Jakarta. Ministerial candidate Zulkifli Hasan revealed Monday that Indonesia's food self-sufficiency dream was on the agenda during his recent meeting with President-Elect Prabowo Subianto. 

Indonesia’s incoming leader Prabowo had gathered dozens of senior politicians and party leaders, including Zulkifli, to his Kertanegara home on Monday for some cabinet makeup talks. Zulkifli’s presence also signals his potential return to the government as minister. The chair of the National Mandate Party (PAN) currently serves as the trade minister.

“Mr. Prabowo has asked me to help with his government,” Zulkifli told reporters, shortly after the meeting.

Zulkifli did not say which ministerial post Prabowo had assigned for him. However, Zulkifli revealed that the meeting touched on a lot of things, including Prabowo’s goal to feed the population without needing to import. Other topics include Indonesia’s target of achieving the so-called golden era by its centennial in 2045.

“Mr. Prabowo has always wanted for Indonesia to be self-sufficient in food, but we don’t have much time. Prabowo also wishes Indonesia to be an advanced economy by 2045,” Zulkifli said.

According to Zulkifli, Prabowo is set to reveal the full line-up of his cabinet after being inaugurated on Oct. 20.

Zulkifli was not the only PAN politician that Prabowo had summoned that day. The party’s deputy chairman Yandri Susanto also came to meet Prabowo. Yandri dropped hints that he was offered to be the minister of villages, saying that he mainly discussed village matters with Prabowo.

PAN is part of the giant alliance of parties -- the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM) -- that backed Prabowo's presidential bid during the February election. PAN’s secretary-general Hendro Purnomo, better known as Eko Patrio, said not long ago that the party deserved a large cabinet representation as they had remained loyal to Prabowo for 15 years. 

Just last week, Prabowo told the 2024 BNI Investor Daily Summit that he aimed to achieve food self-sufficiency by 2028 or about four years after his inauguration. 

“A country should be able to produce the food that it feeds to the people. An independent country must not rely on food imports. I’m committed to food self-sufficiency," Prabowo said at the time.

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