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Public trust in prosecution of cooking oil case: Survey
A new independent survey has found that the public is well aware of the cooking oil corruption scandal and hopes that public prosecutors will bring the “mafia” to justice.
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Workers transfer harvested palm fruits to a transport truck before being processing into crude palm oil (CPO) at a palm plantation in Pekanbaru, Riau, on April 23. Public prosecutors are currently looking into a scheme granting permits to palm oil exporters despite strict measures to keep cooking oil affordable and widely available. (AFP/Wahyudi)
T
he public has high hopes for the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) to prosecute an ongoing corruption case that is believed to have caused the scarcity and high prices of cooking oil nationwide, an independent pollster revealed on Thursday.
The government doubled down on its export ban of nearly all oil palm products this week, following attempts to ensure domestic stockpiles were maintained amid high global prices that made exports a lucrative option.
The edible oil is used in staple products such as cooking oil, which is highly sought after during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and ahead of the Idul Fitri holiday.
According to a new Indikator Politik Indonesia survey of about 1,200 people conducted on April 20-25, the number of respondents who complained of cooking oil scarcity had declined compared to an earlier survey conducted just two weeks prior.
Just under 75 percent of people surveyed said it was still difficult to find cooking oil, compared to the 83.7 percent who took part in a poll carried out on April 14-19 among a similarly sized group of respondents.
A similar portion of respondents (73.1 percent) in the latest survey believe that the lack of supply was driven by increased international demand due to soaring global prices.
However, an overwhelming majority believed the cooking oil “mafia” had a hand in it, referring to syndicates that deliberately stockpile goods to drive prices up before selling them.
