InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Ribka Haluk has dismissed claims that President Prabowo Subianto instructed regional governments in Papua to plant oil palm.

Ribka emphasized that the President’s directives focus on accelerating regional development, strengthening food security, and improving public welfare, not mandating specific commodities.

“There is an opinion circulating that the President ordered oil palm cultivation in Papua. That is not true,” Ribka said, as quoted by InfoSAWIT from Detik on Thursday (January 8, 2026).

She referred to a December 16 meeting at the State Palace involving ministers and regional leaders from six Papuan provinces and 42 regencies and cities, where the President called for a unified understanding of Papua’s development priorities.

Papua, Ribka said, has diverse food-security commodities, including sago, cassava, rice, taro, and other tubers, which can also be processed into higher-value products such as ethanol. (T2)