Hoarding by govt distributors blamed for kerosene shortages

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang

Kerosene has become very scarce in the past two months in Semarang, the capital of Central Java, and neighboring areas due to a lack of supply, causing its price to soar.

The shortages of kerosene come ahead of state-owned Pertamina oil company's plan to raise the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). However, the firm blamed the problem on kerosene distribution irregularities.

Housewives in Semarang have to wait in long lines to buy kerosene for up to Rp 1,500 per liter (18 U.S. cents). The government-regulated price is Rp 1,000 per liter.

"Although it's expensive, I still have to wait in line and buy it. I have to be able to cook," Sunarti, a housewife from Jangli neighborhood in Semarang, said over the weekend.

The shortages have prompted the Semarang branch of the People's Humanitarian and Justice Organization (Humanika) to stage a protest at Pertamina's marketing office on Jl. Thamrin in Semarang.

Semarang's Humanika chairman, Agus Salim al Banjaro, demanded that Pertamina stop the kerosene monopoly and arrest those involved in deliberately hoarding the necessary commodity in a bid to squeeze local people dry to increase profits.

In a response to the protest, Pertamina's Central Java and Yogyakarta Marketing Unit IV officials only reiterated that the scarcity of kerosene was allegedly due to irregularities by distributors.

"There are possibilities that kerosene for households is being used for industrial purposes," said I Gusti Bagus Wisnu, head of the office, in a reference to the unsubsidized kerosene that large companies are required to purchase.

He asserted that Pertamina had distributed 4,766 kiloliters of kerosene to areas in Central Java and Yogyakarta each day in order to fulfill the daily needs for household use, which is normally adequate.

For example, said Wisnu district in Semarang is supplied with 425,000 liters per day, which is more than adequate for the needs of the 1.45 million residents.

"We had earlier estimated that the increase in demand for kerosene was caused by an increase in the LPG price. We had also assumed it was caused by drivers and fishermen mixing the kerosene with diesel fuel in their diesel engines in a desperate bid to keep their fuel costs lower. But our surveys in the field last Wednesday found that our suspicions were not verified," he said.

Wisnu said the suspicion that local fishermen's demand for more kerosene was also to blame for the shortages was wrong too.

For example, in the fishing village of Tambaklorok, Semarang, there are 16 kerosene depots and about 400 retailers to meet the demands of local fishermen for 325,000 liters per month.

"Thus far, we have never run out of kerosene. We have always fulfilled the demands of local residents," said Djumani, who operates a kerosene depot.

He confirmed there were many fishermen who mixed kerosene with diesel fuel as an economic step for their boat engines. "But the need is not too high. We can fill the demands. I was rather surprised that people are lining up to buy kerosene," Djumani claimed.

Pertamina's spokesman for Central Java and Yogyakarta admitted he could not identify those who were to blame for the irregularities in distribution.

"But we don't know who is involved in the irregularities, whether from Pertamina to distributors, or from distributors to depots, or other parties," Wisnu asserted.