When DPR Calls Trade Minister Lutfi A Toothless Tiger And A Paper Tiger Because Of Cooking Oil

JAKARTA - Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi finally accepted the invitation to a working meeting with Commission VI of the DPR to explain the problem of the scarcity and high price of cooking oil. During the meeting, Lutfi admitted that he was surprised that the cooking oil problem had not been resolved.

Lutfi also said that the policy was to revoke the provision for the highest retail price (HET) for packaged cooking oil in accordance with the direction of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). The policy for revocation of HET is stated in the Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 11 of 2022.

On that occasion, the Minister of Trade also apologized for not attending the summons for a meeting by the DPR RI.

Because of the cooking oil problem, Lutfi was almost forced to summon him if he was not present at the meeting yesterday. Because of this problem, the council members were so angry that they called Lutfi the "Toothless Tiger" and called his policy only "Paper Tiger" because it had no effect on the community.

Responding to Lutfi, Member of Commission VI DPR, Mufti Anam said that he did not believe all of Muhammad Lutfi's explanations. The Mufti also said that the Minister of Trade complements the suffering of the people in the midst of the pandemic due to this problem.

"Thank you very much, because the minister has completed the suffering of the people, sir. Two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic was hit, and suddenly there was a problem with this commodity," said Mufti in a working meeting with the Ministry of Trade, Thursday, March 17.

"On this occasion, at length the minister conveyed A to Z, we don't believe it anymore," he continued.

Initially, Mufti said, the DPR was still trying to believe in Lutfi's policies. However, he said, the Ministry of Trade is like a toothless tiger, has no self-respect in front of the people, and is a producer of cooking oil.

This is because, according to the Mufti, since last January, there have been six Ministerial Regulations issued, but none of them have been realized and have positive implications for the community. "We hope that you can grow our trust. "But we see the Ministry of Trade as a toothless tiger, sir, it has no dignity not only for the people but in the eyes of cooking oil producers," said the PDIP politician.

On the other hand, Member of Commission VI of the DPR Andre Rosiade strongly criticized the issuance of Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) 6/2022 concerning Determination of the Highest Retail Price (HET) for Palm Cooking Oil. The reason is that the Permendag is considered unable to overcome the problem of scarcity of cooking oil in the market.

"The fact is that this policy turns out to be a paper tiger, it cannot solve the cooking oil problem," said Andre in a working meeting with the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi, at the DPR Building, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday, March 17.

As is known, Article 3 of the Minister of Trade Regulation Number 6 of 2022 regulates the HET for cooking oil of IDR 11,500 per liter for bulk cooking oil, IDR 13,500 per liter for simple packaged cooking oil, and IDR 14,000 per liter for premium packaged cooking oil. admitted to finding different facts when monitoring prices in the market.

According to the data he got, the price of cooking oil was still above IDR 20,000 per liter. The Gerindra politician admitted that Trade Minister Lutfi regularly visits the field to see the availability of cooking oil. However, said Andre, cooking oil is available only when Lutfi is in the market. Then, the cooking oil immediately disappeared three hours after reviewing.

"Three hours after you came home, the stock immediately disappeared, it disappeared immediately, that's the truth," said Andre.