Managing Director Of Bulog Budi Waseso: What Makes Bansos Rice Ugly Is The Act Of Individuals

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

JAKARTA - Perum Bulog (Persero) guarantees that the rice in the social assistance package of the Ministry of Social Affairs has gone through a very strict quality control stage. This also denies that the rice given to the community is of poor quality.

The Managing Director of the Logistics Agency (Bulog), Budi Waseso (Buwas) emphasized that he had the courage to guarantee that the rice that came out of Bulog's warehouse was good quality rice.

"I say, the distribution of rice for social assistance from Bulog in particular must be good rice. I guarantee it. Because we have built a commitment and a system, every rice in Bulog that will be issued must go through a process to ensure the quality is good. we just distributed it, "he said, in a virtual discussion, Tuesday, December 22.

Buwas also said that rice quality checks were not only carried out by Bulog but also by related ministries, in this case the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture.

"As soon as it is declared clear, it will just be dispatched. Even then, we check the stages per transportation, so nothing is issued from us that the rice is in bad condition. In this process, we are using the system by name by address, so there is no more potential to be distorted on the road or exchanged on the street, "he said.

Furthermore, Buwas said, people who get social assistance in the form of poor quality rice can make a complaint to his party. However, provided that the rice was issued by Bulog.

"Of course we will see first whether the rice comes from Bulog or not. If there is a Bulog stamp that clearly distributes it, now, report it to us immediately. Bulog in this case the government is responsible for this, and we will replace it soon," he said.

Budi said that the reports received by his party would be further investigated to find out the reasons for the poor quality of rice received by the community.

"It could be because this is the work of an individual, it could not go through the procedure process like the one before. We will investigate why this rice is bad," he said.

Previously, the discovery of quality rice unfit for consumption in the distribution of government social assistance (bansos) in Bogor, West Java, had been handled by the Logistics Agency (Bulog) and the regional police.

One of the residents who received COVID-19 social assistance, Lisyani Abas, said that the content of social assistance had decreased over the past 3 months, namely September, October and November. At the beginning of receiving COVID-19 social assistance, received quite a lot of basic foodstuffs.

Among them, 9 cans of sardines, milk, rice, instant noodles, soy sauce and sauce. However, over time the aid was reduced to only two cans of sardines, milk, oil and rice. Meanwhile, instant noodles, sauce, soy sauce are not there anymore.

Not only is the number decreasing, he said the quality of social assistance ingredients is getting worse.

"Rice smells of sacks, fleas, in the sun, some use garlic, use pandan leaves so that it disappears, but the smell of the sack is lost," at the Indonesia Lawyers Club (ILC) event on tvOne, Tuesday, December 8, 2020.