Indonesia's Minister of Public Works delivered a sharp reprimand to the ministry's Director General of Water Resources after rice fields in Bekasi, West Java, were left dry, Kompas.com reported on Saturday, September 26, 2026. The rebuke was reported by Kompas.com, which described the minister as furious over the condition of the farmland.
The reprimand comes as the ministry carries out a broad response to drought conditions across several provinces. According to pu.go.id, the ministry has sent 286,000 liters of clean water to ten areas in West Java to ease the effects of the dry spell. DetikNews reported that the ministry has moved to protect 141,440 hectares of rice fields and has distributed 48.9 million liters of clean water. ANTARA News reported that the ministry also channeled water to farmland in Muaro Jambi.
The dry conditions are not confined to West Java. RRI.co.id reported that more than ten villages in Pekalongan Regency are facing a water crisis, with 1.4 million liters already supplied there.
The reports, taken together, point to a drought affecting farming areas and household water supplies in multiple parts of Indonesia, with the ministry under pressure to keep water flowing to both.
What to watch next is whether the ministry's water deliveries and its efforts to safeguard rice fields are enough to hold off further crop losses as the dry spell continues.
