Prabowo Says Rural People Don't Use Dollars, PDIP: Not Accurate

Chairman of the PDIP DPP for Honorary Affairs, Komarudin Watubun/DOK Wardhany Tsa Tsia-VOI

JAKARTA - Chairman of the PDIP DPP for Honorary Affairs, Komarudin Watubun. responded to President Prabowo Subianto's statement that the villagers did not use the dollar currency in response to the weakening of the rupiah to penetrate the figure of Rp17,000 per US dollar (USD).

According to him, Prabowo's statement was not appropriate because although the daily life of the villagers did not use dollars, the plummeting value of the rupiah exchange rate resulted in a surge in the national cost of living.

"In the context of villagers using rupiah, yes. But in the context of their lives, yes, it has an influence. Because I think it's a basic problem, villagers must also understand. Because with the rupiah value falling like this, it will affect the price of goods will rise," said Komarudin at the DPR building, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday, May 18.

"Imported goods including fuel, fertilizer, electronics, wheat, that eat in cafes buy bread from wheat, of course the price will rise. So yes, if the president in the context of using rupiah exchange tools in the village, yes. But don't forget that now the villages are also many exporters and importers, which we know also have an impact. So I think (Prabowo's statement) is not appropriate because it greatly affects other sectors," he continued.

The member of Commission II of the DPR emphasized that if the price of fuel rises, then automatically all commodity prices will rise. "Now airplanes have also reduced flights a lot. Yesterday from Timika to Jakarta suddenly, Batik, because there were less than 50 passengers, there was an influence. I was in Makassar, the plane to Surabaya had a price increase of so many percent," said Komarudin.

"And the villagers are cool now. Except for the stone age, the villagers live in the village, never go to the city. Now they still go everywhere. So it still has an influence on the lives of the people as a whole," he continued.

Komarudin assessed that the fall in the rupiah exchange rate against the dollar should be a concern for the government to maintain price stability. "Because if the price of goods goes up, the people's income will remain the same, it will also have an impact," he said.

In addition, Komarudin hopes that the President can give answers that give hope to the people. "People now and then are different. If before there was no information outside of government information. Say the new order, only one information, TVRI. So we have no other sources, if we are now sources of information today, the needle fell in Europe, Indonesians know, the villagers know more than me maybe. Because they are on social media every day," he said.

Previously, President Prabowo Subianto spoke out about the weakening of the Rupiah exchange rate against the US Dollar which has now touched the level of Rp. 17,600 per US dollar, the weakest in history. Even though the rupiah exchange rate has fallen very deeply, Prabowo has dispelled negative perceptions related to Indonesia's economy which is predicted to be bleak.

"I am sure now there are always people who are always "Indonesia will collapse, it will be chaos"... People in the village don't use dollars," said Prabowo at the inauguration of the Marsinah Museum in Nganjuk, East Java, Saturday, May 16.