Indonesia on track for 10% growth by 2029, energy envoy Hashim says
The figure will be beyond Prabowo’s 8 per cent target, Hashim says, as he credits the president’s ‘iron will’ in overcoming bureaucracy and corruption
Hailing multiple projects in the works such as social housing and the development of boarding schools for low-income families, Hashim told a forum in Jakarta on Tuesday that his elder brother Prabowo had to go up against “a quagmire of bureaucratic inertia and resistance” after winning the top job in the country on his third try 15 months ago.
Addressing attendees at the South China Morning Post’s China Conference: Southeast Asia 2026, he said: “It’s really the iron will of my president that things have gotten done … It’s been a hard slog.”
Since helming the leadership, Prabowo has rolled out multiple welfare programmes, including the flagship free meals scheme for children and free medical check-ups for the whole population.
Prabowo, according to Hashim, had been ruminating about the nutritious meals programme long before he won last year’s election by securing 58.6 per cent of votes – a margin the envoy said was higher than expected.
“At the moment, only 100,000 kids are being accommodated in 166 schools. The target is to do 500 schools, a maximum of 500,000 kids who are from the poorest of the poor,” Hashim said at a forum fireside chat.