RIPH Fruit Imports Harvest Criticism

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The issuance of Horticultural Product Import Recommendations (RIPH) has drawn criticism. After importing garlic, now imports of fruits are the same, drawing criticism.

The issuance of the latest RIPH for fruit imports which was only given to a few companies - some of which were allegedly affiliated - was considered very odd by several parties. Therefore, the RIPH giving was allegedly nuanced with certain political content.

Political observer from Jayabaya University, Igor Dirgantara, said that the RIPH issuance process should not have certain political interests. He assessed that the issuance of import recommendations for garlic and fruit commodities that were not open indicated there was a 'political content', especially since the ministers came from political parties.

"So in the RIPH process, the garlic and fruit definitely have political interests. This is inseparable from the status of the Ministers from political parties," said Igor, in a statement received on Monday, March 2.

According to Igor, Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo should try to fulfill President Jokowi's promise during the 2019 Presidential Election, to develop local agriculture. When importing, the process is absolutely transparent. According to him, the Ministry of Trade must be careful in selecting to issue Import Approval Letter (SPI).

"If the Ministry's performance is like that, yes, we might expect a reshuffle," he said.

The head of the Horticultural Association, Anton Muslim Arbi, shared the same opinion. The thing that raises suspicion, he said, is that only 10 importers have received RIPH for garlic, while there have been 100 submissions since November 2019.

He hopes that there will be no games between officials and certain entrepreneurs in the RIPH onions, as well as this fruit. "State institutions should not provide services like that, competition is healthy, so there is no mutual suspicion," he explained.

Member of Commission IV DPR RI from the Golkar faction, Alien Mus, at a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture, also revealed the same problem. He questioned, of the company that had just obtained the RIPH license, there was one company whose imports were dominant compared to the other two companies.

"The Ministry of Agriculture has just issued RIPH permits to 3 companies, namely Laris Manis Utama, Cherry Fruit, Karunia Alam Raya Sejati. But here there is an irregularity between the three companies that there is one company that actually exceeds the number of imports," said in the DPR meeting room, Jakarta, Monday 17 February.

Meanwhile, information is now circulating that RIPH for fruit is also issued to only 4 companies, namely MJN, CAB, GSB, GM. Three of them; MJN with 8,000 tons, CAB 23,425 tons, and GSB with 18,820 tons, were allegedly affiliated. Meanwhile, GM with 7,000 tonnes is out of the three.

Regarding this information, Commission IV member Darori Wonodipuro said that he would check the truth that the owners of the three companies that owned RIPH were the same person. Darori said, if the information was correct, RIPH could be canceled.

"It shouldn't be three companies that are owned by the same person, that's called monopoly. But the truth must be checked first, "he said.

The Ministry of Agriculture, on the other hand, has dismissed accusations of non-transparency. Director General of Horticulture, Ministry of Agriculture Prihasto Setyanto, after a hearing with Commission IV of the DPR some time ago, said that the RIPH insult was carried out openly. He also denied that there was a conflict of interest in the selection of importers.

However, he did not disclose the companies that were given RIPH with their respective quotas. "Who said less openly. No, just guesswork. Everything is open," he said