ndi Syamsuddin Arsyad or Haji Isam, an infamous businessman from South Kalimantan, has solidified his influence on President Prabowo Subianto’s administration with his huge food estate project in Merauke, South Papua, which President Prabowo visited in early November. And most recently, Prabowo brought in Haji Isam during his meeting with Japanese investors at the State Palace in Jakarta regarding a reforestation project.
During his meeting with around 20 Japanese investors on Dec. 6, President Prabowo discussed various Japanese investment plans in Indonesia, such as reforestation, food estates and the Masela bloc gas project in Maluku, run by Inpex of Japan. In the meeting, Prabowo introduced Haji Isam as “a prominent businessman from Kalimantan”.
Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto explained that Haji Isam was invited to the meeting with the Japanese investors because of his role in Prabowo’s food self-sufficiency program by creating a 1.18 million hectare (ha) food estate in Merauke. Also, Prabowo wanted Haji Isam, partnering with PT Sumitomo Forestry, to take part in the reforestation of a failed food estate land in Kalimantan.
According to media reports, Prabowo has long built relations with Haji Isam, especially since former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo tasked him to lead the national food security program by building food estates in a number of areas in the country. Prabowo and team then proposed a food estate in Merauke, which Jokowi did not approve, choosing instead a location in Central Kalimantan, which eventually failed to produce the expected harvests.
After winning the presidential election in February, Prabowo asked Haji Isam to develop his planned food estate project in Merauke to produce rice. Haji Isam moved fast to realize Prabowo’s order, and through his Jhonlin Group, he imported 2,000 excavators from China to work on the project. Reports have it that the 2,000 excavators cost him around Rp 4 trillion (US$258 million).
Haji Isam’s food estate in Merauke is not the first one in the area. The government under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono initiated a multi-product Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), covering a total area of 2.5 million ha in Merauke, but the project eventually failed. It is not clear, however, whether Haji Isam’s food estate project uses the same location as the failed MIFEE.
The arrangement between Haji Isam and the Prabowo administration for the food estate program is not yet clear. Haji Isam, however, has had some of his men recruited by Prabowo to be his ministers. One of them is Haji Isam’s cousin Amran Sulaiman, Prabowo’s agriculture minister. Amran has now been appointed as agriculture minister three times, with the first two under former president Jokowi.
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