Prabowo presidency: working groups formed under his administration

The Prabowo Subianto administration has rapidly expanded the use of special task forces (Satgas) as parallel executive structures to promote strategic programs, strengthen presidential control over implementation, and circumvent what the government sees as slow and fragmented ministerial coordination.

Since taking office in October 2024, the administration has created task forces in sectors ranging from downstream industrialization and economic growth to worker protections, food safety, environmental sustainability, disaster recovery, and the energy transition.

In Indonesia, task forces traditionally function as temporary inter-ministerial units created to address issues requiring rapid coordination and direct intervention. Under Prabowo, however, the mechanism evolved into a much more centralized governance instrument, used not only to accelerate policy execution but also to strengthen executive control over ministries and strategic programs.

The expansion of Satgas also reflects a broader structural reality within the Indonesian state apparatus: the presidency does not always fully trust conventional ministerial coordination to achieve policy outcomes quickly enough. Rather than relying solely on ministries, administration increasingly relies on parallel coordination structures with direct reporting lines, cross-sectoral authority, and faster decision-making mechanisms.

Several of the newer task forces, particularly those related to economic acceleration and work mitigation, conduct weekly assessments and report directly to the executive branch, bypassing multiple bureaucratic levels.

Working groups established during the Prabowo administration

• Task Force for Accelerating Downstream Industrialization and National Energy Security

Chair: Bahlil Lahadalia, officially Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM).
This task force is at the center of Prabowo’s industrial strategy. Its main role is to accelerate downstream processing projects for raw materials such as nickel, bauxite, copper and other critical minerals to reduce Indonesia’s dependence on raw material exports.

Beyond industrial policy, the task force also coordinates on strategic energy security issues, including national supply stability and large-scale industrial energy needs. The unit has the authority to coordinate licensing, resolve interdepartmental bottlenecks and oversee enforcement actions against actors seen as obstructing downstream strategic projects.

Politically, the task force reflects the administration’s belief that downstream industrialization is too important to be left to normal bureaucratic coordination alone.

• Working group on forest zone control, January 2025

Chair: Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, officially Indonesia’s Minister of Defense, alongside the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes.

The task force was established to reassert state control over mining and plantation activities operating illegally inside forested areas, particularly those related to permit violations, unregulated land use, and unpaid state obligations.

Unlike a standard environmental initiative, the task force combines defense, law enforcement and prosecutorial institutions, indicating that the government increasingly views illegal resource exploitation as both an economic and governance issue. The broader goal is not only the enforcement of environmental rules, but also the recovery of state revenues and tighter political control over strategic land assets and resources.

• Working group for accelerating the formation of red and white village cooperatives, May 2025

Chair: Zulkifli Hasan, officially coordinating minister for food affairs.

The task force is tasked with accelerating the establishment of 80,081 Koperasi Desa (Kopdes) Merah Putih nationwide under the administration’s food security and rural economy program.

Cooperatives are designed to function as state-linked economic distribution centers at the village level, particularly in agriculture, fertilizer distribution, food logistics, and rural finance.

Although publicly presented as a grassroots economic empowerment program, the initiative also creates a vast nationwide economic coordination network, directly linked to central government.

The national rollout was officially launched in Klaten, Central Java in July 2025.

• Working group for the acceleration of government programs aimed at supporting the improvement of economic growth (P3-MPPE), March 2026

Legal basis: Presidential Decree (Keppres) No. 4/2026
Direction: Airlangga Hartarto, officially Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs, as President I; Prasetyo Hadi, officially Minister of State, as President II; and Rosan Roeslani, CEO of BP Danantara, as vice president.

The P3-MPPE task force functions as the administration’s central economic war room. It was created to accelerate strategic programs considered essential for economic growth, investment realization, industrial expansion and budgetary coordination.

The structure effectively consolidated and expanded the previous P2SP framework introduced at the end of 2025 into a much stronger coordination mechanism at the executive level.

The task force monitors budget absorption, resolves regulatory conflicts between ministries, coordinates investment incentives, and directly supervises strategic economic policies. Among its first measures were import duty relief policies on LPG and plastic raw materials introduced in April 2026.

Structurally, the formation of the P3-MPPE reflects Prabowo’s preference for economic coordination at the executive level rather than relying entirely on existing ministerial processes.

• Working group for the acceleration of rehabilitation and reconstruction after disaster, January 2026

Chair: Tito Karnavian, officially Indonesian Minister of the Interior.

The task force was established to accelerate post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra following major natural disasters.

Its main role is to synchronize reconstruction planning between central and regional governments, accelerate infrastructure recovery and reduce bureaucratic delays in financing and implementing disaster responses.

The creation of this unit reflects the government’s concern that conventional regional coordination mechanisms are often too slow during large-scale recovery efforts.

• Task Force for accelerating the energy transition, March 2026

Chair: Bahlil Lahadalia, officially Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources.

The task force was formed to accelerate Indonesia’s long-term transition strategy to renewable energy while ensuring the process remains aligned with national industrial policy.

Its mandate includes developing 100 GW of solar power capacity, expanding renewable energy infrastructure and converting 120 million electric motorcycles over the next few years.

Beyond climate policy, the initiative is closely linked to Indonesia’s ambitions to become a major manufacturing and supply chain hub for the electric vehicle and battery industries.

• Task Force on Layoff Mitigation and Worker Welfare, May 2026

Legal basis: Presidential Decree (Keppres) No. 10/2026

The task force was established as a rapid response mechanism to manage labor disputes, outsourcing issues, wage disputes and potential mass layoffs amid increasing pressure on the manufacturing sector.

The unit was officially announced at the May Day rally in Monas on May 1, 2026, where the administration presented it as a state instrument capable of directly intervening when labor conflicts threaten employment stability.

Beyond protecting workers, the task force also serves a policy function by allowing the government to more closely monitor industrial tensions during a period of economic downturn and growing employment concerns.

Consolidation of leaders via Satgas

The rapid expansion of task forces under Prabowo illustrates a governance model increasingly focused on consolidating the executive and accelerating policy implementation.

By relying on Satgas rather than just conventional ministerial coordination, the administration benefits from tighter implementation oversight, faster decision-making channels, and greater control over sectors considered critical to economic growth, industrialization, food security, labor stability, and national resilience.

At the same time, the growing reliance on special forces also reveals the structural limits of Indonesia’s conventional bureaucracy, where the presidency increasingly prefers parallel executive mechanisms to ensure that strategic priorities are executed with minimal resistance or delay.