JAKARTA - Member of Commission VI of the DPR RI, Amin Ak, assessed that the government's decision to hand over the price of cooking oil to the market mechanism not only shows the failure to control prices and supply, but also shows that the government is weak in front of food cartels.
As is known, the government revoked the regulation on the highest retail price (HET) of cooking oil for bulk, simple and premium packaging. Instead, the government submits the price to the market mechanism. For bulk cooking oil, the government provides subsidies so that the price at the consumer level becomes Rp. 14,000.
"The government is not able to enforce the rules it made itself and then succumbs to the will of the food cartels after the cooking oil drama that has harmed the people for the past six months," said Amin, in a written statement received by VOI, Thursday, March 17.
Furthermore, Amin assessed that there is no guarantee that there will be no shortage of bulk cooking oil in traditional markets, reflecting on the experience related to the government's inability to control prices and supply so far.
"The government's prestige is falling, and this could set a bad precedent that cartels can easily dictate the food market," he said.
There is economic political power
Amin suspects that there are political and economic forces that the Minister of Trade, Muhammad Lutfi, cannot control. In the last two months, the Minister of Trade issued 7 regulations related to CPO and cooking oil. But none of them can be run well.
"During the latest policy announcement, last Tuesday, I caught the Trade Minister's gesture indicating that this problem was beyond his ability to solve it," he said.
According to Amin, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) should have intervened to resolve the cooking oil issue. He suspects that the current food trade system can barely be controlled by an agency at the ministry level because of the great power that controls it.
To overcome this problem, Amin also encouraged the formation of a Special Committee (Pansus) for the food trade system, so that the problem can be clearly identified. At the same time, to confirm allegations of smuggling of crude palm oil (CPO) from domestic market obligation (DMO) and/or cooking oil abroad.
"A thorough investigation is needed so that the root cause of the problem is known and can be described. This will also help the government fix the food trade system, including cooking oil," he said.
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