought on board to clear the land. In July 2024, he brought 2,000 excavators worth Rp4 trillion from China to Wanam village, Merauke Regency, South Papua. At the time, it was not clear whether the financing scheme would use entirely private sector or state funds, given that the Prabowo government had yet to be officially formed.
But there is no such thing as a free lunch. Claiming that it was to accelerate food self-sufficiency, the National Public Procurement Agency (LKPP) subsequently issued Regulation No. 3/2025. It contains procurement guidelines and a budgeting mechanism for retroactive procurement or work in national food, energy, or water self-sufficiency areas.
Using this regulation, contracts for ongoing food estate programs can be drawn up later, with the project value calculated subsequently. This means that Isam can ask for payment from the government for work carried out in 2024 from the 2025 State Budget. This is different from the previous system: procurement began with the identification of needs based on studies. For the Rp7 trillion project in Wanam, the government has so far paid out Rp1 trillion for the construction of roads and facilities supporting the laying out of paddy fields.
Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan then expanded the Merauke megaproject to Boven Digoel, Mappi, and Asmat regencies. To realize Prabowo’s dream of accelerating the achievement of food, energy, and water self-sufficiency, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni issued Decree No. 591/2025 redesignating 489,940 hectares of forest in South Papua as other use areas (APL). Most of the cultivation permits (HGU) have been issued. There are indications that Isam was awarded a HGU for an oil palm plantation close to the Muting District.
As well as laying out rice fields and sugar plantations, this project will also create a 426,000-hectare oil palm plantation in Boven Digoel—143,000 hectares from the redesignation of forests—to support the B50 biodiesel program. The remainder is land confiscated by the Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas PKH) established by Prabowo last year.
The expansion of the food estates went ahead without any proper planning—a precondition for programs to be sustainable and not harmful to the environment. The National Development Planning Ministry/National Development Planning Agency has yet to draw up a rice self-sufficiency national strategic roadmap. Meanwhile, the synchronization of the draft spatial plan for South Papua for 2025-2044 was rushed through in one month. With minimal involvement of indigenous communities, this spatial change could exacerbate agrarian conflicts.
Although it has been named as the rice field developer, Agrinas Pangan Nusantara is reluctant to begin work on the land because there is no legal umbrella for the assignment. Similarly, Agrinas Palma Nusantara was assigned as the operator for the oil palm plantations.
The food estate projects of the Prabowo era seem like a repeat of an old tune. Strategic environmental impact assessments, which should ideally be conducted to evaluate the environment’s carrying capacity and determine suitable commodities and land, are only drafted after the government has already designated the locations. As a result, pilot rice field projects cannot be planted with rice due to land incompatibility. This magazine’s investigation found that four plots of rice fields in Wanam, built by the government a year ago, now lie abandoned.
Without adequate criteria and feasibility studies, food estate projects easily raise suspicions that they are a means of distributing favors and repaying debts to a handful of businesspeople close to the Presidential Palace. By ignoring the principles of good governance, the food and energy self-sufficiency policy in South Papua has become a time bomb that could explode at any moment, causing social and environmental disaster.
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Its official name is a pilot field, or demonstration plot (demplot). But the four rice fields the government built a year ago in Wanam village, Ilwayab District, Merauke Regency, South Papua, look more like a scrapyard. On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, dozens of empty shipping containers lined the entrance to the site. An excavator stood idle nearby, along with a forklift, a row of broken heavy trucks, and abandoned plowing machines.
On the embankment of the 4-hectare plot, a tattered banner hung from four wooden stakes. It once detailed the plan for the first 10,000 hectares of newly opened rice fields in Wanam. The design divided the paddies into 200-hectare square blocks stretching along both sides of a 135-kilometer road running from Wanam village to Muting District.
There was no sign of farming activity that day. Only the tire tracks of a combine harvester remained, traces of the inaugural harvest on May 16, 2025. Based on Tempo's observations, only two plots were harvested. In other sections, rice stalks stood yellow and unattended, each grain bearing 30 to 40 kernels. During the first harvest, the government claimed the pilot field yielded 2.5 to 2.8 tons per hectare of dried unhusked rice of the Inpara 2 variety.
