YLKI mulls Pertamina boycott
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI) strongly condemned on Monday a decision by state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to raise the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), saying that it would impose more burdens upon the public.
YLKI demanded the company to revoke the latest policy, and should they ignore the demand, the consumer rights group would mobilize the public to boycott Pertamina products.
"We are currently soliciting support from the consumers," said Sudaryatmo, an executive at YLKI, during a press conference.
Lies Sugeng, an activist who led a class action against Pertamina on a previous LPG price increase, supported the YLKI plans, saying that her group would help gather signatures from household consumers.
If consumer support is deemed broad and significant, YLKI would launch a campaign to ask the public to boycott Pertamina products.
"The move is being sought to give Pertamina a lesson so that it would correct its decision and later, give a fair LPG price to people," Lies said.
The mounting public concern was brought to light after Pertamina unilaterally raised the price of LPG.
Pertamina, a monopolist in the Indonesian LPG industry, announced last Friday that it would raise the price of LPG from Rp 28,800 per tank to Rp 32,400 per tank. Each tank holds 12 kilograms of LPG. The price hike was made effective Saturday.
Pertamina claimed that it was forced to raise the price in a bid to reduce losses, but YLKI said that this was an irresponsible argument.
"Pertamina is a state company, so that it must be able to prevent the public from suffering losses.
"It is grossly unfair and selfish if the company does not want to bear the burden and, moreover, the burden is then easily shifted to the public," said Sudaryatmo.
Pertamina has twice raised the price of LPG this year, first in July, and second this month.
Pertamina said the economic price was pegged at Rp 3,000 per kilograms or Rp 36,000 per tank.
It is unclear whether Pertamina would raise the price again in the near future, in order to meet the economic price.