Prabowo Appoints Hashim as Chair of National Park Task Force

President Prabowo Subianto will appoint his brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo as chair of the task force on innovative financing and national park management. Hashim currently serves as the President’s Special Envoy for Energy and Climate, as well as Chair of the Housing Task Force.

In his leadership of the national parks task force, Hashim will be supported by two deputies. They are Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni and Deputy Chair of the National Economic Council (DEN) and the President’s Special Envoy for International Trade and Multilateral Cooperation, Mari Elka Pangestu.

Raja Juli announced this following a limited meeting with President Prabowo at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, 12 March 2026. According to Raja Juli, the task force will be formally established through a presidential decree on the formation of the innovative financing and national park management task force.

“This task force will be chaired by Hashim Djojohadikusumo. I will then serve as deputy, along with the other deputy who is Mari Elka Pangestu. We will seek innovative and sustainable funding,” said Raja Juli on Thursday afternoon.

Raja stated that the financing will involve the private sector. In this way, national park funding will not rely solely on state budget allocation.

According to Raja Juli, national park management in Indonesia has long faced financing constraints. “As we know, we have 57 national parks in Indonesia. And I must say that until now national parks have been managed with whatever resources are available, and with extremely minimal funding,” he said.

With basic financing and management, according to Raja, more than 50 national parks do not generate profit or revenue of their own. “Our national parks have become cost centres, become expenses. They are not profit centres at all,” Raja said.

Raja envisions these national parks becoming profit centres. The way to do this, he said, is by developing ecotourism financing. In this way, dozens of national parks in Indonesia will not burden the budget. “How do we get money, funding from eco-tourism, and that money is returned to improve our national parks,” said Raja Juli.