Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has issued a critical assessment of the points made by President Prabowo Subianto in his 2026 State of the Nation address to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) of the Republic of Indonesia.
Walhi believes that President Prabowo's narrative of economic success, food self-sufficiency and commodity exports remains trapped in an exploitative paradigm that sacrifices environmental safety and people's rights.
Walhi National Campaigner for Food and Essential Ecosystems, Musdalifah Jamal, stated that the success of development cannot be measured solely by economic growth, increased foreign exchange or production surpluses, but must also be measured by the state's ability to maintain environmental carrying capacity and ensure people's rights to a living space. Claims of accelerating food self-sufficiency are still built on approaches that pose a high risk to environmental sustainability and agrarian justice. Large-scale food estate projects and the development of monoculture agriculture continue to drive forest clearing, reduce biodiversity and ignore long-established local food systems.
"In President Prabowo's speech, the most important thing was whether the various policies and programs implemented were able to guarantee people's livelihoods, not destroy the environment, ensure the protection and recognition of community-managed areas as a source of food for survival. When vital ecosystems are destroyed, the impacts are directly felt by communities through water crises, crop failures, loss of food sources, ecological disasters, skin diseases and breathing problems, and increased living costs due to soaring food prices. Therefore, the government needs to ensure that the food programs, policies, and agendas it creates do not sacrifice farmers, fishers, indigenous communities, women and the environment", explained Jamal.
Walhi emphasises that President Prabowo's statement regarding the B50 biodiesel target has the potential to encourage the expansion of palm oil plantations and accelerate deforestation, agrarian conflicts and the appropriation of the living space of indigenous and local communities. On the other hand, the downstreaming agenda the government continues to push still relies on large-scale exploitation of natural resources, while the resulting economic benefits are not commensurate with the environmental damage and social impacts borne by communities in mining areas, industrial areas and plantations.
In this context, Walhi emphasises that law enforcement against illegal mining must target the main actors and corporate networks that profit from environmentally destructive practices, while ensuring transparency in reclamation and post-mining recovery. In line with its criticism of natural resource governance, Walhi also emphasised that the Carbon Economic Value (ECV) and carbon trading schemes carry a high risk of commodifying the ecological function of forests and providing a greenwashing platform for polluting industries without encouraging real emission reductions.
"The climate crisis cannot be solved by treating forests as a commodity and carbon as a commodity. Environmental protection must be based on real emission reductions, ending dependence on dirty energy and industry, and recognising the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities as the primary guardians of Indonesia's ecological landscape". continued Jamal.
Walhi questions President Prabowo's commitment to protecting the environment and promoting public welfare, while at the same time various extractive projects, National Strategic Projects (PSN) and industrial expansion continue to threaten fishing grounds, smallholder agricultural land, coastal areas and small islands.
So in looking at President Prabowo's statements and the reality of the environmental damage Indonesia is facing, Walhi urges President Prabowo to halt development approaches that rely on natural resource exploitation, conduct a thorough evaluation of food estate projects and palm oil concession expansion, accelerate the recognition of People's Management Areas (WKR) along with halting the false solution of carbon trading, and ensure environmental restoration and law enforcement targeting corporations and key actors behind environmental crimes.
For further information contact:
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi)
Jalan Tegal Parang Utara No. 14, Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta
Email: informasi@walhi.or.id, Instagram: @walhi.nasional, x: @walhi.nasional, TikTok: @walhi.nasional
Mobile: (+628115501980)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "81 Kemerdekaan Republik Indonesia: Pidato Kenegaraan Presiden Prabowo Jauh dari Kenyataan".]
