Prabowo: Indonesia's natural wealth must not leave the country without oversight

Jakarta — President Prabowo Subianto has emphasised that the government does not want Indonesia’s natural wealth to continue leaving the country without oversight or state control. The government is preparing a Government Regulation on the governance of exports of natural-resource commodities. The regulation is designed to strengthen supervision over the sale of Indonesia’s natural wealth abroad.

“Any leader who is intelligent, conscientious, and deeply patriotic would not allow our natural wealth to leave without oversight, without control,” Prabowo said during the delivery of the KEM PPKF 2027 at a plenary session of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) on Wednesday, 20 May 2026.

According to Prabowo, all of Indonesia’s natural resources belong to the people and to the nation of Indonesia. Therefore, the state has the right to know in detail the quantity of natural wealth sold overseas.

“All of Indonesia’s natural resources belong to the people and to the nation. Therefore, the state has the right to know in detail the natural resources we sell abroad,” he said.

Prabowo stressed that the government does not want to be deceived again in the management of exports of national strategic commodities. “We do not want to be lied to again. We want to know precisely how much of our wealth is being sold,” he added.

The regulation forms part of an effort to improve the management of national natural wealth. The policy will begin with a number of strategic commodities, such as oil, palm oil, coal, and iron and mineral products. The new scheme requires export sales of natural-resource commodities to be conducted through state-owned enterprises designated by the government.