Erick Thohir Appoints TNI General as Bulog CEO

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir has appointed Major General TNI Novi Helmy Prasetya as the President Director of the Public Logistics Agency or Bulog. Novi replaces Wahyu Suparyono, who previously served as the president director since September 10, 2024, or held the position for less than five months.

In addition, Hendra Susanto was also appointed as the Finance Director of Bulog, replacing Iryanto Hutagaol. The decision to replace the Bulog board of directors is stated in the Decree of the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Number SK-30/MBU/02/2025 dated February 7, 2025. Previously, Novi served as the Territorial Assistant to the Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. Meanwhile, Hendra previously served as the Deputy Chairman of the Audit Board.

Not only the board of directors, but the supervisory board of Bulog was also reshuffled. One of them is Wicipto Setiadi, who was replaced by Verdianto Iskandar Bitticaca, a retired police officer with his last position as the Chief Assistant of Police Operations.

Bulog Public Relations Manager Andrew R Shahab, when contacted on Saturday (8/2/2025), in Jakarta, confirmed that the current president director of Bulog is an active high-ranking TNI officer. When asked about Novi's tenure as the president director of Bulog, he did not provide a straightforward answer.

"The term of assignment (as Bulog's main director) is determined and regulated according to the assignment from the Ministry of SOEs," he said.

Bulog has a heavy task in the near future, namely absorbing domestic rice and paddy as much as 3 million tons of rice equivalent. To carry out this task, the government has allocated Rp 16 trillion for Bulog. The funds to absorb the rice and paddy come from the 2025 State Budget (APBN) (Kompas.id, 8/2/2025).

Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman stated that in the coordination meeting it was agreed that Bulog must absorb 3 million tons of rice equivalent by April 2025. This is considering the significant increase in national rice production, especially in January-March 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.

"Bulog is also required to purchase dry harvested unhusked rice (GKP) from farmers at the government purchase price (HPP), which is Rp 6,500 per kilogram. This is to maintain national food stability and the welfare of farmers, especially during the main harvest season," he said through a press release.