Official proposes 'safer' scheme to distribute rice

Official proposes 'safer' scheme to distribute rice

JAKARTA (JP): An official from the city's Regional Economic
Bureau (Binekda) has underlined the importance of ensuring cheap
rice supplied through market operations reaches the poor people
it is intended for and is not stolen by unscrupulous
distributors.

The official, who asked not to be named, said on Friday that
the Jakarta Logistics Agency (Dolog Jaya), which handles rice
distribution in the city, should therefore change the system it
uses to distribute rice supplies in the city.

Binekda is a city administration agency which oversees Dolog
and city-owned companies.

He said a change in the system was needed because a number of
distributors contracted by Dolog to distribute rice to the city's
needy were abusing their position of trust and selling the rice
for a higher price in wealthier areas of Jakarta.

"Distributing cheap rice directly to the poor could be better
done through cooperation with the heads of neighborhood units
because it is they who know who the poor really are," he said.

"That would help us to ensure that the cheap rice reaches
those who need it most and is not stolen by distributors," he
said.

There are 3,450 rice distributors registered with Dolog in the
city, but police data has shown that 142 of these exist on paper
only and have been set up for fraudulent purposes.

The logistics agency has set a ceiling price of Rp 2,050 per
kilogram of rice but in reality the commodity is currently being
sold for prices in the region of Rp 3,000 per kilogram.

Commenting on the existence of bogus distribution companies,
the Binekda official said that before entering into cooperative
agreements, Dolog usually attempted to check applicants
credentials.

"Dolog can check whether distributors that apply have
warehouses and kiosks in which to store rice. If they don't, it
is possible they are actually fronts for price speculators," he
said.

Binekda's suggested changes to the distribution system
received the support of Lukman Mokoginta from the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) faction in the city council, who said that
involving neighborhood heads was sensible because they were well
aware of the state of people's welfare in their areas.

However, Lukman said the administration should be selective
and not hold market operations in all neighborhoods.

"The administration already has data on poor and
underdeveloped areas in the city and should use this information
to target its market operations and make them more effective," he
said.

He also said that Dolog should immediately end cooperation
with fraudulent distributors.

"I believe the practice has been going on for a long time and
that Dolog should have had detected its existence before now. So
it's not unreasonable to suspect that Dolog officials are in on
the scam," he said. (ind)