Moeldoko Said, Don't Just React To Fuel Prices From The Increase, Start An Alternative Think

Moeldoko asked all parties to think alternatively about the increase in fuel prices. (Doc KSP)

JAKARTA - Presidential Chief of Staff Dr. Moeldoko said that the community should not protracted in the polemic of rising oil prices (BBM). It is better for people to focus on thinking about more affordable and sustainable alternative resources or fuels in the future.

I'm not talking about numbers, but the price of fuel going up and down is normal. Why is it going up? This happens because our domestic oil and gas productivity has dropped. A large number of our oil and gas products come from imports. So the price of fuel in Indonesia is greatly affected by the fluctuations in world prices," said Moeldoko, Monday, September 12 in Jakarta.

Even so, Purnawirawan Panglima TNI believes that the public already understands and is wise in responding to the issue of increasing fuel prices. "Actually, people already understand. So don't look at the issue of increasing fuel prices, start thinking about alternatives and the use of technological advances to overcome this crisis," said Moeldoko.

For example, since I was Lieutenant General at Lemhanas, I've been thinking that batteries are the future, the future is batteries. I continue to maintain and develop this idea, because it is not impossible that we will immediately switch to electric cars to reduce fuel consumption," he added.

Following the decision to increase the price of three types of fuel (Pertalite, Solar and Pertamax) starting Saturday, September 3, last week, President Joko Widodo emphasized that the government has made every effort to protect the people from the turmoil in world oil prices. However, the subsidy budget and compensation for fuel in 2022 has increased three times from Rp. 152.5 trillion to Rp. 502.4 trillion and is still expected to increase.

In order to minimize the impact of this global uncertainty and maintain people's purchasing power, the government has also diverted the subsidy of cheap fuel oil for the provision of social assistance for vulnerable and poor economic groups.

On the other hand, Moeldoko also admires the figure of President Jokowi who dared to take policies, including this subsidy transfer policy. But unfortunately many misinterpret the President's policy.

I saw for myself how the decisions he took were full of risks, but he continued. The president still made the decision for the greater interest of Indonesia, said Moeldoko.