Why Prabowo’s push for clay roofs in ‘rusty’ Indonesia may face a brick wall

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has called for a nationwide drive to replace corrugated zinc roofs with clay tiles, saying he wants to shed what he describes as a “rusty” image while cooling homes, reviving a struggling industry and boosting the country’s appeal to tourists.But analysts warn that the plan – dubbed gentengisasi, or “mass roofing” – could burden the environment, require costly structural upgrades and face resistance outside Java island.“I see in all our cities, subdistricts and almost all our villages, many roofs are made of zinc. Zinc is hot for the occupants, and it also rusts,” Prabowo said on February 2 in a speech to regional leaders in Sentul, Java" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="17880" data-entity-type="location">West Java. “Indonesia wouldn’t be beautiful if all its roof tiles were made of zinc.”He recalled that previous generations had built roofs from thatch, palm fibre or other natural materials that kept homes cool. “Back then, [the houses in] my mother’s village in Minahasa used thatch as roofs. Now, it’s all zinc, zinc.”Prabowo said revitalising the declining roof-tile industry would “not be expensive”.“The raw material for roof tiles is soil, and by mixing it with other waste materials, it can be light and strong,” he said. “I’ve received reports from our professors that coal waste, mixed with soil, would make a good roof tile material.”