Jakarta –
Member of Commission VI of the DPR RI, the PDI-P faction, Mufti Anam, expressed his frustration with the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Muhammad Lutfi about the rare cooking oil. He said Lutfi had embarrassed DPR members in front of the people because cooking oil was not available in the market.
Mufti initially spoke about Lutfi who said that the scarcity of cooking oil was triggered by panic buying or panic buying what residents do. Mufti questioned Lutfi’s statement that HET’s cooking oil stock was empty, even though Lutfi issued a regulation on the highest retail price for cooking oil of Rp. 14,000.
“The Minister delivered panic buying, gimana we are not panic buying, the item is not there, sir. I don’t have the money to buy it. You’re on your own talk in the media, ‘oh there is no HET but there is an expensive one’. You swallowed your own saliva, making rules for HET Rp. 14,000 but there are no goods,” said Mufti Anam in a working meeting with the Ministry of Trade at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday (17/3/2022).
“We are ashamed of the people, we are like the DPR, there is no meaning in front of our constituents,” said the Mufti.
He assessed that Lutfi was unable to handle the cooking oil issue and made Indonesian President Joko Widodo intervene. In fact, he said, ministers should help the president solve problems, not add to the burden.
“Mr. Minister, do you know that Mr. Minister is the minister as an assistant to the president. Don’t be a bother to the president,” he said.
“Yesterday he intervened to solve this problem. Yesterday he came to Alfamart, Indomaret, there were no items. So we hope that the Minister will not bother the president with this,” he continued.
He then asked Lutfi about the implementation of HET for cooking oil of Rp. 14 thousand. It is known, the Ministry of Trade as of March 16, 2022 issued the Minister of Trade Regulation No. 11 of 2022 which revoked the HET.
“You know, according to the Minister, the price of Rp. 14 thousand will be implemented and when? The Minister promised three times in this forum but none of them were fulfilled. when did it happen?” he said.
He said the people were screaming because the price of cooking oil was expensive. According to him, the price of bulk cooking oil reaches Rp. 30 thousand per liter in his electoral district.
“People scream on social media, not to mention bottled oil, one liter of bulk oil in my electoral district is Rp. 30 thousand. I want your commitment, how is the cooking oil mechanism? The minister who used to be able to finish our period could not,” he said.
(fca / haf)
–
