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Politicization of cooking oil
The new trade minister has committed a public and political gaffe not long after he succeeded his predecessor, who was disgraced over the same commodity.
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span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US">However convincing the National Mandate Party (PAN) might have been in its defense of its chairman and newly installed Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, who distributed free cooking oil during a community assistance program in Bandarlampung on Saturday, it cannot be denied that the event smacked of a conflict of interest, even an abuse of power.
Unsurprisingly, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reprimanded Zulkifli by telling him to focus on his priority task of bringing the market price of cooking oil down to the government’s target of Rp 14,000 (94 US cents) per liter or lower.
Zulkifli launched a market intervention on July 6 that set a nationwide retail price of Rp 14,000 per liter for Minyakkita cooking oil, which is sold at traditional markets as well as on e-commerce platforms.
The problem with PAN’s charity program in the Lampung capital is that Zulkifli took advantage of the government’s market intervention that he initiated to promote the 2024 legislative bid of his eldest daughter, Futri Zulya Savitri, a political debutante who is representing PAN’s Lampung electoral district.
It is clear that Zulkilfi used the government program for nepotistic purposes.
In a video clip circulating on social media, Zulkifli is seen asking recipients of the 2-liter packages of Minyakkita to vote for Futri. The minister also hints that he would continue to hold similar charity programs to woo voter support for his daughter.
PAN deputy chairman Viva Yoga Mauladi said the event was held in accordance with the rules, as it took place on a public holiday and Futri had purchased the cooking oil that was distributed. Viva also said that Zulkilfi had taken part in the party’s charity program in his capacity as PAN chairman.
Surely politicians in public posts are experts at finding loopholes to pursue personal gains while serving the state. There are also no clear-cut regulations in place to prevent public officials from misusing state facilities. The most common example of this ethics violation is the use of official cars to go on mudik (exodus) during Idul Fitri, which some regional leaders have professed as “practical”.
Needless to say, Zulkifli is not the only public official to face legitimate questions over alleged conflict of interest. As the country gears up in its preparations for the 2024 elections, more and more politicians in public office will be increasingly tempted to compromise their duty to the state for their party’s or their own interests. Zulkifli’s politicization of a cooking oil charity event is one of the most common methods politicians have employed to conceal their vested interests behind a facade of “state duties”.
We cannot, however, expect President Jokowi to go beyond simply rebuking Zulkifli, as such practices are widespread and have, perhaps, become normalized. This entrenched power abuse could be blamed on the practice of appointing politicians to ministerial posts, but even a professional Cabinet cannot stop the abuse unless the system is reformed.
One of the most feasible administrative reforms is to require all political appointees to relinquish their party posts while holding office so they can focus on the public interest. After all, democracy mandates that loyalty to a party ends where loyalty to the state begins.
