Who's hoarding what?<\/p>\n
In big cities, the police and military have been breaking open
\nwarehouses stacked high with basic foodstuffs. In many small
\ntowns, people have been ransacking shops and looting their
\ncontents. In East Java, rice processors have been attacked by
\npeople angered at seeing piles of rice in their barns. In
\nJakarta, shoppers have been robbed and attacked as they loaded
\ngoods into their cars.<\/p>\n
The nation is in a frenzy. Anyone suspected of hoarding
\nincreasingly scarce and costly basic foodstuffs is in danger of
\nbeing attacked. As the economic crisis bites deeper, so the list
\nof goods disappearing from supermarket shelves grows. First it
\nwas rice. Now, just as the government appears to have stabilized
\nrice prices by flooding the country with imported rice, other
\ncommodities have become scarce. Cooking oil, sugar, flour,
\ninstant noodles, soybean, even lube oil and car spare parts are
\nnow difficult to find and costly to purchase.<\/p>\n
Volatility in the rupiah's exchange rate makes it difficult
\nfor traders to price their goods. The government has repeatedly
\nappealed to them to freeze prizes during and after Ramadhan.
\nExports of cooking oil have been banned by the government to
\nensure an adequate supply at home. Faced with rising costs, some
\nmanufacturers, distributors and retailers have decided to
\nwithhold their goods from the market, rather than sell at a loss.
\nResulting shortages and growing political and economic
\nuncertainty has led to bouts of panic buying. Panic usually
\nengenders even greater apprehension.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that some people are hoarding in the hope of
\nforcing prices up and reaping large personal profits. These are
\nthe speculators. But people withhold stocks for other reasons:
\nmanufacturers and distributors do so to wait for prices to
\nstabilize; retailers and shopkeepers to ensure a stable supply in
\nthe face of uncertainties; ordinary people to make provision for
\nexpected price rises, or because they are simply swept along by
\nthe tide of panic buying. Whatever the motives, this type of
\nbehavior exacerbates the shortages and it is not surprising that
\nmany people are rankled by the sight of people participating in
\nthis destructive game.<\/p>\n
Accusations of hoarding have been leveled indiscriminately.
\nSadly, many innocent people have fallen victim to this witch
\nhunt. Rice processors in East Java are now afraid to accept
\norders from farmers lest they stand accused of hoarding. Some
\ntraders have simply closed up shop rather than run the risk of
\nattack. Some of the warehouses broken into by the authorities
\ncontained stockpiles of goods simply because that is the purpose
\nfor which they were constructed -- to store goods awaiting
\ndistribution. In many cases, the accused were not given adequate
\nchance to defend themselves. No one has yet been brought to court
\nfor hoarding, let alone convicted. However, in most cases where
\naccusations have been leveled, severe damage has been inflicted
\non the property of the alleged perpetrators. Traders have had
\ntheir shops burned and their stock looted or confiscated.<\/p>\n
The divisive nature of the economic crisis is rearing its ugly
\nhead amid bitter accusations of hoarding. Amid this frenzy,
\npeople have little regard for the law. Even the authorities are
\nnot exempt. Seizing goods from warehouses and selling them at
\ndiscounted prices is a populist move that would have made Robin
\nHood proud, but it sends a signal to the people that robbing is
\nacceptable. This is wrong.<\/p>\n
The authorities believe they have various laws and regulations
\nat their disposal to deal with hoarding. There is the 1955 law on
\neconomic crime, the 1965 law on warehouses, the 1959 law on
\neconomic stability and the 1998 decree by the Minister for Trade
\nand Industry banning anyone from stockpiling goods beyond
\n\"normal\" levels. If that isn't enough, they also can wheel out
\nthe all-encompassing Subversion Law, which may be used against
\nanyone accused of undermining national stability.<\/p>\n
The government should be firm with hoarders for they are
\nfurther undermining our already plagued economy. But the police
\nand military should also exercise wisdom in their operations.
\nIndiscriminate accusations of hoarding and the threat of attack
\nis instilling fear among decent traders that could discourage
\nthem from continuing their business altogether. If this happened
\nen masse it would break the country's food distribution chain.
\nThe end result would only be even greater food deprivation for
\nthe people.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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