Said Didu: It's Difficult For People To Get Cooking Oil, Proof That Food Is Controlled By Oligarchs

JAKARTA - Former Secretary of the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises Muhammad Said Didu revealed that the scarcity of supply that has spread to the soaring price of cooking oil in the country is proof that food is controlled by certain groups.

Due to the subsistence of cooking oil, the prices of food commodities that are in contact with oil raw materials have also soared.

"The cooking oil case is proof of how dangerous it is if food is controlled by a handful of people who are part of the oligarchy," said Said Didu, quoted on his Twitter account, @msaid_didu, Thursday, March 17.

The government through the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Muhammad Lutfi has taken a number of steps to resolve the cooking oil crisis that has occurred since the end of 2021.

In addition to checking supplies to the field, the Trade Minister leveled the selling price of cooking oil, held market operations, and invited the National Police to inspect cooking oil factories. However, until now the supply and price of cooking oil is still bothering the community.

Said Didu encouraged the government to cooperate with State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) to overcome the problem of scarcity of cooking oil in the country. The SOEs dealing with food are BULOG or ID FOOD.

"The state must be present to secure food through SOEs," he said.

The lack of abating of the current cooking oil crisis has made the DPR wonder. The invitation was finally sent to the Minister of Trade so that he could attend the DPR for a cross-commission joint meeting. However, twice the invitations sent by the Minister of Trade did not come.

The Trade Minister reasoned that he could not attend the first invitation because it was close to a work visit out of town to check the availability of cooking oil.

While the second invitation was the absence of the Minister of Trade in the DPR because he had to attend a limited meeting with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and other relevant ministers.

"Secondly, I attended a meeting which was followed by coordination meetings to ensure that cooking oil is available to the public," he said when met at Pasar Senen, Central Jakarta, Thursday, March 17.