Contaminated premium gasoline

Contaminated premium gasoline

I herewith enclose a copy of my report at the South Jakarta
Police Precinct on Nov. 3, 1994.

In short, the gas station at Fatmawati No. 4 was (is?) selling
contaminated premium. I let my driver fill up with 35 liters
early in the morning on Nov.1, at about 6:45 a.m.. We have bought
fuel from this station for over eight years.

Just a day before the engine had been tuned up at the Radio
Dalam workshop, but after filling up, the engine made the typical
noise of either low-octane or early ignition firing. I sent the
car back to the workshop for retuning on Nov. 2.

Though it showed little improvement, I used the car on Nov. 3
to make a round trip visit to Bogor (south of Jakarta). On that
trip it became obvious that the fuel was inferior. The engine
made a knocking noise and heated up to near the boiling point. We
also used nearly 20 liters for 100 kilometers (double the normal
amount).

I took a sample of about 80 cc from the tank, dropped about 1
cc on a plate, and after the premium evaporated, a thick, wet
residue remained, which I believe must have been minyak tanah
(kerosene).

It had earlier been reported that a similar thing happened in
Tangerang. This must be the second case of contaminated fuel.

I may recommend that the company delivering the fuel be
changed. It is also a good idea to publish the name of that
company, and the filling station as well.

Clearly the transportation firm employees and gas station
attendants were delinquent in this matter. Therefore, if car
owners can prove that they bought contaminated fuel, the firm
that delivered it should be required to make the necessary
repairs to the cars damaged. If this could be done without a lot
of bureaucratic twists we could, indeed, call that "service".

Anyhow, it is clear I did not make up this story. Who would
want to sit for over two hours at the police station for
pleasure.

Such incidents are extremely detrimental to the nation's
economic development and very ironic in view of the coming APEC
conference. It is disgusting that people would contaminate fuel
just to make a quick profit. Just think how many engines were
probably damaged; 8,000 liters could fill the gas tanks of 200
cars.

What is more, the public could lose confidence that Pertamina
can manage its monopoly well. Isn't it distressing to realize
that after 30 years the company does not seem to be able to
guarantee the quality of the fuel it sells.

Will our service stations ever come up to the standards of
Petronas, BP, or Shell in Malaysia?

What happens at our gas stations is really only filling up the
tank. Shouldn't there also be the aim of customer satisfaction?

Y. SANTO

Secretary General

Federation of Indonesian

Plastics Industries

Jakarta