End the gas shortage

The government must act quickly to overcome the present gasoline shortage before it gets worse. Cars lining up at gas stations and traffic snarls in the vicinity are for the present the main signals of the shortage. Not to be overlooked, however, is the what the public perceives as the government's inability to fulfill their needs. The shortage occurs at a time when the political situation is unfavorable, which encourages disproportionate speculation.

The lesson to be learned this time is that there is a need for the government to draw up some kind of emergency plan and a strategy to explain the problem. Aside from that, we have reason to be embarrassed because Singapore, which does not have a single oil well, is capable of supplying us -- a leading member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) -- with fuel.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta