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