Jokowi Appoints Luhut To Manage Java-Bali Cooking Oil, Indef: Unsuitable, Damaging Government Work Procedures

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JAKARTA - Indef Executive Director Tauhid Ahmad assessed that the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Bisar Pandjaitan was not suitable for the task of helping to manage the cooking oil problem in Java-Bali.

Furthermore, Tauhid said it was not because of Luhut's lack of capability. However, the appointment has the potential to damage the governance work.

As is known, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Bisar Pandjaitan received a new assignment from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to help manage the cooking oil problem in Java-Bali.

"It doesn't fit (his job). Because it destroys the governance work. Pak Luhut is in the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, this is very far from the cooking oil issue," he said when contacted by VOI, Tuesday, May 24.

Moreover, continued Tauhid, the parties that must be coordinated to address the cooking oil problem are under the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, not under the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment.

"Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Trade, Bulog, business actors and so on related to this are actually under the Coordinating Minister for the Economy. There is even a deputy who specializes in food handling, so it's there. So I don't think it's suitable," he said.

In addition, Tauhid said that Luhut's appointment actually showed the failure of Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartanto in dealing with the cooking oil problem that had occurred several months ago.

"This shows the inability of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy to resolve this issue in the last few months, until Pak Luhut was appointed to handle all of this. I think this is a setback," he said.

According to Tauhid, Airlangga Hartarto as Coordinating Minister for the Economy should take over the cooking oil problem, not let the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi handle it.

"Not the Minister of Trade because this is cross-ministerial, cross-sectoral and in terms of main functions, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy," he said.

For your information, the problem of cooking oil in the country has not yet been resolved. Various policies were taken to ensure supply availability and price stabilization in the country, starting from the one price policy of IDR 14,000 per liter, then the highest retail price (HET), 10 percent DMO-DPO which was later increased to 20 percent.

Also not effective, in April 2022 President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) also decided to temporarily ban the export of crude palm oil or crude palm oil and its derivatives including cooking oil. The goal is to reduce domestic prices. Along with developments on May 23, 2022, Jokowi lifted the export ban. Then, the DMO-DPO policy was enforced again.

Previously, the Ministry of Trade also spoke about Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan's new task in helping with cooking oil problems in the country.

The Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Oke Nurwan, said that Luhut would act like a director. According to him, the main leader remains President Joko Widodo or Jokowi.

The reason for the appointment, said Oke, was because Luhut had experience in handling various matters. Among these are the implementation of the COVID-19 PPKM in Indonesia, and also encouraging the public to use the PeduliLindung application.