Titiek Soeharto Praises Minister Agus: 'If the Cabinet Were Filled with People Like Him, the President Could Sleep Soundly'

Chair of House Commission IV Siti Hediati Hariyadi, known as Titiek Soeharto, has praised the performance of Immigration and Corrections Minister Agus Andrianto in leading the transformation of correctional facilities, particularly on Nusakambangan Island in Cilacap, Central Java. She stated that if the cabinet were filled with people like Agus, President Prabowo Subianto could rest easy. The praise was delivered after Titiek conducted a working visit as Chair of Commission IV to Nusakambangan, which is currently being developed into an island of food self-sufficiency. Commission IV, led by Titiek, oversees the agriculture, environment, forestry, and marine sectors. “I, along with Mr Rajiv and Mr Darori Wonodipuro, visited Nusakambangan. People must have wondered, ‘What business does Commission IV have on Nusakambangan?’ So of course there is a connection. We came here to see the efforts to improve food security,” Titiek explained after visiting an eel farm on Nusakambangan Island on Saturday (20/6/2026). She said she was invited by Minister Agus to provide advice and input on the food security programme being implemented by the Directorate General of Corrections under the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections on Nusakambangan. Titiek then praised Agus for turning idle land on Nusakambangan into productive land. “Seeing for myself how idle land here has been transformed by Mr Agus and his staff into productive land. There is rice, grapes, shrimp, and the last we saw was eel. This eel is extraordinary,” Titiek said. “Chickens also produce so many eggs. This eel is extraordinary, I think this is the first large-scale one in Indonesia. Hopefully this can succeed,” she added. Titiek expressed hope that the food security programme on Nusakambangan could be replicated elsewhere. She noted that Minister Agus leads his staff creatively. “The Minister is very creative. Nusakambangan, which we always see and hear as scary, ‘Nusakambangan is so frightening’, we imagine it like Alcatraz. But after coming here, it is so friendly and can produce so many useful products for all of us,” she said. Titiek then praised Agus further, saying that a figure like him could make President Prabowo feel at ease. “Once again, thank you. If only the cabinet were filled with people like Mr Agus, perhaps the President could sleep soundly,” Titiek remarked. The transformation of Nusakambangan is an idea launched by Minister Agus after he was appointed by Prabowo. During the transition of the Directorate General of Corrections from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights to the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, Minister Agus received a report from the Audit Board of Indonesia about many ministry assets classified as idle land. Agus then sought to revive the idle land by building vocational training centres, so that inmates could engage in self-development activities. The goal is for the skills acquired at the centres to serve as a foundation when they are released from prison, preventing them from reoffending. Training and skill development infrastructure for inmates that has been established on Nusakambangan includes workshops for concrete blocks and paving blocks made from fly ash bottom ash material, a garment vocational training centre, an organic fertiliser processing centre, eel farming, and waste processing. Tilapia, catfish and pomfret farming, Vaname shrimp ponds, cattle, sheep and poultry farming, a cigarette rolling training centre, a modified cassava flour production centre, and orchid cultivation are also being developed there.