The Conspiracy Of Officials And Entrepreneurs Hurts The People, Cooking Oil Export Case Becomes An Entrance To Unloading The Mafia

JAKARTA - Member of Commission VI DPR Amin Ak stated that the determination of the case of misappropriation of cooking oil exports set by the Attorney General's Office could be an entry point for dismantling the cooking oil mafia in the country.

"I ask the Attorney General's Office to use this case as an entry point to dismantle the cooking oil mafia," Amin Ak said in a statement quoted by Antara, Wednesday, April 20.

According to Amin, the determination of the suspect in the case proves the existence of collusion between the authorities and businessmen who control the cooking oil business in Indonesia.

He argues that until now, those responsible for hoarding cooking oil are still unknown, and the possible involvement of a giant CPO (crude palm oil) entrepreneur has not been disclosed.

"This conspiracy of government officials and CPO entrepreneurs is not only detrimental to the state but also miserable to the people. The legal process must not stop with the determination of the current suspect. Dismantling the cooking oil mafia and collusion, corruption and nepotism (KKN) of cooking oil," he stressed.

Amin urged the government to solve the root problems that have caused the cooking oil crisis for nearly seven months.

According to Amin, the root of the problem is the non-compliance of CPO producers with the provisions of the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) and Domestic Price Obligation (DPO) set by the government.

Collusion between big businessmen who control the cooking oil market and the government, said Amin, has resulted in market distortion. Violations of the DMO policy and the high volume of CPO exports by these companies have resulted in a shortage of cooking oil and inflated domestic prices.

"They made a big profit from the increase in cooking oil prices and illegal permits to export CPO at high prices. The collusion that occurred was the misuse of CPO export recommendations," said Amin.

As is known, the government only allows the sale of CPO abroad if producers have fulfilled their DMO of 20 percent, which is valid until mid-March 2022.

Similarly, Member of Commission VII DPR RI Mulyanto added that this is the right moment for the government to organize the cooking oil business and the need to reconsider the government intervention system for the packaged cooking oil trade system.

"The government must be present in managing this packaged cooking oil trade in order to benefit the community at an affordable price," said Mulyanto.

Regarding this case, President Joko Widodo asked law enforcement officials to thoroughly investigate cases of alleged corruption in the export of crude palm oil which caused a shortage of cooking oil.

"Yesterday, (Tuesday, 19/4), the AGO has named four suspects in this cooking oil affair; and I ask for a thorough investigation so that we can find out who is playing," the President said as seen in a video on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube account, Wednesday.

Jokowi assesses that cooking oil is still a problem in the midst of people's needs for this commodity.