September 13, 2026 | 10:15 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Lt. Gen. Suharyanto denied reports that President Prabowo Subianto's administration slashed the disaster response budget. According to Suharyanto, funding for emergency disaster management has no limits.
At the BNPB, Suharyanto explained, efficiency measures apply solely to routine institutional expenses like official travel and meeting catering. Meanwhile, he maintained that the central government fully backs disaster response operations with unlimited resources tailored to real-time ground needs.
"The budget for disaster management has no limits. The efficiency policy is for routine office expenses or business trips. However, for disaster operations, whatever is needed in the field, we work on it and it is fully supported by the government through the Ministry of Finance," Suharyanto said in a written statement on Saturday, September 12, 2026.
He cited the mobilization of aerial assets as an example of this unrestricted financial support. The BNPB, he noted, deployed an air fleet to bolster wildfire prevention and firefighting operations across Central Kalimantan.
An aerial task force remains on standby with operational water-bombing units, including a Kamov KA-32AO (UR-CSM), an SA330J Puma (N-814AR), a Sikorsky S-61N (C-FIZA), and an AS 332L Super Puma (C-FPUM). Meanwhile, routine maintenance is underway for an AS350B3 patrol aircraft (PK-KIA) and a Blackhawk EH-60A water-bombing unit (ZK-HKU).
For Weather Modification Operations (WMO), the BNPB's C206B EX aircraft (PK-FPU) alongside the Ministry of Environment's CASA (A-2103) flew one sortie each over high-priority targets, including East Kotawaringin Regency, Katingan Regency, and Palangka Raya City.
The BNPB’s overall budget allocation has been trending downward annually. Under President Prabowo Subianto's administration, the figure reached its lowest level in at least a decade following broad government efficiency measures.
The BNPB’s budget dropped from Rp4.91 trillion in 2024 to Rp2.01 trillion in 2025. In 2026, the allocation shrank further to approximately Rp491 billion.
Read: Japan Joins Indonesia Firefighting in First Overseas Mission
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