Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Government Work Meeting with Members of the Red and White Cabinet, All Echelon I Officials at Ministries/Agencies, and President Directors of State-Owned Enterprises, Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, April 8, 2026

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Good afternoon,
May peace be upon us all,
Syalom,
Salve,
Om swastiastu,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greetings of Virtue,
Rahayu rahayu.

Distinguished Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Coordinating Ministers, Ministers, Heads of Agencies, Head of the National Economic Board, Governor of Bank Indonesia, Presidential Advisors and Special Staffers, Attorney General, Head of the State Intelligence Agency, Commander of the Indonesian National Defense Forces, Chief of the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia, Chiefs of Staff [of the Defense Forces], Vice Ministers and all members of the Red and White Cabinet in attendance, all Echelon I officials at ministries and Government institutions and agencies, as well as president directors of SOEs.

As people of faith, let us never cease to offer praise and gratitude to the Almighty and Great God, who owns the universe, for all the blessings, health, and peace He has bestowed upon us, allowing us to gather here this afternoon in good health. As we are still in the month of Shawal, I wish you a happy Eid al-Fitr 1447 Hijri. Let us forgive one another. May Allah SWT, the Almighty God, continue to grace us with health and His blessings.

Today is April 8, 2026. I intentionally gathered ministers, heads of agencies, and officials from the executive branch, including all Echelon I officials at ministries/agencies, as well as president directors of SOEs. This work meeting serves as an occasion for me to convey directives. One might say that it has been over a year since we first carried out our mandate as mandataries in October 2024. We have passed October ’25, which marked one year, and now we are in April. We could say that we have performed our duties for one year and six months.

In our first year, we have undeniably achieved real milestones and made concrete achievements. Amidst these concrete achievements, we have been facing a world that is full of uncertainty, full of conflicts, with wars unfolding everywhere, shaking global stability. Alhamdulillah, I have led our Government, of which you are a part, for one and a half years. Alhamdulillah, we have been able to control the direction of development, the direction toward which our nation moves. We can navigate through dangerous matters, but for the past year and a half, alhamdulillah, we have proven the effectiveness of our Government, that our Government is reliable, and that our Government can perform state duties properly and appropriately. This is evident with concrete achievements, mathematically and physically measurable achievements.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Since we began to form the Government, even before, for many years, I have been active as a political leader, a leader, and an economic player. I have been leading a political party for quite a long time, since 2008. Even before that, I have been involved in politics, since 2004. I am also an economic player, an entrepreneur, and a former soldier. I am also a former Commander [of the Indonesian Defense Forces]. I was also a former general at the Indonesian Defense Forces. For years, I have believed, and I have disseminated the main issues, which I believe are the basis of the safety of the nation. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is confirmed by the UN, by the UN. The United Nations confirmed this in the SDGs they announced, the Sustainable Development Goals, where several years ago, the UN forecast that the global crises, the three crises that would hit the entire world would be food crisis, energy crisis, and water crisis.

Food, energy, and water—this has been proclaimed by the UN, and I have been fighting for this everywhere, for years, for over ten years. And I have proven that I, if I’m not mistaken… have I shared it with all officials present here? My books over the past decades? This is proof that for decades, I have stated in black and white that the basic problems for the country are those three things: food, energy, water. Alhamdulillah, in our country, the water issue is not… an actual problem. The problem is that sometimes we have excess water. We laugh about having excess water, it is a blessing. The amount of water that falls in Bogor in one day equals to that falling in Western Australia in a year.

One day of rainfall in Bogor equals to one year of rainfall in Western Australia. That is the blessing the Almighty bestowed upon us. Yes, in certain parts of our country, in Eastern Indonesia, in certain islands, they face water scarcity. However, we can solve it because we have water. It’s only a matter of whether or not we are able to obtain and preserve it because sometimes, it is us that cannot preserve our nature. We clear forests, we cut down trees on mountains. In the end, water cannot be retained, leading to a drought. Nevertheless, we can overcome such issues. Some countries rich in oil and gas do not have water. What am I trying to tell you, Ladies and Gentlemen? These issues are highly important. These issues are fundamental, and these issues have been underscored by the founders of our nation, yes. In the 1945 Constitution, it clearly states that the land and waters and the natural wealth contained in it shall be controlled by the state , as they truly determine the life of the nation.

