Prabowo Questions Critical Mineral Exports, Luhut Agrees to Halt but with a System

Chairman of the National Economic Council (DEN) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan stated that President Prabowo Subianto had questioned him regarding the export of critical mineral commodities. During a DEN meeting, the President asked about critical mineral exports. “I said, I completely agree, Sir, that it should be stopped. So not freely, but with a good system,” Luhut explained at the Indonesia Ethical AI Summit in Jakarta on Wednesday (17/6/2026).

Luhut explained that Indonesia already has an export management system through the Mineral and Coal Information System (Simbara). “The system? I said, Sir (Prabowo), just use the existing Simbara plus the improvements. That is good, with Seto (Septian Hario Seto-DEN member) working on it, and it is now almost complete. It is all integrated. And it will help state revenue enormously,” Luhut revealed.

Luhut stated that the government had previously launched Simbara, a digital application that connects upstream and downstream processes. Using coal as an example, he said Simbara detects everything from the Mining Business Permit (IUP), the permit area size, coal calories, to production and beyond. “If one element is not compliant, for instance, if taxes or royalties haven’t been paid, it will automatically shut down. It cannot be influenced, because the flow stops to the national single window. So an ecosystem is built. Are there problems? Certainly, but we fix them one by one,” Luhut asserted.