Head of Bakom Qodari Explains Why Prabowo Is Strengthening Export Oversight

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — The Head of the Government Communications Agency (Bakom), Muhammad Qodari, has stressed that President Prabowo Subianto’s policy to strengthen oversight of exports of strategic commodities is an implementation of the mandate of Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution. He also asserted that Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution is the fundamental basis for the management of the nation’s natural resources by the state for the welfare of the people. ‘The relevant Article 33 is Article 33(3): land, water, and natural resources are owned by the state and used for the greatest possible welfare of the people, and Article 33(4): the national economy shall be organised on the basis of economic democracy with the principles of togetherness, efficiency with justice, sustainability, and so on,’ Qodari said in a statement on Wednesday, 20 May 2026. Moreover, the policy also ensures it is utilised for the welfare of the people from upstream to downstream. ‘The President safeguards Indonesia’s natural resources; Indonesia’s wealth of natural resources is comprehensive from upstream to downstream,’ he added. In the upstream sector, the government has carried out enforcement and law enforcement actions, including through the Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas Penertiban Kawasan Hutan, PKH). In the downstream sector, the government will strengthen oversight of trade in strategic commodities such as palm oil, coal, and ferroalloys. ‘So even the exports are safeguarded by the President,’ Qodari stressed. According to Qodari, all these policies are direct descendants of the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution and Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution. He noted that the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution sets out the purposes for which we exist as a nation and state. ‘What is particularly relevant today is firstly to protect the Indonesian people since these are Indonesia’s natural resources,’ Qodari explained. ‘Secondly, to advance the general welfare, where the wealth of natural resources must be maximised for the greatest possible prosperity of the Indonesian people,’ he added.