Indonesian House of Representatives Commission VI Member Asks Government to Firmly Manage Cooking Oil Distribution Channels

JAKARTA - Member of Indonesian House of Representatives Commission VI, Amin Akram, asked the government to be firm in managing the cooking oil distribution channel. This is to overcome the problem of scarcity and rising commodity prices.

Moreover, said Amin, in terms of production, the raw materials are very abundant. Considering that Indonesia is one of the largest producers of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) in the world.

Amin said, the government also has officers who are paid the state's money. Supposedly, supervision and enforcement of rules can be done.

"Then the producers of CPO, the oil producers, and the government know where it is, the distribution channels. This is what is needed is a matter of government firmness, once again the government's firmness to enforce the rules", he said as quoted from the Indonesian House of Representatives website, Tuesday, February 14.

Amin said, as a large CPO-producing country, Indonesia should not experience a cooking oil crisis like it is today. He calculated that if only 20 per cent of CPO was allocated for cooking oil, this figure would have met domestic household consumption needs.

The rest, continued Amin, as much as 80 per cent can actually be exported or used for other materials.

"However, in reality, the oil crisis that happened yesterday lasted eight months, namely in the last quarter of 2021 to the early quarter of 2022. Then, it was resolved over the past few months with the arrival of MinyaKita", he said.

However, said Amin, the problem recurred. Now, Minyakita has disappeared from the market.

"Now it has disappeared from the market again and many people have asked us about this problem", he explained.

Furthermore, Amin said that there were findings of cooking oil hoarding in several areas, and the government should have taken a firm stance by following up on these findings. As well as, giving sanctions to distributors who are proven to have hoarded cooking oil so that it cannot be distributed in the community.

"Towards those who do this, the government must be firm. If the government is not firm, once again, there are no strict legal sanctions, and producers who carry out hoarding are not deterred. Once again, the law is meaningless, and the sanctions are also meaningless only on paper", he concluded.