Prabowo Confident Indonesia Can Produce Fuel from Maize and Sugarcane

Jakarta — President Prabowo Subianto has stated that Indonesia possesses various alternative energy sources amid the global crisis, including the capacity to produce petroleum fuel from maize and sugarcane.

According to Prabowo, Indonesia should be grateful to still have alternative energy options, such as palm oil, cassava, maize, and sugarcane.

“We have many alternatives. We are confident we can address this problem. Many countries face more challenging conditions than us. We have abundant palm oil. We will have sufficient cassava. We can obtain fuel from maize and from sugarcane,” Prabowo said during the first anniversary celebration of Danantara in Jakarta on Wednesday (11 March 2026), according to Antara news agency.

He noted that the crisis situation can serve as an opportunity to accelerate efforts to strengthen national resilience, including in the energy sector.

The Head of State also referenced Indonesia’s geothermal energy potential.

“We have very large geothermal reserves—if I am not mistaken, the second largest reserves in the world—which have not been fully exploited,” he stated.

He is targeting the development of solar power plants with a capacity reaching 100 gigawatts as quickly as possible.

“That is already my directive, that is already my decision, and we will prove to the world that we are faster and more effective in this regard,” Prabowo said.

In his remarks, Prabowo also assessed that the global crisis can serve as an impetus for Indonesia to accelerate various plans already drawn up, including food self-sufficiency and energy self-sufficiency programmes.

“We already have a food self-sufficiency plan, and thank God, it has been partially achieved. We already have the intention for energy self-sufficiency, and according to our plan, we are confident we will achieve it within four more years,” he added.