“Tembak saja atau hukum seumur hidup" (Just shoot them or sentence them to life in prison), reads a line of the latest song by superstar ballad singer Iwan Falls. The song calls on the government to severely punish heartless businesspeople for hoarding cooking oil for their own profit and greedy palm oil producers for not caring about the suffering of millions of people.

Rita Riyani, a 49-year-old housewife, died on Tuesday after being hospitalized for two days in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. She collapsed on Sunday after waiting in line for cooking oil for hours. The resident of the Air Putih subdistrict was too exhausted.

Just two days before President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo's visit to the site of the new capital city Nusantara, also in East Kalimantan, on Monday, another housewife, Sandra, 41, collapsed and died as soon as she arrived at a packed minimarket in Kampung Cina in Berau regency, also in East Kalimantan, to buy cooking oil. Dozens of other buyers had already thronged the minimarket. 

Sandra’s husband had asked her to stay at home because she was sick. But she insisted on going to the minimarket because it was difficult to find cooking oil elsewhere.

The cooking oil scarcity all over the country has pushed the legendary singer Iwan, born Virgiawan Listantyo, to come back with his “rebellious” trademark that catapulted him to fame. He is prominently known for his hits such as "Bento, Bongkar" (Demolish) and "Serdadu" (Soldier), which were played as “anthems” by street demonstrators in their mass protests against Soeharto’s dictatorship since a few years before his fall from grace on May 21, 1998.

Just a few days ago Iwan released his new song "Minyak Goreng" (Cooking Oil), which he composed along with Raja Pane. The song has gone viral on social media platforms. Iwan, who is often dubbed Indonesia’s Bob Dylan, has regained his old nature as a sharp government critic who could not accept the state lost to the powerful businesses.

Iwan points his finger at seven major palm oil producers, which he describes as seven conglomerates. It is actually more complicated than it may seem because the palm oil industry has also become a revenue source of many government officials, including ministers and politicians.

The new song will likely become a new “anthem” for the people to express their anger with the government’s failure to keep the basic commodity available in the market.

The following are some lines of the song:

Minyak goreng menguap hilang dan lenyap di pasar (Cooking oil disappears from the market)

Usut punya usut ternyata ditimbun (It turns out it has been hoarded)

Oleh siapa (By whom)?

Konon oleh tujuh konglomerat tambun (Supposedly by seven fat conglomerates)

The government should not underestimate Iwan’s influence amid growing public frustration, especially as the Ramadan fasting month is about two weeks away.

The phenomenon of Iwan should serve as a wake-up call for the government. The legendary songwriter was a great inspiration for students and activists who relentlessly took to the streets to force Soeharto to end his three-decade dictatorship. Iwan’s concerts and songs were often banned by the military because of his critical view of Soeharto and the military.

Two housewives lost their lives in East Kalimantan just for two liters of cooking oil. After insisting that there was an abundant stock of cooking oil across the country at a lower-than-market price, the government eventually bowed to the pressures of palm oil businesses to follow the market mechanism on Wednesday.

The House of Representatives has summoned Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi to attend a hearing, if necessary by use of force, because he is seen as protecting greedy industry players who refuse to cut their profits for the sake of the nation, while advocating government subsidy for them when palm oil faced a decline in international demand.

A journalist friend described the government’s defeat to the greedy people as a “great story of how the government got beaten by speculators and hoarders and the mafia producers behind them. Many trade ministers lost their battles against big cartels and subsequently lost their jobs”.

The government can defend itself and blame smugglers. Major palm oil producers can have excuses for not fulfilling their domestic market obligations because international prices have skyrocketed in the last few months. The same actors begged for government protection when palm oil prices plummeted. Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer. The world has often criticized the industry as a major source of deforestation and forest fires in the country.

The whole nation should bear the humiliation. This is a critical time for President Jokowi to revisit his policies in order to realize his promises of food security, including cooking oil. Only last month the government could not anticipate the disruption of supplies of soybean, the material of tempeh and tofu, the popular food of ordinary people.  

Cooking oil is a basic necessity for most people. Do not preach to the people to choose a healthier diet and reduce the use of cooking oil.

 

Aku resah kok polisi tidak berdaya (I’m worried the police are powerless)

Aku marah kok pemerintah mudah dipermainkan (I'm angry at how the government can be fooled)

Aku geram kok kasus ini terus berulang (I’m upset such things happen repeatedly)

Kok Susah amat memberantasnya (Why it is so difficult to eradicate it)

Tembak saja atau hukum seumur hidup (Just shoot them or sentence them to life in prison)

 

The President may be very busy now with his efforts to realize his dream of relocating the capital city. He is also preoccupied by preparations for the Group of 20 summit in Bali in October.

I propose that Indonesia change the theme of its G20 presidency into “With cooking oil, recover together, recover stronger!”

Iwan has urged the government to shoot or imprison for life the irresponsible speculators and selfish palm oil producers for causing the loss of lives. I do agree with the living legend.

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The writer is a senior editor at The Jakarta Post.