Corruption and greed blamed for kerosene crisis in North Sumatra
Corruption and greed blamed for kerosene crisis in North Sumatra
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
State oil and gas company PT Pertamina's Marketing Unit I of
the Medan office accused on Saturday two parties behind the
shortage of kerosene in North Sumatra province, namely
Pertamina's distributors and a certain "kerosene mafia."
Juliadi, Pertamina spokesman in North Sumatra, revealed a
recent finding that 13 Pertamina distributors had breached
contracts with Pertamina, which resulted in the shortage of
kerosene in some areas.
He said those 13 distributors were among 212 distributors in
North Sumatra, whom Pertamina supplied with between 20 and 30
tons of kerosene a day.
The irregularities committed by the distributors were only
part of the problem as well as the fact that they sell the
kerosene above the maximum price set by Pertamina, a state
company tasked by the government to maintain a stable price.
Juliadi divulged that the 13 distributors had sold kerosene
above Pertamina's official maximum retail price (HET) of Rp 950
(about US 11 cents) per liter.
"The irregularities were found with distributors in Belawan,
Tanjung Balai, Medan and Asahan," Juliadi said.
Besides increasing the price above the HET, the distributors
also smuggle kerosene to sell it to large companies, mostly
foreign ones, in cooperation with a "kerosene mafia", instead of
selling it to public, he said.
He said that the organized smuggling ring's henchmen would buy
the kerosene from Pertamina distributors, and smuggle it abroad,
especially to Singapore and Malaysia, via Tanjung Balai port.
They smuggle abroad because the price of kerosene is much
higher in those two countries.
"The kerosene was transported in small boats and then loaded
onto larger ships out at sea," he said.
He said that the smuggling attempts were often reported to the
authorities, but he had no idea why only few of the smugglers
were arrested.
According to Juliadi, the irregularities committed by those
distributors and the "kerosene mafia" had led to the shortage of
kerosene in public market.
As a result, the price of kerosene has increased sharply, and
the pubic has suffered. Umaimah, a housewife from the Mariendal
area of Medan, for example, usually has to wait hours to buy the
overpriced kerosene.
"If there even is some left, the price will already have
increased to Rp 1,300 per liter," Umaimah said on Saturday.
The normal price of kerosene should be around Rp 1,000 per
liter.
In order to deter the distributors from again manipulating the
supply of kerosene, Juliadi said that Pertamina had taken stiff
measures against the distributors under its supervision.
"Pertamina has revoked permits of two distributors, while we
cut the kerosene supply to the remaining 11 distributors between
2.5 and 5 tons each day," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.