Rizal Ramli's Proposal Shocked Him, Agreed Jokowi For Three Terms, But The Trade Minister Was Reshuffled, Because Cooking Oil Was Scarce, Right?

Jokowi went to a traditional market in Yogyakarta to check the availability of cooking oil on March 13. (Presidential Secretariat Youtube)

JAKARTA - The former Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Rizal Ramli admitted that he did not question the discourse of President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) position being divided into three terms. However, he made a condition.

Initially Rizal criticized the performance of the ranks of the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet for not being able to resolve the cooking oil crisis after returning from camp at the zero point of the National Capital City (IKN) Nusantara in Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan.

"Camping at IKN is over... but the queue for migraine [cooking oil] continues," Rizal said on his Twitter account, @RamliRizal, Monday 15 March.

Rizal then encouraged Jokowi for three periods to lead the government to solve the problems that are being faced by the community. However, on the condition that the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Muhammad Lutfi reshuffle.

He assessed that the Minister of Trade was not an expert in finding solutions to the problems being faced by the relevant ministries. Rizal said that the Trade Minister was only an official who just made a joke.

"Mas Jokowi, you're President again, don't leave cooking oil to the ministers, they just can't work!" he said.

Previously, amid the scarcity of cooking oil, the Minister of Trade ensured that the supply of cooking oil throughout Indonesia was safe in the near future. The Trade Minister also ensured that the price of cooking oil would be in order according to the highest retail price (HET) set by the government ahead of Ramadan 2022.

The Ministry of Trade sets the HET for cooking oil, namely the price of bulk cooking oil at IDR 11,500 per liter, the price for simple packaged cooking oil at IDR 13,500 per liter, and the price for premium packaged cooking oil at IDR 14,000 per liter.

The Trade Minister's optimism is due to the fact that the price chart for cooking oil in the market has moved down towards HET. The Trade Minister said that the supply of cooking oil will certainly be distributed throughout Indonesia, both in bulk form in traditional markets and premium packaging in modern retail.

"If you look at the graph, actually this price has decreased towards HET. If we can see that when the availability of fit stocks of CPO and olein is available, then the price will mechanically occur in the market. When will it happen? this," said the Minister of Trade in a virtual press conference, Wednesday, March 9.