M. Raihan Muzzaki, Jakarta – The head of the Defense Ministry's Information Office, Brig. Gen. Frega Wenas Inkiriwangsaid he had not received any instructions to discuss the Sea Fence Task Force. "For now, I haven't monitored it at all," Frega said when met at his office in Jakarta on Saturday, January 25, 2025.
He said his institution would form the task force if it had received an order from President Prabowo Subianto to Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin. Frega assured that he would inform the public about the plan.
"Normally, if there is an order, I as the spokesman will be called later to interact with the media," he said.
The sea fence task force was proposed by the former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud Md. Mahfud suggested that the government set up a fact-finding task force to resolve the 30.16-kilometer sea fence case in Tangerang, Banten.
According to Mahfud, this task force can act quickly and provide initial conclusions to the authorities for the legal process.
"I propose to form a task force, there is a kind of task force to expedite this matter, but the legal process will still go through legal law enforcement officers. To dig this up, the task force can later provide initial conclusions to law enforcement," he said in the 'Terus Terang Mahfud MD' podcast on his official YouTube channel quoted on Thursday, January 23, 2025.
The task force, he said, could be formed by the Coordinating Ministry or through a presidential decree if necessary. According to him, this case is a serious problem and if the ministers continue to pass the buck, then the president can step in and form a task force to find out the facts.
– Annisa Febiola contributed to this article.