Prabowo's Ambition To Change Cassava To Tebu To Energy Sources Can Be Integrated Technology

President Prabowo (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Gadjah Mada University (UGM) economist Fahmyani highlighted President Prabowo Subianto's speech which promised Indonesia would achieve self-sufficiency in energy within 4 to 5 years.

Even before the inauguration, Prabowo had stated his commitment to achieving energy sovereignty through the development of New Renewable Energy (EBT) by using abundant energy resources.

In his speech, Prabowo mentioned that the energy resources are palm oil which can produce diesel and gasoline, other plants such as cassava, sugar cane, sago, corn, and others.

"The problem is, Indonesia does not have the technology to process these energy resources into EBT," he said in a statement to the media quoted on Tuesday, October 22.

Fahmy said, actually Pertamina has made efforts to biodiesel, which is a mixture of diesel with palm oil. It is supplied with B-20 increasing to B-35, increasing to B-40. This development was stopped because Pertamina's business partner, ENI, stopped working with Pertamina.

He also said that apart from being unachievable in biodiesel development, the palm-based EBT program also has the potential to collide with food programs to produce cooking oil.

"Similarly, the gasification program, which processes coal into gas, also failed after Air Product, a business partner from the United States left Indonesia. The reason is that gasification is considered not to have achieved an economy because the price of the coal market fluctuates," explained Fahmy.

To obtain the technology needed in achieving energy self-sufficiency, he continued, there are two efforts that the government must make.

First, attracting foreign investors who own technology to cooperate with domestic energy companies and SOEs.

The second strategy is to develop domestic research and development by cooperating with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and Indonesian universities to produce the technology needed.

"This effort requires a long-term commitment because R&D takes a long time and a big cost," he added.

He also said that Prabowo's commitment to achieving self-sufficiency in energy must be followed up by ministers related to the Red and White Cabinet in a consistent and sustainable manner.

"Without serious and continuous efforts, Prabowo's commitment to the inaugural speech as President to achieve energy self-sufficiency is nothing more than omon-omon," said Fahmy.