Responding To The Trade Minister's Statement Confessing Defeat With The Mafia, MAKI: If It's Not Feasible, Just Withdraw!

Illustration-(Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Coordinator of the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) Boyamin Saiman advised Trade Minister Muhammad Luthfi to resign from his position as minister if he is unable to fight the mafia.

Previously, Minister Luthfi expressed his apologies for not being able to control the cooking oil speculators who caused a shortage of cooking oil and high cooking oil prices.

"Yes, it's that simple. If you can't afford it, just step back," he said at the Chrosscheck by Medcom.id event with the theme "Minister Confesses, the State Loss to Greedy and Evil?" Sunday, March 20.

Boyamin assessed that Luthfi was unable to embody the Nawacita that had been proclaimed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"I don't think he's Jokowi's minister. You can't protect the welfare of the people through cooking oil alone," he continued.

Boyamin also criticized the attitude of the Minister of Trade for not explaining the root of the problem at a working meeting at Commission VI DPR on Thursday, March 17. According to him, Lutfi only complained about the matter to the Council.

"Just complaining like an immature child. Then it's not appropriate to talk about the welfare state," he said.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Rachmat Gobel, said that the recent chaos in the cooking oil trade shows that the country has lost and failed to protect its people.

According to him, the apology of the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi for not being able to handle the cooking oil problem is a symbol and proof that the state has lost and failed.

"As quoted by the media, the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi admitted that he could not fight the irregularities that occurred in the field," he said in a statement quoted on Sunday, March 20.

According to him, the problem is not rooted in the production sector, because Indonesia is the largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO) and cooking oil in the world.

The chairman of the DPR RI, the Coordinator for Industry and Development (Korinbang) considers the real problem is the increasing world demand so that prices rise and entrepreneurs prefer to sell their production abroad at a higher price than selling domestically at a price regulated by the government.

Gobel also denied that the scarcity of cooking oil occurred because there were individuals who hoarded it.

"This is the cause of the scarcity. So the women are not hoarding it like the statement from the official of the Ministry of Trade who is asbun. It is proven that after the price limit was removed, cooking oil was abundant again," said Gobel.