Zulkifli Hasan (born 17 May 1962), or colloquially Zulhas or Bang Zul, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is currently serving as Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs since 20 October 2024.

In later life, he would claim to have experienced economic hardship as a child, saying he learned to work hard by selling eggs produced on the farm.

In 2012, he supported a program of the National Mandate Party (PAN) that provided venture capital and training for young entrepreneurs in North Sumatra.

[17] The Forestry Ministry promised to stop issuing new plantation and mine permits in the province and to cooperate with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to enforce the law.

[citation needed] In January 2011, Zulkifli announced the Forestry Ministry would implement a 2-year moratorium on the issuance of permits for the conversion of primary and peat forests.

[20] In May 2013, the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) claimed data from the State Audit Agency (BPK) showed the Forestry Ministry had lost or misappropriated Rp 7.1 trillion ($731 million) in 2012.

Zulkifli said Ford was emotional because he wanted illegal loggers swiftly arrested at Tesso Nilo National Park in Sumatra.

[23] During Zulkifli's tenure as forestry minister, forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan were burned to clear land for plantations, causing hazardous haze that reached neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

So, when there is burning, fire spreads very quickly... Due to the dry season, it takes time for firefighters to locate the water sources.

[27] In March 2014, Zulkifli supported calls by the National Police and Indonesian Military for the shooting of people found burning forests if they resisted arrest.

[28] In 2015, anti-haze activist Syahrul Fitra accused Zulkifli of allowing corporations to burn forests and causing the haze crisis.

Annas later revised the proposal, adding some land owned by palm oil businessman Gulat Manurung, who paid a bribe of S$156,000 and Rp 500 million.

[31] Testifying at Annas's corruption trial in April 2015, Zulkifli admitted he had met with the director of PT Duta Palma, Surya Darmadi, to discuss a forest clearing permit.

Surya was linked to the case by Gulat, who said he helped PT Duta Palma to meet with Annas to enable the company to convert 18,000 hectares of land.

[34] Zulkifli was questioned by the KPK on 11 November 2014 over the illegal issuance of a land conversion permit for a luxury housing project in Bogor, West Java.

The Forestry Ministry's director general for planning, Bambang Supijanto, said Zulkifli had rejected BJA's proposal to convert nearly 3,000 acres of forest area for housing projects in Bogor because it lacked some requirements.

[35] Zulkifli sought to improve the performance and image of the Forestry Ministry through two programs: one targeting the growth of agriculture through smallholdings in forest areas, and the other promoting environmental education.

The first was the simplification of the application procedure for the development of smallholdings under the Community Nursery (Kebun Bibit Rakyat, KBR) scheme, introduced in 2010 and simplified in 2011.

[37] Greenomics Indonesia said Zulkfli, during his tenure as minister, granted permits for 1.64 million acres of forest land to be used for farming, including for oil palm plantations.

[40] One of Zulkifli's first tasks as MPR speaker was to lead the inauguration ceremony of Indonesia's seventh president, Joko Widodo, on 20 October 2014.

He was credited for ensuring the event was attended by the losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, who had vigorously rejected the election result.

[41] On 22 December 2014, Zulkifli said protests against then-Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok, based on his religion and race were unacceptable.

[42] In May 2016, Zulkifli called for tighter regulations on the sale of alcohol, saying it has negative social consequences, including death and crimes of obscenity.

[47] In March 2016, Zulkifli said the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement should have no place in Indonesia, but he warned against violence and discrimination.

[55] On 2 September 2015, Zulkifli announced PAN was switching its allegiance to Jokowi's ruling coalition to help the government's programs succeed.

[60][61] The Election Supervisory Agency (Panwaslu) of Muara Enim conducted an investigation and attempted to summon Zulkifli for questioning but he was too busy to attend.

The oldest daughter Futri Zulya Savitri studied in Australia, married a son of Amien Rais, and runs a family business making household and kitchen appliances.

Among their wedding guests were military commander General Gatot Nurmantyo and senior politicians Oesman Sapta Odang, Amien Rais, Hidayat Nur Wahid, Aburizal Bakrie, and Akbar Tandjung.

[77] In March 2015, Helmi Hasan was declared a suspect by the Bengkulu Attorney General's Office for allegedly embezzling Rp 11.4 billion ($870,000) of social aid from the city's 2012-2013 budget.

[90] On 15 November 2017, Zulkifli was awarded the title of Pangeran Kerta Jaya Alam Nata from an organization of residents of Lubuklinggau in South Sumatra.