Use rupiah

I cannot recall the exact date but a few months ago, the government strongly demanded that the business community conduct all local transactions in only the local currency, the rupiah. The business community followed through and almost all local transactions are now made in rupiah only, thanks to the spirit of our government to maintain our rupiah in business.

But recently, the country's only gas distributing company, PGN, which is a state-owned enterprise (BUMN), worked contrary to the above by charging its customer using a US$-based invoice. The natural gas (LNG) is extracted from within Indonesia and exploited by Indonesia. I believe the cost is almost 100 percent rupiah-based. Furthermore, LNG is even sold mainly to local agents. And the invoice is in dollars?

I think this is ridiculous. When we raised this issue and complained, the only explanation was that PGN bought the LNG raw material from Pertamina, another BUMN, in dollars. Here the game begins!

We demand that these two BUMNs revise their policy to carry out transactions based on the rupiah, or at least by pegging the rupiah to a certain rate against dollar, so as to prevent speculators from hunting dollars.

Please understand the present depressed condition of our industry. The government's support is badly needed to keep industries running and, in turn, contribute to national development. Total reform must be accomplished.

BK HADISOEBROTO

Jakarta