Budi Waseso Calls The 'Heartache' Row To Be The Mastermind Of The Pandeglang Rice Social Assistance Viral, Even Though Only 3 Bags Were Damaged!

Illustration-Rice (Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The President Director of Perum Bulog, Budi Waseso, said that there were parties who deliberately raised the aid of damaged rice in Pandeglang, Banten so that it went viral.

This was conveyed by Buwas - Budi Waseso's nickname - during a hearing with Commission IV of the DPR RI at the Parliament Building, Senayan Jakarta, Monday, August 30. The perpetrator deliberately defame Bulog.

Buwas suspects that the perpetrators used to be suppliers and distributors for the prosperous family rice assistance program (Rastra) of 288 thousand tons to 8 million beneficiary families (KPM).

Well, this task is now taken by Bulog. "So yesterday, among them were findings from groups that used to be suppliers, so because they couldn't, they looked for weaknesses," Budi Waseso said as quoted by Antara.

Buwas said that the damaged rice, which went viral when it was distributed, was hit by rain water when it was dropped from the truck to the village by the transporter.

Buwas said that only three bags of rice were damaged out of a total of 464 packages received in the village. Due to the damaged condition of the rice, the rice was not distributed to residents and was only stored at the kelurahan office.

However, the three bags of damaged rice went viral by irresponsible parties with the narrative that Bulog distributed poor quality rice to communities affected by the PPKM policy.

"It's been more than three days since the rice was there, and it wasn't distributed. Three bags of it were found, that's what went viral, even though it wasn't distributed," said Buwas.

Budi Waseso said his party had reported the incident to the police so that it could be investigated thoroughly.

"So that this is fair, we have also reported this to the police, let the police investigate this, so it's not from Bulog or others. Let it be what it is," he said.

According to Buwas, the damaged rice like the one found in Pandeglang was the transporter's fault.

Because the system that has been built for the distribution of PPKM Rice Aid is subject to strict quality control, starting from releasing rice from the warehouse, to giving rice from Bulog to transporters in good condition as evidenced in the official report signed by the distributor.

Even though the fault of the damaged rice lies with the transporter, Bulog is still responsible for replacing the damaged rice in Pandeglang Banten by replacing it with new, good quality rice.