Therefore, Ladies and Gentlemen, with what we are facing now—the crisis unfolding in the Middle East, which causes energy prices to soar—we must believe and we must be grateful that our nation is in a much better situation than others. I have studied the data and figures, and on today’s occasion, I suppose it is a good opportunity for me, after studying the figures and receiving reports from my ministers, [to say] that apparently our situation is quite safe. Challenges and difficulties persist, but we can face and overcome them. It is true, Ladies and Gentlemen. Go ahead, you may applaud this good news.

Indeed, Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a phenomenon that we face together. There are groups among the people, our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow citizens, our fellow Indonesians, whose attitude is very uncooperative. We respect them, we have no problem with them. I’ll give an example. Imagine an area, a village. The people of this village saw the need to build a bridge, then the majority of the villagers decided to build it and work together to build it. However, there was a group of people who refused to build the bridge. Well, it is not a problem. Those who want to build the bridge, they should do so. For those who refuse to work together, it is not a problem. They are allowed to sit down, watch, or do anything, even to express criticism. However, what I do not understand is when some people are building a bridge, there are others who sit around, refusing to build the bridge, but they give criticism, “You’re a loser. You use the wrong timber. Don’t put it there. You use the nail wrong, it should be over here. Wrong twigs.” Everything is wrong. But this does not make the bridge construction complete, does it? For those of us who are building the bridge, how should we respond? Should we be nervous? “You’re a fool. You want to build a bridge, stupid.” Yes, I might be stupid, but the people of this village asked for a bridge. I am building the bridge for our people.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, this phenomenon occurs in many countries, but I will later explain that this phenomenon has occurred not for a year or two. It has occurred for hundreds of years. When we were disturbed, colonized by foreign nations, there were always some of our people who made it easier for foreigners to colonize us, to rob our resources, to enslave us. It was the doing of our brothers and sisters. It is not a new phenomenon but a regular one. The seeds of envy, resentment—they are a part of us. They exist. We must not be surprised by this.

The current problem is technology. Now, with technology, with AI technology, artificial intelligence, with digital information technology, one person can own a thousand accounts. They can purchase tools that don’t cost too much. The number of accounts can grow to more than a thousand, as if… so, Ladies and Gentlemen, what makes things a bit complicated is that 100, 200, perhaps 1,000, or perhaps 5,000 people can create a commotion. This is called the echo chamber. There are intelligent studies on this matter, about how to destroy another country. They used to send troops and throw bombs, but now it is not necessary. It is possible through social media play, through defamation, hoaxes. AI can make someone say what they do not say. It often happens to me. I don’t have a good voice, and I cannot sing, but on YouTube, there is a video of me singing with a melodious voice. I was taken aback. I thought it was great. It is good if it brings benefits, but what about it does not bring benefits? What’s more, there videos of me delivering a speech in Mandarin, delivering a speech in Arabic. Extraordinary. It was during the campaign period, if I’m not mistaken, in the eastern salient of Java. I thought they would benefit me, so I kept quiet. If it benefits us, we will stay silent, won’t we?

