Bulog Having Difficulty Distributing Rice To ASN, TNI And Polri, Buwas Asked Sri Mulyani For Help

President Director of Bulog Budi Waseso. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Director of Perum Bulog Budi Waseso hopes to supply rice for the needs of the State Civil Service (ASN) or Civil Servants (PNS), TNI and Polri. Therefore, he asked for the support of the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati to help issue the government's rice absorption policy for the three groups.

Buwas said that this request was intended to get Bulog back into the rice market after it lost Bulog's obligation to distribute rice in the Prosperous Rice (Rastra) program.

Furthermore, said Buwas, the request was also in accordance with the direction of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who asked Bulog to actively absorb farmer's grain.

"I will ask for the support of the Ministry of Finance to realize the President's wishes. We are not asking for money to absorb it, because we can still absorb the costs of bank debt," he said in a virtual press conference, Monday, March 29.

Bulog hopes to prepare at least 10 kilograms (kg) of rice per month for TNI, Polri and PNS throughout Indonesia. According to him, if this could be realized, at least the rice market share that could be pocketed by Bulog would reach 1.4 million tons per year.

"This is our target. Until now there has been no decision regarding the downstream rice of Bulog. There must be a government decision," he said.

Currently, members of the TNI, Polri, and ASN, said Buwas, on average get a rice allowance per month of IDR 7,400 per kilogram (kg). However, the real price of rice consumed is around IDR 12 thousand per kg.

Furthermore, he said that the TNI, Polri and ASN were indirectly disadvantaged by buying rice with government allowances which were below market price.

Buwas also hopes that the Ministry of Finance can increase the amount of rice allowances for ASN, TNI and Polri to Rp. 10,769 per kg. This amount is in accordance with the market price and can be used to buy rice produced by Bulog.

With this allowance, Buwas said, Bulog could prepare rice and it was immediately accepted by the three groups.

"If we get the trust, we will fulfill each head of the TNI, Polri and ASN members and of course we can absorb as much grain as possible from farmers," he explained.

Buwas said that the proposal could assist Bulog in absorbing unhulled rice and rice from the farmers according to President Jokowi's direction. So far, according to him, Bulog is in a dilemma because it has been given the task of the government to continue to absorb farmers' products, but it does not have a definite market.

Meanwhile, said Buwas, the absorbed rice was used for the government rice reserve stock (CBP), where the use of CBP had to be approved by the government.