Prabowo Stresses Energy Independence Push Began Before Presidency

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Prabowo Subianto affirmed that achieving energy independence has been his policy direction since before he took office, and it is now being realised through the implementation of the mandatory B50 biodiesel programme.

“Even before I was inaugurated as president, I always stressed to my core team and my advisers that we must achieve food self-sufficiency and energy self-sufficiency. We must not import fuel, we must not import food,” said Prabowo at the launch of the Mandatory B50 Biodiesel programme in Karawang, West Java, on Thursday, as broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat.

The President said a nation’s survival is determined by three main factors: the ability to produce its own food, having its own energy sources without depending on other countries, and having adequate water resources.

“Without these three things, it is difficult for a nation to survive. It is difficult for us to be sovereign, difficult for us to be prosperous, difficult for us to be prosperous and wealthy,” he said.

In the energy sector, he admitted he had pushed for biodiesel implementation all the way to B100. However, according to him, his ministers convinced him that implementing B50 would be sufficient to halt diesel imports.

“In fact, at that time I pushed towards B100. But my ministers assured me, Sir, with B50 alone, we will no longer import diesel from abroad,” he said.

The President also touched on efforts by the Ministry of Defence together with the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) to find water sources in various regions as part of the self-sufficiency agenda he championed since serving as Minister of Defence.

Indonesia’s mandatory biodiesel programme has developed gradually, starting from B2.5 in 2008 up to B50 in 2026 through a series of increases in biodiesel blend ratios across various administrations.

With the implementation of B50, the government is targeting the cessation of diesel imports while strengthening steps towards energy self-sufficiency, which according to Prabowo can be achieved in the coming years, in line with the discovery of new gas reserves in several regions of Indonesia.