No, what I mean to say is that this is a problem to us. We are vigilant. We will accept the corrections. If people slander or mock us, think of it as a warning so that we remain vigilant. Prabowo is stupid, well, I must be vigilant. If I am stupid, it means I must gather clever people to help me, doesn’t it? Prabowo… what did they say last time? Prabowo is strongheaded. If people say I was strongheaded, I must take it as… right? I tried feeling my head, and it turned out it’s hard. If they say something, it means I must do something. Sometimes being strongheaded is needed in a job. Now, people say that the people of Iran are strongheaded. The fighters of Iran are strongheaded. They get threatened multiple times, attacked multiple times, and recently… but they did not—I do not interfere with the domestic politics of other countries, but to a nation, sometimes being strongheaded is necessary. Back then, our founding figures were strongheaded. They would rather die than be colonized again. Strongheaded. They refused to be colonized again. Strongheaded. Our leaders were strongheaded. This country is non-negotiable. Others must not intervene.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we must respond with composure. We must respond with wisdom. However, we must uphold our principles. The principles of the state, we must stick to these principles. There is no state without laws, there is no state without a constitution. Without a constitution, there is no state. There is only power, brute force of the wild, the law of the jungle, the law of weapons, and our people are against that.

All elements that hold responsibility, that are wise, must work hard, must fight to uphold the constitution, laws based on agreements, and laws based on consensus. Consensus means agreement. Our great agreement, our bright agreement recorded in history was made twice. In 1928, the Youth Pledge—one homeland, one nation, one language. A great consensus. We did not want to be divided and picked apart. The Javanese, the Ambonese. We are one, one nation, the Indonesian nation. One homeland, one [nation], one language, Indonesian language. A great consensus. We did not choose the majority language. The democratic principle everywhere uses the rule of the majority. Back then, the Javanese or the people of Javanese ethnicity, who made up the majority, could have insisted to use the Javanese language as the national language. Our leaders were very wise. Soekarno, a Javanese, said no. professor Soepomo, a Javanese, said no. Our founders in the past had such great vision.

We chose the language of a very small ethnic group in Sumatra, from Riau. Malay became the national language, and the majority of the people accepted it, that made us have a unifying language. From Sabang to Merauke, people speak Bahasa Indonesia everywhere. The language has now even been accepted at the UN. If I’m not mistaken, last year our language was officially recognized by the UN as a language acknowledged by UNESCO.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the second greatest consensus of our country that involved the majority is in 1945 when our founders drew up the constitution. At that time, the founders formulated Pancasila as the ideology of Indonesia. We established as a country, a republic, without any official religion or the majority religion, but instead recognized all religions as respected. That is the strength of Pancasila.

Thus, we should hold on these major consensuses. The country was established through a democracy. Democracy means sovereignty is in the hands of the people. There’s no problem with that. If a government is drifting into wrong directions, then replace it through regulated mechanisms, properly and peacefully. It can be done through general elections, alright. It can also be done through impeachment, no problem. But impeachment must go through the proper channels and procedures, namely through the House of Representatives (DPR), the Constitutional Court, and the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR). It can be carried out without issue. In our history, there have been several transitions. Bung Karno stepped down peacefully. Pak Harto stepped down peacefully. Gus Dur stepped down peacefully through processes, not through violence.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let us trust the system built by our founders. Trust our own strength. Have trust in Indonesia. I want you all to always remind that. I also want to underline that we as the leader elected by our people, do not have the idea of how big and great Indonesian is. We did not realize how rich our country is, how strong Indonesians are. Without realizing, we trap in our short-term opinion, ambition, and ego. Always thinking what we want as an individual. While hundreds of years ago, such ego and ambition were used by the colonialist to divide us through devide et impera. It is not something new. We have learned about it through history textbook be it the history wars between kingdoms for hundreds of years in China and wars for hundreds of years in Europe, or in the Middle East. Learn history.