The reality proved different. The fields in Domokalo hamlet, Wanam village, were estimated to have produced only about 1 ton per hectare. "The government tried planting rice, but it didn't work. They planted twice and failed twice," said Liborius Kodai Moyuwend Tayoga, 59, a clan leader of the Moyuwend clan in Wanam, on November 29, 2025.
3) Prabowo's Plan for Palm Oil Self-Sufficiency
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After seeing digital documents shown by Tempo, Albertus Tenggare and Ambrosius Tenggare immediately recalled the increasingly frequent roar they had heard in recent months from the skies above Boven Digoel Regency, South Papua. "No wonder helicopters keep flying overhead," Albertus said.
That Friday afternoon, November 28, 2025, Albertus and Ambrosius went to check on Wataron, their clan's customary forest, located on the western side of the Trans-Papua highway linking Boven Digoel and Merauke. The Tenggare clan, led by Albertus, has held a participatory map of its 3,000-hectare ancestral land for the past three years, which came out about the same time as the issuance of Boven Digoel Regional Regulation No. 2/2023 on the Recognition and Protection of Indigenous Communities' Rights. The Tenggare are part of the Wambon Kenemopte sub-tribe, commonly known as Mandobo.
The document shown to Tempo was a digital map referring to Forestry Minister Decree No. 591/2025. The decree signed by Minister Raja Juli Antoni reclassified 486,940 hectares of forest in the regencies of Merauke, Mappi, and Boven Digoel. According to a copy of the decree, the change was made "to support the acceleration of development in national food, energy, and water self-sufficiency zones." Forest areas overlapping with Wataron were among those redesignated as "other use zones" (APL).
Albertus' wooden house stands on the eastern edge of Wataron, beside the Trans-Papua Highway connecting Boven Digoel and Merauke. Ambrosius' hut sits directly across the road. There, they have cleared a plot roughly the size of two volleyball courts to plant chilies and fruit trees. "Just up to here, no further," Albertus said, pointing to the boundary between their fields and the forest.
RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Vice President Gibran Rakabuming has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to accelerating development in Papua, with modern healthcare and quality education placed at the forefront of President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship social programs.
Speaking at the “New Direction of National Development” talk show on Monday, January 26, 2026, VP Gibran stressed that Papua must be a primary beneficiary of these initiatives.
He underscored that the government is moving beyond basic aid to deliver high-tech solutions, citing the deployment of advanced medical equipment and the urgent need to overhaul school infrastructure to ensure parity with other regions.
“The hospital is modern, equipped with the latest equipment like CT scans and MRIs, and we’ve also brought in doctors. We will no longer see schools damaged or with dirt floors,” Gibran said at the Satya Wacana Christian University (UKSW) auditorium in Salatiga, Central Java.
The administration’s priority programs in Papua focus on human development and infrastructure modernization. Among them is the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program, designed to secure students’ nutrition and support their academic performance.
The Free Health Check (CKG) program provides regular screenings using newly deployed diagnostic tools, while the People’s School (Sekolah Rakyat) initiative aims to eliminate dilapidated classrooms and create dignified learning environments.
Infrastructure development remains a critical pillar of the government’s agenda. VP Gibran confirmed that President Prabowo has ordered the expedited completion of the Trans-Papua Highway to reduce logistics costs and improve access to remote areas.
He also emphasized the need to optimize Special Autonomy (Otsus) Funds to ensure financial resources translate into tangible, high-impact progress.
Responding to aspirations voiced by Darto Melius Sergio Daby, a student from Wamena, VP Gibran urged Papuan youth studying outside the region to return home after graduation and contribute to local development. “I ask my friends here, after graduating from UKSW, to return to Papua,” he said, stressing that local human resource involvement is essential for sustaining national projects.
Following his engagement in Central Java, the Vice President is scheduled to attend the Tingalan Jumenengan (Ascension Anniversary) of K.G.P.A.A. Mangkoenagoro X at Pura Mangkunegaran in Surakarta on Tuesday, marking the ruler’s fourth year of leadership. (Naura Sofia/Lasti Martina)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.