Allegations Of Downstreaming Ugal-ugalan Not Bringing Welfare, Luhut Wants To Invite Cak Imin To Morowali

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan opened his voice about the accusation of Vice Presidential Candidate number 2, Muhaimin Iskandar, who said the government's reckless downstream program did not bring prosperity to the community.

Cak Imin made the accusation in the fourth debate of the Vice Presidential Candidate which took place on Sunday, January 21.

Through a post on his Instagram page, Luhut said he wanted to invite Cak Imin to visit Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), which is an integrated industrial area for heavy metal processing and is located in Lelilef Village, Weda District, Central Halmahera Regency, North Maluku Province.

Apart from Weda Bay, Luhut also invited Muhaimin to visit the nickel processing-based industrial area in Morowali.

"I actually want to invite Muhaimin to visit Weda Bay and Morowali to see for myself. Looking is believing, rather than lying to the public. What I think is a character that is not good at achieving something in your position to deceive the public with this information," said Luhut, quoted from his Instagram page, Wednesday, January 24.

Luhut claimed, based on his data, the poverty rate in Central Sulawesi in 2015 was 14.7 percent and in the 2023 ton it fell to 12.4 percent.

"What's that? Yes, because of economic growth there. So there was quite an improvement there," he said.

Even so, Luhut said that it was not enough. The government has also established Mining Polytechnics with classy teaching staff from ITB to the University of Indonesia (UI) which has even been sent to carry out industrial practices in China.

"The process of an industry cannot be separated from the quality of education. We have never had quality polytechnics outside Java before. Let's show it! Don't lie, go look there," said Luhut.

Foreign Workers Dominate

Regarding Cak Imin's accusations regarding foreign workers (TKA) who still dominate the mining and purification industry, Luhut dismissed the allegations by explaining the data which stated that the number of foreign workers was only around 10-15 percent.

Foreign workers, said Luhut, are only used for work that cannot be done by the domestic workforce alone.

He also said that the use of foreign workers in the downstream industry had begun to decrease along with intensive training given through education and training.

"Yes, it's a process that we have to go through. Don't be hypocritical and deceive the public by spreading fake news. Moreover, you are a candidate for leader. In my opinion, the character number 1 is not a smart matter," concluded Luhut.