My Fellow Countrymen,

Through learning history, we will understand what happens in the world. The war in the Middle East had proven that a single strait, the Strait of Hormuz can determine the fate of many nations and influence oil prices. One strait spanning 33 miles or about sixty kilometers right now is under control by a single country. But are we aware? Are we aware that 70 percent of East Asia’s energy need and 70 trade passes through Indonesian waters? Are we aware that the Malacca Strait, the Sunda Strait, the Makassar Strait, and others are part of Indonesia’s seas? Are we all aware? Do we even realize how important Indonesia is? Do we realize how central Indonesia is for seventy percent of energy for Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, the Philippines? So, ladies and gentlemen, we must understand that we are always in the world’s spotlight. The purpose of this briefing is to remind you the importance of our role. We must lead this nation, manage it well, accurately, and reliably.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Several days ago, in a meeting to discuss actions to face global crisis which has triggered global energy supply disruptions, we came to understand that Indonesia boasts a significantly robust economic power. I will invite several ministers to explain more about it later so we all can understand regardless our position and institutions. After that, we have announced several measures to curb fuel consumption, for the time being. This short-term measure applies for 12 months ahead. After a year, we will grow stronger. We will get to the details later but the point is we are ready and strong to face the next 12 months since we have learned the global situation. Oil and gas resources for Indonesia are not heavily dependent on Strait of Hormuz route. We can seek other alternatives, especially since we have very strong domestic capabilities.

There are problems that we have to face together and for that I am truly thankful for my team, minister of economy which I think very capable of doing the tasks. They told me to be rest assured since fuel subsidy program will continue to be implemented for the sake of the people. We will carry it on for the sake of 80 percent of Indonesian people. Meanwhile, the rich people must buy fuel based on the market price, not buying the subsidized fuel. We will stand for those weak in the economy not for the rich. Once again, I thank my minister. I believe this issue is only temporary.

Another point is that we should not become a lazy nation. Let us do self-reflection. We have been long blessed by God the Almighty with resources so we become more lay back to face the future. Whatever will be, will be, not really thinking about tomorrow. Pak Bahlil said not to worry but it does not mean to be relax on everything, no. We must work and be vigilant.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I take the current crisis as an opportunity. Crises, hardships, challenges, and obstacles are opportunities that drive us to work better, harder, more efficient. We should not spend budget for unnecessary things. There should be no more budget leakage, and corruption. We must gather our power.
I have ordered Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology. I have ordered university professors. Universities must now take action, and they already are. We now have technology, technology to clean up the waste we ourselves produce, and it’s not too expensive. There’s no need for us to buy overly expensive technology from abroad. Within 2–3 years, we will resolve the waste problem across Indonesia. There will be no city, no road, no part of Indonesia that smells of garbage. We will solve the waste problem from Sabang to Merauke, ladies and gentlemen.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we already have a plan. We have a clear strategy but this global crisis, for me, is an opportunity. It pushes us to move faster and makes us focus. It shows that our strategy is correct, but we must accelerate it. We must speed up our transition to renewable energy, our energy must come from Indonesia itself. And once again, we are grateful to Allah the Almighty.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have received new data just in the past two or three days, our reserves are very large. Even our coal reserves are abundant. And from coal, we can produce diesel fuel. We can produce gasoline from coal, from cassava, from corn.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

So, in two or three years, please record my statement so no one will say I could only talk without action. There is a recording. Everything I’ve said has a proof and calculation. I said that I plan to build 1,000 fishing villages. By December 2026, we will check the result. You all can later ask me how many fishing villages have been completed.

So, don’t think my job is easy. For those who want to be a president, congratulations. Really. I’m already committed, so I have to work hard now. I have no days off. Some say I travel abroad for leisure. It’s not. I travel to secure oil, I have to go everywhere. We went to Japan recently, and we succeeded. I’m going to depart again soon to another country. When I leave, you know that I’m going to secure resources. But thankfully, before I depart, the advanced team ensures everything is set.

So I am confident. For me, there’s no dark Indonesia. There’s no such thing. Indonesia is bright. Even when many countries are struggling…No need to applause, that’s fine. Because, ladies and gentlemen, you know now if a third world war were to happen, which countries would be safe? Indonesia is among the top. Now, go to Bali you’ll see how many Russians are there, how many Ukrainians.

