Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR) Commission IV convened a meeting today with Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni to address the persistent flooding issues plaguing Sumatra. The session quickly turned contentious as a council member brought up the minister’s suitability for his cabinet position.
Rahmat Saleh, a member of DPR Commission IV, starkly reminded Minister Antoni of two recent ministerial resignations in the Philippines, a neighboring country. These high-profile departures, he noted, stemmed from a scandal surrounding flood prevention infrastructure projects.
“On November 18, under Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s cabinet in the Philippines, two ministers stepped down because they felt incapable of handling the situation,” Rahmat asserted during the meeting with Raja Juli at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Thursday, December 4.
Saleh further articulated his belief that a minister who acknowledges their inability to fulfill duties should consider resignation. “It is a noble act, in my opinion,” he added, subtly challenging Minister Antoni’s continued tenure amidst Sumatra’s environmental crises.
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The discussion then shifted to Raja Juli’s presentation, which projected a significant reduction in deforestation rates by 2025 compared to previous years. Following this presentation, the politician from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Rahmat Saleh, sharply criticized the Ministry of Forestry’s stance.
“The message we gather strongly suggests that the Ministry of Forestry, in this context, still does not consider deforestation or illegal logging to be the primary cause of flooding,” Rahmat stated, expressing concern over what he perceived as a potential misdiagnosis of Sumatra’s environmental challenges.
Earlier, Minister Raja Juli Antoni had claimed that Indonesia’s deforestation figures were set to decrease by 2025 compared to the previous year. He supported this claim by referencing preliminary Ministry of Forestry data valid up to September 2025.
“Indonesia’s deforestation rate up to September 2025 is projected to decrease by 49,700 hectares, representing a 23.01% reduction compared to 2024,” Raja Juli announced during the DPR Commission IV meeting at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday, December 4.
However, Raja Juli also clarified that these figures were provisional, extending only to September 2025. The Ministry of Forestry, he assured, plans to conduct a comprehensive re-evaluation of these deforestation statistics by the end of December 2025.
The Secretary General of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) further elaborated that this projected decline in deforestation was also evident in three provinces severely affected by floods and landslides: Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, suggesting a positive trend in these vulnerable regions.
Summary
Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR) Commission IV convened a meeting with Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni to address Sumatra’s persistent flooding issues. During the session, Rahmat Saleh, a commission member, challenged Minister Antoni’s suitability for his role by referencing two Philippine ministers who resigned amidst flood prevention project scandals. Saleh implied that a minister who feels incapable of handling their duties should consider resignation.
Minister Antoni subsequently projected a 23.01% reduction in Indonesia’s deforestation rate, amounting to 49,700 hectares, by September 2025, including in flood-affected provinces. However, Rahmat Saleh criticized this stance, perceiving that the Ministry of Forestry might not consider deforestation or illegal logging as the primary cause of flooding. Antoni clarified that these deforestation figures are provisional and will undergo a comprehensive re-evaluation by the end of December 2025.
