Responding to the Threat of an Energy Crisis, the BEM Solo Alliance Urges the Government to Evaluate the Fuel Subsidy Policy

JAKARTA - The Solo BEM Alliance firmly demands the government to immediately evaluate the policy of subsidizing Fuel Oil (BBM) to ensure the accuracy of the target for small people and prevent energy shortages. This demand was voiced collectively by hundreds of student representatives throughout Solo Raya in a Public Discussion Forum entitled "Answering Youth Leadership: Controlling the People's Economy, Caring for the Democratic Space" at the Library Building Hall, Bangun Nusantara University (Univet) Sukoharjo, Monday, June 22.

This strategic forum presents policy observers, Erwina Tri, S.I.Kom., as well as five leaders of student organizations that are members of the Solo BEM Alliance. They are Dimas (President of UNISRI Students), Silvi (President of POLINUS Students), Ahnaf (President of UDB Students), Banu (President of UNIVET Students), and Bunga (Chairman of BEM POLINSADA).

The student-led alliance assessed that the current uncertainty in energy prices and distribution is increasingly putting pressure on small communities due to the management of subsidy policies which are considered chaotic.

The Coordinator of the Solo BEM Alliance Center (Korpus), Dimas, emphasized that energy is a basic right of the people that should not be commercialized for the sake of market profits or certain oligarchic groups.

"We demand the government to immediately evaluate the fuel subsidy policy so that there is accuracy of target for the small people and ensure that there is no shortage that causes an energy crisis. Energy is the basic right of the people, not a commodity that is played for the sake of market interests and certain groups," said Dimas when reading the points of the official statement of the BEM Solo Alliance.

The UNISRI student added that one of the groups most vulnerable to changes in energy policy is workers in the informal and production sectors.

"We urge the government to formulate an energy policy that is truly pro-people, which will ease the burden of small communities, farmers, fishermen, and small business actors who have been most affected. This can only be achieved through proper regulation, optimal supervision and measurable governance," continued Dimas.

Present as a resource person, public policy observer Erwina Tri, S.I.Kom., also provided her critical notes from a sociological and governance perspective related to the vulnerability of the fuel subsidy issue.

"This energy subsidy fraud always repeats itself because of the government's weak political will to fix the distribution leakage. If the government is consistent in implementing transparent and accountable governance, they must dare to open the data of subsidy recipients periodically to the public so that they are targeted," said Erwina.

Closing its official statement, the Solo BEM Alliance stated that it was committed to not staying silent and was ready to consistently monitor this energy policy with all elements of society to ensure the presence of real justice for the people of Indonesia.