Coordinating Minister Pratikno Denies Illness and Resignation Rumours

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno has denied rumours that he is ill and will resign from the Red and White Cabinet. Pratikno stated he is currently on duty accelerating the extinguishing of forest and land fires in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java.

“No. I am in Bromo because there is a fire,” Pratikno said via telephone on Tuesday.

He explained that he was conducting a field visit to approach the fire locations using a jeep. He noted there were 36 fire hotspots, with the peak occurring last week. Pratikno also detailed anticipatory measures to prevent the fires from spreading, including weather modification operations. However, he revealed there were obstacles.

“The problem in Bromo is that the weather modification operations cannot run at the moment because there are no clouds. We estimate that according to the forecast, there will be clouds in four days to carry out the operations,” he said.

Separately, Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi also denied the rumours of Pratikno’s resignation due to illness. “What is that again? Who said that? I haven’t heard it, I haven’t heard it,” he said. Prasetyo asserted that Pratikno is in good health and is currently coordinating efforts to extinguish the forest fires in Bromo. “As far as I know, he is healthy. There is no news that he is sick, let alone resigning. He is not sick, not resigning. Not yet,” he stated.