Heaptalk, Jakarta — The IV Commission of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) discovered 300 tons of imported rice, unfit for consumption and infested with pests, stored in a warehouse of Perum Bulog in Yogyakarta. In response to this finding, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman assured the public that the rice would not be distributed.
“This will be discussed later. Normally, we would release it from the warehouse. Still, we agreed that it should not be distributed to the public, whether for the Food Supply and Price Stabilization (SPHP) or food aid,” Amran said during a working meeting with Commission IV of the DPR at the Parliamentary Complex in Jakarta on Tuesday (03/11).
Amran explained that the rice that was unfit for consumption would be inventoried. He emphasized that not all rice in poor condition would be immediately removed from the warehouse. According to him, officers sort through the rice. Some of the unfit rice would be left to deteriorate, while the remaining would be processed according to procedures.
A series of steps are required to remove the unfit rice from the warehouse. Official documentation must be provided, which the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK) and the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) must review.
During the meeting with the DPR politicians in Commission IV, Amran promised to contact the Director of Bulog to address the 300 tons of infested rice issue, particularly in Yogyakarta. However, following the decision to hold a limited coordination meeting, Amran confirmed that this rice would not be distributed to the public.
Amran also revealed that the discovery of unfit rice was not limited to Yogyakarta. He admitted receiving reports from Bulog stating that 100,000 to 300,000 tons of the total 1.9 million tons of imported rice in Indonesia were unsuitable for consumption. Meanwhile, around 10 tons of rice were found unfit in Yogyakarta. He said, “This has already been included in the list, including Yogyakarta, but we will inquire again to speed up the process in Yogyakarta, ma’am. Apologies, ma’am.”
Previously, the Chairperson of Commission IV, Siti Hediati Hariyadi, often called Titiek Soeharto, revealed the discovery of infested rice. She shared that during a previous work visit, she led a team to Yogyakarta and inspected the Bulog warehouse, where they found a large amount of last year’s imported rice that was no longer fit for consumption.
“During the previous recess, I led the team to Yogyakarta on our work visit, and we inspected the Bulog warehouse. We found a lot of leftover imported rice from last year, stored in the warehouse, which had many pests,” Titiek said during the same occasion.
Titiek urged the Ministry of Agriculture to immediately address the infested imported rice issue. She stated that if the rice were released to the market, it would no longer be suitable for sale. She called on the government not to wait any longer and allow the rice to deteriorate further. “Please, take immediate action on this rice. Perhaps it is no longer suitable for human consumption. Please, make use of this imported rice soon,” Titiek concluded.
