President Jokowi At The 50th Anniversary Of The PDIP: Indonesia's Success Takes Over Freeport To The Rokan Sejahteraan Rakyat Block

Indonesia's Freeport mining area. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo in his remarks at the PDIP Anniversary commemoration showcased Indonesia's success in taking over two state assets, the Rokan Block and Freeport from foreign control. Jokowi said that with the takeover of these two assets he wanted to industrialize so as to increase state revenue and prosper the Indonesian people.

"Some of the big assets we have, such as Freeport, which has been owned by Freeport McMoran from America for 50 years, for the past 3 years, the majority of which we have, namely 51.2 percent," he said in his remarks at the 50th PDIP Anniversary Commemoration which was broadcast virtually, Tuesday, January 10.

Jokowi added that he did not want the mining products to be taken over and managed outside Indonesia so that the profits made did not have a maximum impact.

"Don't let the mines be in Papua, the smelters are in Japan, Spain and we don't get anything. There are only a few taxes, few royalties, fewer dividends, no employment opportunities," Jokowi continued.

After being taken over by Indonesia, Jokowi continued, currently PT Freeport employees are dominated by 98 percent of Indonesian workers with 41 percent of workers coming from Papuan land.

Apart from Freeport, Jokowi also said that currently Indonesia has also taken over the Rokan Block which was previously controlled by an American company, Chevron.

"This has also been managed by Chevron for 97 years from the United States and is currently 100 percent taken by us and managed by Pertamina," he explained.

Not only Rokan, the Mahakam Block which was previously controlled by Total for 43 years has also been controlled 100 percent by Indonesia and managed by Pertamina.

"What I see in the field is Rokan, 100 percent now all of his workers are from Indonesia and yesterday there were an additional 12,500 new workers in the Rokan Block because we want to drill more existing wells," concluded Jokowi.