The Mystery of Asbuton: Why Has This National Treasure Never Become Popular?

In the depths of Buton Island in South-East Sulawesi lies a natural resource that should enable Indonesia to cease dependence on imported petroleum asphalt. The Buton Asphalt (Asbuton) deposit is claimed to reach a staggering figure of around 649 million tonnes. Yet, a great irony persists. For decades, our road infrastructure projects have been more familiar with imported petroleum asphalt than with asphalt from our own soil. What truly causes Asbuton to be seemingly sidelined in its own home? According to Dody, dependence on imports must be reduced by optimising domestic products. “Even China uses (Buton Asphalt), why don’t we?” said Dody on Wednesday (2/4/2026). He emphasised the importance of a market scheme that supports the use of local products. One of them is through encouraging the use of pure extracted asphalt from Buton Island to replace petroleum asphalt. However, the path to self-sufficiency in Asbuton remains steep. Dody acknowledged that the main obstacle lies in the consistency of production quality and pricing that must compete with global products. Sharp criticism comes from a Road Pavement and Asphalt Observer who is also a former Director of Technical Development at the Directorate General of Highway Development, Ministry of Public Works, Purnomo. According to him, the low popularity of Asbuton is not due to a lack of research, but rather systemic implementation failures. Purnomo dissects three fundamental reasons why Asbuton struggles to dominate the market: 1. Asbuton Reserve Claims Not Yet Verified Although the figure of 649 million tonnes is often proclaimed, Purnomo reminds that this data has not been fully verified in the field through in-depth exploration.