Jakarta (ANTARA) - Taking a firm stance against rice adulteration, President Prabowo Subianto labelled the perpetrators as "the people's traitors," who were believed to gain trillions of rupiah annually by deliberately mislabeling lower-quality rice as premium.

"I say that (rice fraudsters) are traitors to the people and the nation. Their actions weaken Indonesia and make it poorer. I will not accept it!" the president emphasized during the launch of Red and White Cooperatives in Klaten, Central Java, on Monday.

Before an audience of district heads, governors, and village heads at the launch event, Prabowo instructed Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo and Attorney General S. T. Burhanuddin to act decisively against "rapacious" businesses involved in rice adulteration.

Explaining the modus operandi, the president said these businesses buy medium-quality dried grain from farmers at Rp5,000 per kg as pegged by the government. However, they labelled it as premium quality and sold it above the highest retail price, making hefty profits from the fraud.

"Through this crime, the Indonesian nation suffered losses of Rp100 trillion annually," the president stated.

Prabowo said these losses could instead be used to repair more schools and expressed outrage upon learning that the Rp100 trillion had been "enjoyed by only four to five businesses."

"We can only repair 11 thousand schools this year with the Rp19 trillion available budget. If we have Rp100 trillion each year, we can repair over 100 thousand schools," he remarked, adding that Indonesia's 330 thousand schools could be completely refurbished in 3.5 years with the budget.

Therefore, the president pledged to eradicate the rice fraudsters, describing them as "sabotaging Indonesia's economy" and "stabbing the people from behind."

"I was sworn in before the people to uphold the Constitution and enforce all rules and regulations," Prabowo stated while pledging to stop the rice adulteration.

Last month, Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman stated that the government had identified over 200 rice brands suspected of corrupt practices and reported them to law enforcers.

He explained that during the government's inspection of 268 premium rice brands, 212 of them were found to not comply with quality, weight, or pricing standards.

Related news: Rice fraud can derail sufficiency push, says minister; vows action

Related news: President Prabowo calls for firm action in rice adulteration case

Translator: Genta Tenri M, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
Copyright © ANTARA 2025