Searching for a President at the National Coordination Meeting

An interesting moment occurred at the 2026 National Coordination Meeting of the Regional Financial Access Acceleration Team (Rakornas TPAKD) at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta, Thursday (22/10/2026). President Prabowo Subianto, who was conducting a roll call of governors and deputy governors, suddenly questioned the absence of West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi.

"Mana Dedi Mulyadi? The one closest to here isn't present, must be busy," said Prabowo. In fact, West Java is the province located closest to the event venue. At the forum, Dedi was only represented by his deputy governor.

Not stopping there, Prabowo also took a jab at East Kalimantan Deputy Governor Seno Aji, whose name was listed on the attendance sheet but who did not appear when called. "Well, this is noted, the travel allowance must be returned," Prabowo said firmly, met with laughter from the attendees.

Dedi's Reason: Handling Forest and Land Fires in Ciremai

A day later, Friday (23/10/2026), Dedi Mulyadi spoke out through a video uploaded to his official Instagram account. He explained his absence was because he was handling forest and land fires (karhutla) on Mount Ciremai.

"I was summoned by the President during the briefing because I was absent. The handling of the Mount Ciremai fire is a top priority on the advice of the State Secretary," said Dedi. He added that he had reported the handling to the Cabinet Secretary.

According to Dedi, the handling of the Ciremai forest and land fires is going well. The fire, he said, has been isolated and has not spread to the forest area. He claimed that the day before, he immediately called the Deputy Minister of Defense while inspecting the location, who then coordinated with all ranks.

3 Helicopters and 1,000 Personnel Deployed

Dedi detailed the deployment of aerial assistance to extinguish the fire. Three water bombing helicopters were dispatched from Bogor today, with one unit heading to Kertajati and two units to Lanud Sukani in Majalengka.

Dedi said he had coordinated with the TNI Commander and the Air Force Chief of Staff the previous night, allowing three water bombing helicopters to be deployed from Bogor today.

In addition, a total of 1,000 joint personnel consisting of residents, TNI, Polri, and volunteers were deployed to utilize both natural and artificial canals in the firefighting effort. Dedi hopes that the optimization of these canals can prevent the fire from spreading should another blaze occur in the future.