TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Institute for Development Economic and Finance (INDEF) suggested the government to call off refined sugar auction for food and beverage industry. INDEF director Enny Sri Hartati stated that it is better for the government to return sugar distribution directly to the producer.
"If refined sugar is auctioned, how do we identify the process, and this does not resolve the problem," Enny said in Jakarta on Saturday (30/9).
She claimed that the government performs auction to make the purchase of refined sugar transparent, but doing an auction does not make it transparent. Furthermore, she continued, auction shuts down the opportunity for small scale industries to purchase refined sugar since the minimum purchase is 1 ton. What is worse, she added, mafia in the industry of refined sugar has harmed both sugar farmers and consumers.
"The price of sugar in Indonesia is 1.8 times more expensive than international price, and logically the farmers are the ones who should have reaped the benefit," she explained.
Ombudsman chairman Danang Girindrawardana rejected the auction since it is administratively flawed as it did not refer to Presidential Decree. In addition, this auction benefits the administrator and even supports the potential of brokers to exploit the distribution of refined sugar.
IMAM HAMDI
