President Prabowo Condemns “Serakahnomics”, Calls for Strategic Production Protection
President Prabowo Subianto attends the 27th Anniversary of the National Awakening Party (PKB), held at the Jakarta Convention Centre, on Wednesday (07/24). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat)
President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday (07/23) asserted his commitment to Article 33 Paragraph 2 of the 1945 Indonesian Constitution in his remarks for the 27th Anniversary of the National Awakening Party (PKB) held at Jakarta Convention Centre. The President emphasized that the state must control branches of production that are essential to the state and affected the livelihood of the masses to protect people’s interests.
“Article 33 of the Constitution is an ultimate weapon. Paragraph 2 stated that branches of production that are essential to the state and affected the livelihood of the masses must be controlled by the state,” he said.
Food, including rice, corn, and cooking oil, is a staple food that should not be controlled by market mechanisms, according to the President. He stated “serakahnomics” – a term coined from serakah (greedy) and economics – referring to a phenomenon of greediness by some wrongful authorities.
“I am asking you, do rice, corn, and cooking oil production control the lives of people? As the world’s largest producer of palm oil, Indonesia is the producer of cooking oil. Given the fact, how come we experience cooking oil insufficiency?” the President asked.
The President also highlighted the irony in the production sector, where a large amount of subsidy was enjoyed only by speculators. In fact, agricultural production facilities. including seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation, were using subsidies.
“They manipulated the subsidized rice to become premium rice, adding a price for five to six thousand rupiah. Do you think this is a correct thing to do? This is a criminal. This is not right,” he said.
The President explained that Indonesia loses 100 billion rupiah annually because of the price-manipulative practice and rice repackaging. Therefore, the President urged authorities to enforce the law to end criminal practice.
“I cannot let this continue unabated. I sent an order to the Chief of the Indonesian National Police and the Attorney General to investigate, act, and seize [the criminal practice]. Based on Article 33 of our Constitution, branches of production that are essential to the state,” the President remarked. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (RD/MUR)
