Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Either one Indonesian citizens who lived in Sri LankaTony Wahyudi, told of the difficulties of living in a country that is now on the verge of bankruptcy.
Sri Lanka is claimed to be bankrupt because it failed to pay its foreign debt (ULN) which reached US $ 51 billion or Rp.
Demonstrations demanding that the government be replaced have continued for several months. The government’s cabinet continues to change almost every month because many ministers and officials resign and are fired.
The current government has even decided to close schools and stop government services in order to save fuel reserves that are running out.
The country of 22 million people is experiencing its worst economic crisis after running out of foreign exchange to finance imports of a number of commodities including food, fuel and medicine.
To CNNIndonesia.com, Tony told his experience that he had queued to buy fuel oil (BBM) for up to 7 hours. He has just returned to Indonesia for a week after five years living in Colombo and working as a badminton coach for the Sri Lanka national team.
“At that time, I fought every day for 5 to 7 hours [antre BBM]and sometimes we worry about gas, if it runs out we can get it or not,” Tony said when contacted on Tuesday (21/6).
Tony told me that every week fuel prices soared. The last time he bought fuel was the price per liter of 384-482 Sri Lankan rupees (LKR) or around Rp. 14 thousand to Rp. 19 thousand per liter. Whereas before the crisis hit, the price per liter was around Rp.4,900.
In addition to the price of fuel, the price of basic goods such as rice and chicken is also rising.
“The last time I bought local rice there, one kilo was already LKR500 [sekitar Rp20 ribu]which was LKR350 [sekitar Rp14 ribu],” explained Tony.
As for chicken meat, which was initially priced at LKR700 or around Rp. 28,795, it has now become 1,100 LKR or around Rp. 45,249.
Given the increasingly acute situation in Sri Lanka, Tony and his family decided to return to their homeland.
On the way home, Tony told me the streets looked deserted. As far as the eye could see, there was only a line of people at the gas station that had been snaking for hours.
Before returning home, Tony revealed that he and a number of other community representatives had met with the Indonesian Embassy in Colombo to discuss the crisis.
Tony said that until now the Indonesian Embassy in Sri Lanka had not issued an appeal for all Indonesian citizens in the South Asian country to return home.
“So the Indonesian Embassy has not received an appeal for repatriation because the Indonesian Embassy is still seeing that [situasi] It’s not that bad,” said Tony.
So far, Tony said that there has been no assistance from the Indonesian Embassy for Indonesian citizens in Sri Lanka, even though rice is quite difficult to obtain. They, said Tony, promised to give rice if Indonesian citizens did not get the staple food.
CNNIndonesia.com have contacted the staff of the Indonesian Embassy in Colombo and the Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens and Legal Entities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Juhda Nugraha, to ask if there are any appeals regarding the repatriation of Indonesian citizens following the worsening conditions in Sri Lanka. But both have not responded until this news was released.
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