Prabowo Requests that Concessions Not Be Handed Out Easily Amidst Many Dormant Mines

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto emphasized that the government must be selective and not easily grant concessions, as it has a responsibility to the people.

"The government works for the people. Therefore, we must not be too hasty in distributing concessions. We need to be meticulous in ensuring that those we entrust with concessions have the capability to manage them," Prabowo stated during the National Coordination Meeting (Rakornas) of the Regional Financial Access Acceleration Team (TPAKD) at JIEXPO Jakarta on Thursday (22/10/2026).

This warning comes as Prabowo has observed a number of concessions granted to various parties that remain unused.

He noted that some entrepreneurs request concessions despite lacking the capability to operate in the mining sector.

According to Prabowo, such practices are detrimental to the state, and he is committed to addressing them.

"This is what we are currently organizing. Perhaps in the past, certain entrepreneurs speculated, simply requesting concessions without being mining experts or even understanding mining operations. But they just asked anyway," Prabowo remarked.

"Once granted, they use it, whether for speculation or to put it on exchanges elsewhere. Ultimately, we also suffer as a nation, as projects languish for decades," he added.

Prabowo cited the example of the Masela Block concession in Tanimbar, Maluku, which stagnated for 28 years.

He mentioned that he had previously inquired about the issue with the Japanese parties holding the concession.

"I flew to Japan to meet with prominent figures there. I respectfully asked, as a president should, 'Your Excellency, is Japan, particularly Inpex, still interested in pursuing this? If not, we will have to revoke it, as our people are in great need. Many of our citizens are still struggling to make ends meet,'" Prabowo revealed.

Only after this inquiry did work on the Masela Block project commence.

"Insya Allah, they were present yesterday and promised to start activities within six months. We'll see how that goes," he stated.

Prabowo then instructed Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia to take firm action by revoking the concessions of companies that do not carry out activities.

"I instructed the Minister of ESDM, if there has been no real activity for more than two years, revoke it!" Prabowo declared.