Thousands threatened by food shortages in Aceh
JAKARTA (JP): As many as 62,000 residents of the isolated island of Simeulue in Aceh have been reportedly facing food shortages after its three ferries were removed on Sept. 15 from service there.
"If the sea traffic is not restored within five days, some Simeuleu residents will starve," said Raswandi Mariadi, a representative of Simeulue's regent, as reported by Antara in the island's capital of Sinabang on Monday.
Rice stocks have been depleted, while the local State Logistics Agency had long stopped functioning, he said.
The island's monthly demand of 6,200 metric tons of rice is normally supplied from Meulaboh, West Aceh, but the ferry KM Kakap, which usually plied the Meulaboh-Sinabang route, was transferred on Sept. 15 to the Sibolga-Gunung Sitoli route in North Sumatra.
The ferries KM Dengkis and KM Lili have also stopped service to the island because of mechanical problems.
Simeulue is 108 nautical miles, or 13 hours ferry ride, from Meulaboh and has five districts.
"Without the help of the Aceh provincial administration, we can't do much. Our people will eventually go hungry," Raswandi said.
He suggested that the provincial administration ask either the Navy to deploy ships or the Air Force to utilize aircraft to ferry foodstuffs to the island.
"We're facing starvation, not because we can't afford to buy food, but because there are no stocks coming in," he said.
Antara also reported from Larantuka, East Nusa Tenggara, that residents of 10 villages in Witihama on Adonara island in East Flores regency had to move their food stocks inside their houses following a recent outbreak of barn thefts.
"There's always people reporting that their corn or green bean stocks were stolen from their barns," said Mustafa Miak, the head of Oringbele village.
More than 30 barns have reportedly been pillaged, though owners say they have not dared to report the incidents to police.
Ama Raja Yusuf, one of the villagers, said the looters came in groups of ten from outside the district. Some have even used speedboats to transport their booty.
Locals said similar outbreaks of looting took place in 1965 when drought caused massive crop failures.
Commodities
The head of the National Development Planning Board, Boediono, said in Yogyakarta on Monday that the government was now mobilizing all its resources to meet public demands for basic commodities.
"Our priority now is how to lift Indonesia out of the crisis as soon as possible," he said as quoted by Antara in a lecture at Gadjah Mada University.
He also said the board had made it a priority to establish programs which could immediately benefit the people, including setting up an effective distribution system of low-cost essentials.
"Our role now is like a housewife who has to feed many children on a very limited budget. We have to keep on thinking about how to prevent the children from going hungry," he said.
Separately, Minister of Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises Adi Sasono said in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, that he hoped prices of essentials "would return to normal" by the end of the year.
"We are hoping that the economic difficulties caused by the monetary crisis will (end) within the next three months," he said in a meeting with Governor H.Z.B. Palaguna, regents and officials of the ministry's provincial office.
He was quoted by Antara as describing the importance of securing a supply of basic commodities since food shortages would wreak havoc in people's lives and disrupt the domestic political situation.
He cited that since the crisis hit Indonesia in July last year, the number of the country's poor people had increased from 22 million to 79 million.
"Unrest in the form of looting foodstuffs and even crops should be handled delicately by regents in order to prevent even greater problems," he said. (swe)