PKB Legislator Backs Prabowo’s Government Regulation on Export of Natural Resource Commodities, Warns Implementers Must Be Clean

An Indonesian legislator from Commission IV of the House of Representatives, Daniel Johan of the PKB faction, expressed support for President Prabowo Subianto’s move to issue a Government Regulation on the Governance of the Export of Natural Resource Commodities (SDA). He also cautioned that implementers in state-owned enterprises (BUMN) must be clean, transparent and effective.

‘Yes, ideologically we are in agreement, we support it, we are of one mind. Because this is a breakthrough in the implementation of Article 33 (of the 1945 Constitution),’ Daniel Johan told reporters at the Parliament complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (20 May 2026).

Nevertheless, Daniel said the government must ensure preparedness of the policy’s implementers before the rule is enacted. He argued that poor governance could endanger Indonesia’s export sector.

‘The policy implementers must be clean, the implementing bureaucracy must be effective, there should be no bottlenecks or slowness, and it must be transparent,’ he said.

‘If these three pillars are not in place, it’s dangerous. It could become a rent-seeking arena, and the impact will be serious because the two commodities to be governed are the main backbone of the country’s foreign exchange,’ he added.

As the head of the PKB’s central leadership council (Ketua DPP PKB), he assessed that such concerns must be heeded because palm oil and coal are currently Indonesia’s foreign exchange backbones. ‘In fact, the largest foreign exchange today is CPO (palm oil). Oil and gas are all losing now; CPO is number one. It is the rupiah’s strongest shield,’ Daniel added.

Furthermore, Daniel stressed that the government must be able to reassure business players and the public that the policy has been prepared thoroughly. He warned that it would be dangerous if the policy were merely a test run.

‘If it’s just probing, it’s dangerous. If export is suddenly stopped, just check how much foreign exchange is lost; it would plunge; dangerous,’ he said.

Daniel also urged the government to learn from the commodity trade governance experiences of the New Order era, such as the Clove Stabilisation and Marketing Agency (BPPC) and the orange trade regime. At that time, the policy aimed to protect farmers, but ended up harming them because its implementation was riddled with rents.

‘The aims were noble; the initial hopes for BPPC and for the orange trade were to ensure farmers’ welfare. But the implementation, clove farmers and orange farmers suffered terribly; they went bankrupt,’ Daniel Johan said.

He further reminded to be cautious in determining the price of exported natural resource commodities. In his view it would be dangerous if price setting is arbitrary.

‘Do not distort the market, do not distort prices; it’s dangerous. The ecosystem built over decades will be destroyed,’ he concluded.

Prabowo is known to have issued the Government Regulation on the Governance of the Export of Natural Resource Commodities. The aim of issuing this regulation is to regulate the export of Indonesia’s natural resource commodities to affect improvements in the people’s welfare.

‘Today, the government of the Republic of Indonesia that I lead has issued a Government Regulation on the Governance of the Export of Natural Resource Commodities,’ Prabowo said during a plenary meeting at the DPR RI, Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (20 May).

Prabowo said the issuance of this Government Regulation is a strategic step to strengthen governance of the export of natural resource commodities. He added that all exports of natural resource products will be managed through state-owned enterprises.

‘The issuance of this Government Regulation is a strategic step to strengthen the governance of our natural resource export commodities. The sale of all our natural resource products, we will begin with crude palm oil, coal, and iron alloy, and we require that the sales be conducted through the state-owned enterprises appointed by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia as the sole exporters,’ he said.