JAKARTA - Cooking oil was the most searched item in early 2022. This condition occurred because cooking oil was scarce. The price is also expensive. Anyone who wants to get oil, surely they have to queue for hours at a retail store.
All Indonesians are furious, not playing with the government. Zulkifli Hasan (Zulhas) racked his brain. The Minister of Trade (Mendag) was moved to break the chain of scarcity of cooking oil. He inflamed the emergence of cheap cooking oil products. Minyakita, his name.
Transmission of the corona virus has indeed decreased in early 2022. However, the problems caused continue to be present. Take, for example, cooking oil which is increasingly scarce in the market, from bulk cooking oil, simple packaged cooking oil, and premium cooking oil.
The Ministry of Trade also blamed panic buying (panik in shopping) by the community. The scarcity of cooking oil is unstoppable. The Ministry of Trade feels strange. The owner of the power feels the stock of cooking oil for the country is abundant.
So they consider there is a game of the cooking oil mafia as the cause of scarcity. The cooking oil mafia is considered to smuggle oil into industries, then abroad. The Ministry of Trade is also trying to reduce the scarcity and high price of cooking oil.
Empunya kuasa mengeluarkan aturan Harga Retail Tinggi (HET) untuk menjaga ketersediaan minyak goreng pada 1 Februari 2022. Minyak goreng curah ditetapkan sebesar Rp11,500 per liter. Minyak goreng kemasan sederhana Rp13,500 per liter.
Finally, cooking oil with premium packaging is Rp. 14,000 per liter. The regulation had made the price of cooking oil drop for a moment. The condition of scarcity returned again after that. The government's response actually drew criticism.
Instead of tracing the cooking oil mafia, they actually act like losers. The government seemed to give up by revoking the rules regarding HET. This condition makes the price of packaged cooking oil determined by the market mechanism.
SEE ALSO:
Expensive cooking oils appear everywhere. Criticism and criticism of the government are unstoppable. All the people asked the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Muhammad Lutfi to appear. The minister is considered a failure.
"There are people who should not get the proceeds from this cooking oil. For example, cooking oil that should be consumed by the public into the industry or smuggled abroad. What happens when most of the oil cannot be accounted for, that's why there is a slope. "
"With an apology, the Ministry of Trade cannot control it because this is a greedy and evil human nature. In the future, I ask the Food Task Force to fight these mafias who are greedy and evil, we must work together," said Lutfi as quoted by the COMPASS.com page, March 18, 2022.
Lutfi's position is threatened. He is considered unable to change the situation. He was then replaced by Zulhas as Trade Minister on June 15, 2022. However, the change did not make the affairs of rare and expensive cooking oil directly controlled. Zulhas tries to rack his brain. He began to think about steps to reduce scarcity.
The breakthrough was made. He took the initiative to present cheap cooking oil from the Ministry of Trade. He then introduced Minya Kita's brand on July 6, 2022. The Ministry of Trade issued a simple packaged bulk cooking oil which cost Rp. 13,000 per liter HET at that time Rp. 14,000.
The Ministry of Trade also cooperates with two private manufacturers to produce Minya Kita, PT Best Agro Internasional and PT Panca Nabati Prakarsa. The rest of the other private producers are still being selected to produce Minya Kita.
Zulhas hopes that the presence of Minya Kita can keep the distribution of cooking oil targeted. He also wants Minya Kita to reduce the potential for abuse or misappropriation. The presence of Minya Kita was greeted enthusiastically.
The public hopes to get Minya Kita at affordable prices. However, the presence of Minya Kita was actually met with problems. The issue of distribution that has not been evenly distributed is the main thing. Take the Eastern Indonesia region for example not yet part.
Another problem the government can't really keep the price of Minya Kita under HET. Many of the prices of Minya Kita were found to be through HET. The next controversy, Minya Kita likes to be used as a tool for political campaigns.
Zulhas himself carried out controversial actions to share Minya Kita in his son's campaign, Futri Zulya Safitri, the PAN candidate for the Lampung I electoral district in the 2024 Legislative Election. He also promised that those who chose his son would be given Minya Kita again.
This condition presents a conflict of interest. Zulhas is a state official. Even though he is indeed the chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN). Zulhas also emphasized that Minya Kita had already bought Futri, not the stock of the Ministry of Trade. However, the people did not stop criticizing him.
"Yesterday it was Saturday, the event was clear. Not only in political parties, I was the general chairman of the party first as his minister lately. For years there have been cheap PANsars, that's why on Saturday holidays".
"There's only one who runs, it's normal to be a minister, there are pros and cons, politics too. I have to limit myself to being asked by my friends to read a written speech," said Zulhas as quoted on the detik.com page, July 14, 2022.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