We are planning to create a special financial center, and we are looking for a location. Pak Luhut suggested Bali, well, Pak Luhut really likes Bali, but aren’t we all. However, this idea that he has been discussing with me for years is about to realize since other countries have to seek another investment destination for money that was initially planned to be invested in the Middle East. Which countries are not at war right now? Tell me. Indonesia is one of the most attractive.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to stress that Indonesia has many potentials which should drive us to work harder and more carefully, that’s why I invited all of you into this meeting to unify our vision and work plan. We should break the silos. You must not only think about the interest of your own department, ministry, or institution. We must work together.

That’s why we are all moving toward a seamless government that works quickly, integrally, and smoothly, no longer work in narrow, sectoral ways of thinking. This is the purpose of this meeting. The points I want to convey before we go into more detail are that, as I mentioned earlier, we must also adjust, when necessary, to global fuel prices. But clearly, the interests of the lowest-income people will be protected. Then, we take steps to secure fuel.

What we have decided and what I can announce now is that the 2026 Hajj organization, unless the Saudi government determines otherwise. If this year’s Hajj is organized, we will ensure that the cost of Hajj is reduced by around Rp2 million. Even though jet fuel prices have increased, we are willing to lower the Hajj cost this year. This is the Government’s commitment to protect the lowest-income citizens.

Currently, we are making progress, and alhamdulillah, I have received reports that the Hajj waiting list is no longer 48 years. Starting in 2026, the maximum waiting period will be 26 years. And I will strive to make it even shorter.

For the first time in history, Indonesia has been given the honor of owning land within the holy city of Mecca. The area, according to the Minister of Religious Affairs, is now 45 hectares total, combining the old and new land. Are employees of Danantara here today? But Pak Rosan is abroad, right? Yes, approximately 45 hectares. On this 45-hectare land, we will build an Indonesian Hajj village, with several dozen towers that can accommodate pilgrims. I have already submitted a request, and in principle it has been approved, asking the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to grant Indonesia a dedicated Hajj terminal. This terminal will be exclusively for our Hajj pilgrims so they can enter and exit more quickly.

Is the president director of Garuda Indonesia here? I have instructed Danantara to approach Saudi Air so Garuda Indonesia and Saudi Air can form a joint venture. Currently, Garuda Indonesia’s flights for Hajj and Umrah carry pilgrims to the Holy Land but return empty. This is neither economical nor logical. Saudi Arabia does the same, returning our pilgrims to Indonesia with empty planes. I said, why not cooperate? Form a joint company consisting 50 percent Saudi, 50 percent Indonesian. That way, flights to Saudi Arabia and back are fully utilized. Prices can be reduced further, and travel time shortened.

This must be executed. Has it been done yet? I gave this instruction roughly two months ago. The Government must act quickly. Soon, the president director of Garuda will report to me, he will lose more hair [jokingly].

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have also instructed the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources after I received reports that there are hundreds of unregistered mining operations or unclear mining permits (IUPs) in protected forests and other forest areas. I checked, and I also consulted the Minister of Forestry. Thankfully, the Minister of Forestry is doing a good job. He has not issued permits for logging. Is the Minister of Forestry here? I see his eyes speaking. I don’t ask for your political party affiliation.

So, there are hundreds of similar cases. Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, immediately conduct an evaluation. If you find anything suspicious, revoke all those permits, revoke them all. We no longer have time to be overly lenient. There is no room for leniency now.

We are only defending national interests and the interests of the people. Personal interests, friends’ interests, family interests, and group interests are later. Conduct the evaluation immediately. How many days before you report back to me? Two weeks? That’s too long. That won’t do. I give you a week. We will revoke all problematic mining permits. Any principles or permits that are not in order will be revoked. They must be under the state control, and then we can strengthen our institutions and agencies.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

That concludes my remarks. Therefore, I thank you. Members of the press, I believe it’s time for your coffee break. You may leave in an orderly manner. Protocol Officers, please serve them with plenty of snacks and tea so they are happy. I also want to have a 5-minute coffee break.

(DH/RAS/MUR)