Starting from Prabowo's Blusukan: Maruarar Debates with Hercules, Builds Flats on Land Controlled by Ormas

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - On 26 March 2026, President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto conducted a blusukan visit to the edge of the railway tracks in the Senen area, Central Jakarta. Upon seeing the residents’ settlements along the embankment, Prabowo promised to build decent housing for the community. Prabowo claimed that building decent housing for the people is indeed his determination as President of the Republic of Indonesia. “Hearing the aspirations of the people there, Insyaallah we will soon build decent housing for the people in that area quickly,” said Prabowo. Afterwards, Prabowo’s team in the Merah Putih Cabinet moved to build rusun (flats) for residents living along the tracks. However, while touring several areas, they found that the state land is now controlled by mass organisations (ormas). In the process of seeking land for building rusun, Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas (PKP) Maruarar Sirait (Ara) visited empty state-owned land in the Tanah Abang area, Central Jakarta, which has been controlled by ormas. In the land inspection activity that she uploaded on her Instagram account, Ara debated with Rosario de Marshall alias Hercules, General Chairman of the Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia Bersatu (GRIB) Jaya. GRIB is known to control several plots of land in the Tanah Abang area. This state-owned land was originally intended to be used for building housing for low-income communities or MBR. In response to Ara’s request, Hercules stated that the land managed by his ormas is indeed state-owned land, but its status is HPL (Hak Pengelolaan Lahan). Hercules emphasised that if the state indeed wants the land in Tanah Abang, he and his ormas would not object if the land is released to be built into housing. “HPL is for managing the land but not for owning it; if this is the state’s, I will hand it over today,” said Hercules.