Land Speculators Emerge in Masela Gas Project, Bahlil Issues Warning

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia has acknowledged the emergence of land speculators, or ‘cukong’, in the area of the Abadi Gas Field project, Masela Block, in the Tanimbar Islands, Maluku. He has therefore asked SKK Migas to differentiate treatment between original landowners and parties who have recently purchased land after the project began. Bahlil detailed that there are at least three categories of land ownership in the Masela Block project area. “I know there are ‘abuleke’ (a local term for speculators/cukong) here. I divide it into three classifications. The first is land truly owned by the community, passed down through generations. The second is community land that may have been sold by someone who needed money for their grandchildren or children to go to university, sold to other local residents. The third is people who sold to others just as this project was about to start,” he explained after the groundbreaking ceremony for the Abadi LNG Project in the Tanimbar Islands, Maluku, on Thursday. “I have asked SKK Migas to treat them differently. That is what you meant, right? So we must not sell our birthright to those who do not possess the birthright. That is deeply philosophical,” Bahlil stressed. President Prabowo Subianto had just officiated the groundbreaking ceremony for the giant Masela Block Abadi Field gas project virtually from the State Palace in Jakarta. Several officials, including Minister Bahlil, Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Nusron Wahid, and Inpex Corporation CEO Takayuki Ueda, attended the event in person in the Tanimbar Islands. President Prabowo expressed gratitude that after nearly three decades of waiting, the National Strategic Project had finally commenced. He stated that the project, with an investment of nearly US$21 billion, would produce over 9 million tonnes of gas and condensate, significantly aiding Indonesia’s development and downstream industrialisation. The President emphasised the project would be a driving force for progress in Eastern Indonesia, strengthen national energy independence, and serve as an important milestone for public welfare. Minister Bahlil reported that the project had been initiated 28 years ago and handled by six presidents, but only under President Prabowo’s leadership had the execution finally begun, following a firm directive to resolve long-standing debates over offshore versus onshore development.