Consumers urged to file suit over faulty gas pumps

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In response to the discovery that pumps at 51 gas stations in Greater Jakarta and West Java had been tampered with, a consumer rights activist urged class-action lawsuits against the stations, state oil company Pertamina and the Ministry of Trade.

Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) chairwoman Indah Suksmaningsih said on Monday consumers should cooperate in collecting evidence of violations at each of the gas stations in question.

Pertamina announced on Sunday that 51 gas stations had been found to have tampered with their pumps, resulting in customers getting less gas for their money.

"Consumers must take class action against the gas stations because filing individual lawsuits is useless. The same is true for taking action against Pertamina and the Ministry of Trade," she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Indah said Pertamina and the ministry could be held responsible in this case because it was their responsibility to monitor gas stations.

According to regulations, Pertamina has the authority to appoint businesspeople to operate gas stations, while the trade ministry is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the stations' pumps.

Indah said an individual consumer had filed an earlier lawsuit against a gas station over inaccurate pumps.

"However, the court found the consumer did not have enough evidence. The gas station in turn filed a Rp 70 billion lawsuit against the consumer for defamation," she said.

Article 8 of Law No. 8/1999 stipulates that people are prohibited from selling goods that are not of the same quantity and quality as promised, while Article 62 of the same law stipulates that violators are subject to a maximum punishment of five years in prison or a Rp 2 billion fine.

In making its announcement on Sunday, Pertamina said it had issued warning letters to the gas stations in question and had temporarily stopped their gas supplies or shut down their operations.

The state company said the 51 gas stations had pumps that exceeded the tolerable level of 50 millimeters difference between the amount of gas actually pumped and the amount recorded on the pump for every 10 liters of gas purchased.

Checks on the stations found pumps with differences of between 50 millimeters and 300 millimeters between the amount of gas recorded on the pumps on the amount of gas actually pumped.

Indah said in 2001 the consumers foundation found a similar number of gas stations that had tampered with their pumps.

"So there has been no progress in the last four years. Consumers have continued to lose all these years," she said.

Awi Adil, spokesman for Pertamina's operations unit III, which covers Jakarta and West Java, said the company had summoned the owners of the gas stations to deliver them a verbal warning.

"We summoned them and told them to fix their pumps as soon as possible. We continue to monitor them every day. If we find that they continue to commit the same violation we will shut them down," he told the Post.