Indonesia Officially Applies B50, Prabowo Says It Is the First Country in the World
KARAWANG - President Prabowo Subianto launched the B50 Mandatory Biodiesel program in Karawang Regency, West Java, Thursday, July 9. He said Indonesia officially became the first country in the world to implement the obligation to use biodiesel with a mixture of 50 percent of vegetable fuel.
"With the launch of this program, Indonesia officially became the first country in the world to implement mandatory biodiesel B50," said Prabowo.
B50 is a mixture of 50 percent solar and 50 percent palm oil-based biofuel. The program is positioned by the government as a step to reduce dependence on imported fuel oil, especially solar.
Prabowo said the launch of B50 was not just a matter of technology. According to him, this program is proof that Indonesia is able to use its own natural wealth for the needs of the people.
"This is proof that Indonesia is able to utilize its own natural wealth for the benefit of its own people," said Prabowo.
He assessed that energy was one of the main conditions for a nation to survive. In addition to energy, Prabowo said food and water were the three things that determined the survival of the country.
According to Prabowo, a country is difficult to be sovereign and prosperous if it is not able to provide food, energy, and water for its own people.
"Without these three, it is difficult for a nation to survive, it is difficult for us to be sovereign, it is difficult for us to be prosperous, it is difficult for us to prosper," he said.
Prabowo said that even before being inaugurated as president, he had asked his team to prepare food and energy self-sufficiency. He said that dependence on imported fuel and food should not be allowed to continue.
"We must be self-sufficient in food, we must be self-sufficient in energy. We must not import fuel, we must not import food," he said.
On that occasion, Prabowo also touched on the role of many parties in the development of B50. He said that this program could not have been carried out without the support of ministries, Pertamina, business actors, researchers, and palm oil farmers.
He said B50 was the result of a long-term work that did not stand alone. The biodiesel program, said Prabowo, had been pioneered since 2008 and continued in the following government.
"This is also the achievement of the governments before me. Because this has been from 2008. That was the SBY government, followed by the Jokowi government, at the end I continued. It's like this is a relay," said Prabowo.