Sixty-seven residents of Wadas Village were arrested after opposing an andesite quarry for the Bener Dam in Central Java. A total of 518 families were evicted to make way for Yogyakarta International Airport. At least 33,626 students across Indonesia suffered food poisoning from the Free Nutritious Meals program. In South Papua, 543,575 hectares of forest land are set to be released for a food and energy estate.

What do these cases have in common?

They are all linked to national strategic projects or programs, commonly known in Indonesia as PSN.

The PSN scheme, first introduced under Joko Widodo and now continued by Prabowo Subianto’s administration, gives a wide range of privileges to projects deemed “strategic for boosting growth and ensuring more equitable development”.

The government overhauled plenty of legal instruments, most notably through the omnibus Job Creation Law, to clear the way for PSN projects. With the full backing of the state, PSN investors benefit from easier permitting, land acquisition, and project security.

This reckless approach has fueled environmental damage, land conflicts, human rights abuses, criminalization, and corruption. The cases mentioned above represent only a fraction of the problems that have followed PSN implementation in many places.

To help the public understand how the PSN scheme works, Project Multatuli created an interactive newsgame titled “PSN for Dummies”.

Here, you get to experience what it feels like to be a PSN investor receiving the government’s red-carpet treatment.

Researcher: Permata Adinda
Game concept developer: Permata Adinda
Game developer: Louis Lugas