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View all search resultsKadin fires back over ‘illegal’ rice import, citing permit
Aceh chairman of the business chamber Muhammad Iqbal argued that the import fell squarely within the rules of the special economic zone in the area.
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A worker tidies up a stack of locally produced rice at state food company Perum Bulog’s warehouse in Indramayu, West Java, on May 30, 2024. The company said that local rice supply as of early of May had reached 590,000 tonnes, and the production was expected to increase in June. (Antara/Dedhez Anggara)
T
he local chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has stepped in to defend a contentious 250-tonne rice import from Thailand that the government has branded illegal.
The statement came after Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman denounced the delivery to Sabang, Aceh, calling it a blatant breach of national food-import policy amid President Prabowo Subianto’s push for greater food self-sufficiency. Amran said the shipment lacked a central government import permit and pledged to investigate everyone involved.
Kadin’s Aceh chairman, Muhammad Iqbal, pushed back, arguing that the import fell squarely within the rules of the special economic zone.
“The rice brought into the Sabang region went through a permit process issued by the Sabang Free Port Undertaking Agency [BPKS],” Iqbal said in a statement on Monday, as quoted by Tempo.co.
Read also: Govt mounts probe after illegal rice import slips into Aceh
Iqbal cited Sabang’s special autonomous status under Law No. 37/2000 on the Sabang Free Port and Free Trade Area and Article 167 of Law No. 11/2006 on the governance of Aceh, the latter of which designates Sabang as a customs-free zone. He said these legal frameworks meant that standard import and export regulations did not apply within the region.
He revealed that the import had received approval from both the BPKS and the central government through a limited coordination meeting with the Office of the Coordinating Food Minister on Nov. 14.
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