Prabowo highlights fishermen's difficulty in obtaining ice, pledges cold storage facilities

President Prabowo Subianto has highlighted the plight of Indonesian fishermen who struggle to obtain ice blocks and diesel. He promised to tackle the problem. The remarks were delivered during a plenary session at the DPR building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday, 20 May 2026. He began by noting that Indonesia is a wealthy country and that its people should enjoy that wealth. “After I have looked at the figures, after I have seen how great our wealth really is, I am increasingly convinced that implementing the 1945 Constitution must be our shared responsibility. We clearly want a better future for our people. Therefore, in accordance with the government’s view, and I am confident that all Indonesian patriots will support that the land and water and all natural wealth contained therein should be enjoyed by all Indonesians,” Prabowo said in his speech. Prabowo expressed his wish that farmers and fishermen could smile with abundant harvests. He then highlighted the conditions of fishermen’s fishing equipment. “We want our farmers to smile brightly because of abundant harvests and to receive the fair value they deserve. The value should be sufficiently high. We want our fishermen, who risk their lives to produce protein for our people, to go to sea with good and safe equipment, and to catch yields of high value,” he said. Prabowo said that fishermen are currently finding it difficult to obtain ice blocks. In addition, he said, diesel is also hard for fishermen to obtain. “Right now our fishermen are finding it hard to obtain ice blocks; even ice blocks are hard to come by for them, let alone the diesel they need,” he said. Prabowo promised to intervene. He will build ice-making plants, cold storage facilities, and petrol stations for fishermen. “The government will intervene; we will undertake a major effort. We will build, over the next three years, 5,000 fishing villages; this year we will inaugurate 1,386 fishing villages. We will ensure every fisherman can have ice blocks; we will install ice-making facilities in every fishing village; we will create cold storage spaces in every fishing village; and we will establish petrol stations specifically for fishermen in every fishing village,” he stated.