Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – Professor of Padjadjaran University (Unpad) Romli Atmasasmita assessed President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)’s policy regarding the ban on exports of cooking oil and raw materials for crude palm oil (CPO) so that people would no longer suffer from the scarcity of cooking oil.
Therefore, Romli Atmasasmita in a release in Jakarta, Monday, urged the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) to thoroughly investigate the alleged corruption of cooking oil which has been designated as a Trafficking Crime (Tipidag).
“The government’s sacrifices and bets are a challenge for the Attorney General’s Office to immediately resolve this case, both from Tipidag, as well as from Corruption and TPPU (Money Laundering),” said Romli.
So far, the AGO has named four suspects, one of which is the Director General of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana.
Romli emphasized that the intended thorough investigation was so that the alleged CPO corruption incident could be revealed and it was hoped that it would not happen again.
Similarly, the 1998 Activist Coordinator (Siaga 98) Hasanuddin said that President Jokowi’s decision to ban the export of CPO by 28 April 2022 until an undetermined time limit was a strong warning to CPO producers.
“That the palm oil trade system is not only aimed at making profits for producers by ignoring the interests of consumers and society at large,” Hasanuddin said in his statement, Monday.
He emphasized that President Jokowi’s decision does not ignore the market economy or anti-market economy, but opposes the practice of seeking profit solely by prioritizing CPO exports, because improving prices in the global market by ignoring domestic consumers have resulted in negative prices due to fraudulent practices in the market.
“It is proven that this fraud is an unlawful act, which involves producers and state officials who are currently being handled by the Attorney General’s Office,” he said.
According to him, President Jokowi’s action to ban exports is appropriate to normalize the supply of cooking oil and domestic prices, due to the existence of a black market for producers and officials, especially since the government has the authority to regulate exports and imports of CPO commodities.
“This regulatory authority is not an intervention in the market. Because the market cannot run alone in a vacuum without the involvement of the government to regulate the balance and control the greed of producers from unlimited capitalization efforts in the CPO market,” he explained. (ojn/bbs)
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