November 6, 2025 | 04:42 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said he idolizes former South Korean President Park Chung-hee, whom he lauded for leading the country's industrialization.
Prabowo expressed his admiration during a speech at the inauguration of the New Ethylene Project PT Lotte Chemical Indonesia factory in Cilegon, Banten, on Thursday, November 6, 2025.
"One of my idols, whom I emulate, is General Park Chung-hee, the President of South Korea who led its industrialization," said Prabowo, as observed from the President's Secretariat YouTube channel on Thursday.
The former Minister of Defense said that Park had contributed to the economic development of South Korea, adding that he's a clean and non-corrupt individual. "Well, maybe this is not politically correct, because he was a military man. But if you ask any Korean, [they would say] he has contributed a lot to the economic development of Korea," said Prabowo.
Prabowo admitted that he's striving to lead a government free of corruption, just like Park did. He believed his aides worked to create a graft-free government.
"They want to set an example for future generations. A clean and non-corrupt government so that we can carry out massive development," he said.
Prabowo inaugurated the New Ethylene Project PT Lotte Chemical Indonesia factory in Cilegon, Banten. Prabowo said the launch marks a proud achievement for Indonesia, and the government is committed to supporting foreign investment.
The project undertaken by the South Korea-based company is the fifth global-scale plant, which has become the largest modern petrochemical facility in Indonesia.
PT Lotte Chemical Indonesia (LCI), built on an area of 107.8 hectares or around 1.08 million square meters, spent approximately US$4 billion in investments.
LCI targets production capacity for a number of strategic petrochemical products. The factory is designed to produce 1,000 kilotons per year (kTA) of ethylene, 520 kTA of propylene, 350 kTA of polypropylene, and 140 kTA of butadiene.
The facility will also produce 400 kTA of BTX (benzene/toluene/xylene), employing tens of thousands of workers. The fifth plant, after those in Korea, Mexico, the United States, and Malaysia, will open up a global network for chemical sales, which posted total revenue of US$56 billion in sales last year.
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