JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — President Prabowo Subianto marked the 80th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence by vowing to root out corruption and crackdown on food cartels that caused billions of dollars of annual state losses.
Subianto, who took office in October, delivered the remarks in his first State of the Nation address Friday after 299 days leading the country.
“I have a deeper understanding of the magnitude of the challenges we face and the extent of corruption within our government,” Subianto told members of Parliament and other top officials.
The 73-year old former general said that since early this year his administration has identified and saved 300 trillion rupiah ($18.5 billion) in the state budget that may have been lost to corruption, including from domestic and international travel by government officials and office stationery.
“We are facing the reality of a massive leakage of our nation’s wealth, we are in a net outflow of national wealth condition,” Subianto said. “Therefore, I am obliged to take action even if it is difficult and disliked by certain parties.”
In the fiery, televised speech, Subianto also vowed to fight food cartels that caused losses up to $6.1 billion each year in a phenomenon that he called “serakahnomics,” a play on words combining economics with the Indonesian term for greedy, “serakah.”
He pledged to enforce the law and take action against companies regardless of whether there are powerful figures or military generals and police who support them “to make sure that the Indonesian people would not be victims of serakahnomics.”
Subianto said it was “very strange and unreasonable” that Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, experienced cooking oil shortages twice in 2022 causing skyrocketing prices and some people lacked access to affordable food despite the government’s rollout of agricultural equipment, fertilizer and pesticide subsidies and irrigation reservoirs.
Subianto accused the country’s rice mills of buying the farmers’ unhusked, dry rice below the government-set price of Rp 6,500 (40 U.S. cents) per kilogram and enjoying millions of dollars profit each month from an unfair food trade.
“There are some business people who use their capital power to dominate and manipulate the lives of the people at the bottom and we cannot accept this,” Subianto said.
The president added that he received a report stating there are more than 1,000 illegal mines with the potential to cause the state to lose at least 300 trillion rupiah ($18.5 billion).
His government regained control of 3.1 million hectares (7.6 million acres) of the 5 million hectares (12.3 million acres) of palm oil plantations that were reportedly managed illegally, Subianto said.
Subianto’s remarks overshadow his efforts to run a government cleanup effort, which was part of the campaign that led to his 2024 election victory.
Corruption is endemic in Indonesia and activists say police and members of Parliament are perceived as being widely corrupt in the country of more than 280 million people.
The anti-graft commission, known as KPK, is one of the few effective institutions and frequently comes under attack by lawmakers who want to reduce its powers.
The KPK said it arrested around 250 local elected officials, as many as 133 regents and mayors, 18 governors, 83 members of the national Parliament and 12 ministers since the institution was founded in late 2003.
Subianto appealed for support from members of his cabinet, political parties and Parliament to support his efforts to run a clean government in a country that was ranked 99th out of 180 nations in the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International.
“As long as I’m president, never assume that the great and the rich can do whatever they want. We are not afraid of your greatness or wealth,” Subianto said, “The government that I lead will not hesitate to defend the interests of the Indonesian people.”
