JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) said that the risk of global conflict encourages Indonesia to strengthen energy and food security to face increasing uncertainty.
In the Taruna Nusantara High School Alumni Association (Ikastara) event, AHY said the escalation of geopolitical conflicts, especially in the Middle East, has the potential to disrupt the world's energy distribution routes, including in strategic areas such as the Strait of Hormuz.
This condition is considered to trigger a surge in energy prices which has a chain effect on food prices and other basic commodities.
"If the conflict and war continue in the Middle East, the Strait of Hormuz is difficult to normalize in the near future, then the world's energy and food prices could experience a suffocating increase," said AHY as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, May 23.
According to him, energy has a crucial role in supporting economic activities. Rising energy prices will increase production and distribution costs, resulting in pressure on the price of people's needs.
AHY emphasized the importance of national independence, especially in the energy and food sectors, so that Indonesia is not too vulnerable to external turmoil. Resilience in both sectors, he continued, is an important foundation in maintaining national economic stability.
"Food security must be strengthened. Climate risks such as El Nino also need to be anticipated well so that they do not trigger a prolonged dry season that can disrupt agricultural production and lead to crop failure," he said.
Apart from geopolitical factors, AHY also highlighted other global challenges such as the climate crisis, natural disasters, and technological disruption which also affect the dynamics of the world economy.
He assessed that this condition requires Indonesia to be more adaptive in formulating development policies.
Furthermore, Coordinating Minister AHY said that infrastructure development has a strategic role in supporting energy and food security, including through improving connectivity and logistics distribution efficiency.
With integrated infrastructure, logistics costs can be suppressed so that the distribution of energy and food becomes more affordable.
Menko AHY also stated that strengthening energy and food security must go hand in hand with equitable development, so that the benefits can be felt by all people in various regions of Indonesia.
For this reason, he emphasized that development must reach all regions without exception and every region needs to receive the same attention, so that there is no longer a centralized approach in Java.
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