Use rupiah

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