Prabowo Gives Bahlil One Week to Evaluate Problematic Mining Permits
The government faces a policy dilemma with no truly comfortable options.
President Prabowo Subianto has issued a firm instruction to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, to evaluate hundreds of Mining Business Permits (IUP) operating in protected forest areas. The President emphasised that violations harming national interests will not be tolerated.
“So, there are several hundred of these. The ESDM Minister must evaluate immediately! If it’s unclear, revoke them all! We no longer have time to be too merciful; there is no mercy now. We are only defending national interests and the interests of the people,” President Prabowo stated firmly during the government working meeting briefing at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday (8/4).
The President’s firmness was evident when he set a reporting deadline. Initially, Minister Bahlil requested two weeks for a comprehensive evaluation, but this was immediately rejected by the Head of State.
“Two weeks? Nice try with two weeks. One week, and we revoke all those IUPs,” said President Prabowo, emphasising the urgency of regulating these mining permits.
The President stressed that his administration focuses on the interests of the people and will not accommodate the interests of groups, friends, or family in natural resource permitting matters.
This briefing was delivered directly to around 800 bureaucrats, from ministers to echelon I officials. The event, starting at 14:00 WIB, took place in the central courtyard of the Palace with a very serious atmosphere.
After the President’s open directives for one hour, the meeting continued in closed session. Several coordinating ministers and technical ministers, such as Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, ESDM Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, and Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, provided brief presentations before the meeting ended at 18:30 WIB.