TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Gita Wirjawan's campaign activities in the Democrat Party convention have been somewhat disrupted by the issue of illegal imports of Vietnamese rice. Only two weeks ago, he tendered his resignation as trade minister.
According to Gita, charges that the medium-quality Vietnamese rice being dumped on Jakarta's markets by premium-quality rice importers, are not true. "This is all a political play. It's been proven the rice being sold is premium not medium quality," insisted Gita.
On Thursday last week, following a convention event in Bandung, Gita spoke by telephone to Tempo reporter Akbar Tri Kurniawan.
We found medium-quality Vietnamese rice being sold as premium-quality brand. Why is this allowed?
What do you mean? Prices of cheap premium rice are not under our control.
The cheap imported rice will affect local rice sales. Isn't there oversight on quota imports?
Those are market prices. If the price is too high, we get scolded. Conversely, if it's too low, people complain. There are many variables to the problem, from the currency exchange factor to demand and supply. News about this imported rice has been reported way out of proportion. It's been proven in laboratories that this is premium-quality rice. As to prices, that's out of our domain.
Why isn't there some consideration on price classification so this kind of rice can no longer be imported?
That cannot be done, it's not in the regulations or in the laws. It would be funny to bring it to the domain of prices. Meaning, someone wants to prove something. We issue licenses based on the recommendation of the Agriculture Ministry, while the demand for imported rice for consumers is determined by the Working Team on Rice (Pokja Beras) under the coordination of the Agriculture Ministry.
So, over this past year, the government has not discussed the price of premium rice in the market?
Please ask the head of the Pokja, the agriculture minister. What I want to stress is that the issue was raised because of the complaints of one rice trader by the name of Billy Haryanto in Cipinang Central Market. He's dramatizing the issue by saying there's imported medium-quality rice in the market. But the labs prove they are not. So who's lying?
What about reports of rogue importers involved in the importation of premium rice?
There are cases of overlapping importers, over the kinds of imports. But for problematic agricultural product importers, we have deleted their names from the list In any case, on the issue of imports, the final say lies with the Agriculture Ministry, which provides the recommendation. (*)
Read the complete interview in this week’s edition of Tempo English Magazine.
