JakartaPost-Feb 3
President Prabowo Subianto has ordered the Indonesian Army to focus on supporting his administration’s goal of national food security. In a videoconference with Army leaders on Monday, Prabowo said soldiers could be deployed to help convert unused land into paddy fields. “During the leadership meeting, we received a briefing from the President in which he focused on the issue of food,” Army chief of staff Gen. Maruli Simanjuntak said after the meeting, as quoted by Antara. Maruli said the Army’s leaders would soon follow up on the commander in chief’s order, including through collaborations with state-owned plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara III and the Forestry Ministry to ensure the legality of the government’s food estate program. The Army has assisted in developing the program in a number of provinces, including Lampung and West Java. In the three months since he took office, Prabowo has made efforts to expand the role of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in several public programs, including his flagship free nutritious meal program for schoolchildren and pregnant women. Lawmakers from his big-tent coalition are also preparing legislation that would allow the President to appoint active military officers to senior positions in government, dismantling some of the safeguards that were put in place after the authoritarian Soeharto regime was overthrown in 1998. Read more at:
https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2025/02/03/prabowo-orders-army-to-work-on-food-security.html.
