December 6, 2025 | 08:59 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto plans on bringing in 200 helicopters beginning January 2026. "This week, five new helicopters have arrived," said Prabowo while attending a Golkar Party anniversary in Jakarta, Friday, December 5, 2025.
Prabowo mentioned that the government had already brought in five C-130 J Hercules aircraft several months ago, and Airbus A400 a few weeks ago.
The head of state said helicopters have been valuable in assisting disaster management in Aceh, West Sumatra, and North Sumatra.
Prabowo claimed that the government could deploy 50 helicopters to disaster areas. "Perhaps a few months, years ago, no one could predict that the country would be capable of deploying 50 helicopters," he said.
Despite the disasters that have devastated much of northern Sumatra and killed over 800 people, Prabowo claimed that Indonesia is a resilient country in the wake of catastrophes.
The president claimed that the government is present when the public is facing a disaster. "We have proven that when our people are in trouble, state instruments make haste to respond immediately," he said.
Prabowo also alluded to what he described as elite groups who often mock and ridicule leaders who procure weapon systems (alutsista). "Why did Prabowo buy so many alutsista, for what?" he said.
President Prabowo said natural disasters are inevitable as Indonesia is located in the "ring of fire."
"This is our challenge. We must be ready to face the worst conditions, we must be prepared. At a time of disaster, catastrophe, or war, we can't just walk into a store and order a helicopter, none of that," he said.
According to Prabowo, leaders must think ahead. It is the leader's duty to plan. "A leader's task is to lead, calculate, and plan," he added.
Floods and landslides have hit three provinces in Sumatra; Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, since Tuesday, November 25, 2025.
According to the Indonesian Disaster Data Geoportal owned by BNPB, accessed at 06:58 a.m. local time on Saturday, December 6, 2025, the death toll rose to 883, an increase of 47 victims in a single day.
The data recorded 2 more people missing in the floods and landslides, bringing the total to 520 people unaccounted for. The number of injured also doubled from 2,200 to 4,400 on early Saturday.
The floods and landslides affected 51 districts/cities across Sumatra. To date, at least 121,000 houses have been reported damaged. Furthermore, 1.1 thousand public facilities, 270 healthcare facilities, 509 educational facilities, 338 places of worship, 221 buildings or offices, and 405 bridges have been destroyed by floods and landslides.
Read: Sumatra Disaster Death Toll Climbs to 883 as Hundreds Still Missing
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