A replacement for Bulog

A replacement for Bulog

State Minister of Food and Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin has
announced that the government is planning to have the State
Logistics Agency (Bulog) replaced by another agency -- at the end
of this year at the latest -- in order to improve the
distribution and price stability of food and other essential
commodities. According to Saefuddin, the new agency will be
noncommercial and financed with funds provided by the state and
other sources.

According to Law No.7/1996, the government's role is to
distribute food and stabilize food prices and assure that stocks
are sufficient, that commodities are easily available and that
they are affordable to all. During the past New Order regime,
however, Bulog's duties were so expansive that these functions
often became blurred.

What could be wrong with Bulog?

Under the agreement reached between Indonesia and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bulog will by the end of 1999
be entrusted only with overseeing the trade of rice. Trade in
other commodities, such as sugar, flour, soybeans and cooking
oil, will be made free (of subsidies), and actually already has
been freed.

As far as the public is concerned, it matters little what the
name of the new agency will be. What is important is that rice
will always be available in sufficient quantities and at an
affordable price. If Bulog is to be "reformed", therefore, the
improvement must be complete. If this is to be achieved, Bulog's
policies must be assured to correspond to the government's
national food policies. If we want rice to be available in
sufficient quantities, incentives must be given to rice
producers. During the New Order regime the purchasing power of
farmers underwent a steady decline due to inappropriate policies.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta