Controversy over the Demo of Cooking Without Fried Oil ala Megawati in Today's Memory, March 28, 2022

Portrait of a banner for a cooking demonstration without cooking oil ala Megawati Soekarnoputri. (Instagram/@pdiperjuangan)

JAKARTA - Today's memory, four years ago, March 28, 2022, the action of the General Chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Megawati Soekarnoputri, the cooking demonstration without cooking oil was controversial. Megawati was considered insensitive and sarcastic to women who could only fry.

Previously, the scarcity of cooking oil caused a commotion. This condition is because Indonesia is known as a country rich in palm oil. The government is looking for the root of the problem.

Indonesia is known as a country rich in palm oil. Palm oil plantations are abundant. In fact, many countries in the world are very dependent on palm oil from Indonesia. Amazingly, in a country rich in palm oil, there was a shortage of cooking oil.

The narrative has been going on since August 2021. All people have difficulty finding cooking oil. If there is a price, it is expensive, reaching Rp. 20 thousand per liter. The government is also trying to stabilize the supply and price of cooking oil.

They found an increase in prices due to the skyrocketing price of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) due to supply disruptions for raw materials. The problem was initially not considered important. The government also did not intervene in the price increase.

The government even continues to export CPO. The owner of the power is confident that the domestic stock is still sufficient. Problems arise. Cooking oil shortages are everywhere. This condition makes people scream.

They have to grab cooking oil. There are also those who only spend their time going back and forth to check the availability of cooking oil to stalls or minimarkets. The government is asked to immediately move quickly to solve the problem of scarcity.

The narrative makes the government continue to show off the promise that the stock of cooking oil will be abundant. The price can be stable again. However, promises are only promises. The government cannot really intervene in the high and scarce oil prices.

"This will certainly adjust to the value of the economy so that we hope that with the value of the economy, palm oil will be available in modern markets as well as in traditional markets, or in wet markets," promised Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, as quoted by BBC Indonesia, March 15, 2022.

The narrative of expensive cooking oil emerged everywhere. The issue then reached the end of the PDIP General Chairperson, Megawati Soekarnoputri. Megawati tried to provide a solution to the scarcity of cooking oil.

Megawati then held a cooking demonstration without cooking oil as a solution at the PDIP Lenteng Agung DPP, South Jakarta on March 28, 2022. Megawati tried to introduce that cooking is not necessarily frying, there is also boiling.

Megawati Soekarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto presidential candidates fill the quiet days before the 2009 Presidential Election with a cooking together at Megawati's residence in Kebagusan, South Jakarta, Tuesday (7/7/2009). (AFP/Arif Ariad)

Megawati then couldn't think of women who only relied on how to fry food. The comment was controversial and made Megawati condemned everywhere. He was considered insensitive to the conditions of the community.

Megawati is considered able to use her influence to encourage President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to the Speaker of the DPR, Puan Maharani to find a solution. Instead of asking the people to boil food.

"So why am I being told 'this mother doesn't care if there is no cooking oil', I really care. But what do our children get if mothers queue for cooking oil all day? Have the children been fed yet when they get home from school?"

"I'm up to the point of choking, it's not a matter of whether there is a problem or the cost of cooking oil is expensive, I'm up to the point of thinking that every day the mothers are just frying. It's so competitive," Megawati said, as quoted by the lamantempo.co, March 28, 2022.