Jakarta, Feb 19 (Antara) - The government will consistently take side
with fishermen and deal with the problem of fishing vessels of over 30
gross tons (GT) which are not allowed to use subsidized fuels.
"The government will consistently serve the interest of fishermen. We
will hold a meeting to discuss the problem. The aim is to assist
fishermen," Head of the Downstream Oil and Gas Regulator (BPH Migas),
Andi Nur Saman Someng said on Tuesday.
In recent days, fishermen who owned fishing vessels of over 30 GT have
became restless. The government's plan to lift diesel oil subsidy for
ships of over 30 GT has created concerns among fishermen who considered
that the government did not protect and take side with them.
A presidential regulation in 2012 stipulated that only vessels of less
than 30 GT can use subsidized fuels. The presidential regulation was
followed by a regulation by the minister of energy and mineral resources
which stipulated that a vessel of less than 30 GT was only allowed to
use a maximum of 25 kiloliters of subsidized fuel per month.
The People's Coalition of Fishery Justice (Kiara) therefore called on
the government to not restrict the use of subsidized fuels by fishermen
who needed the commodity to operate in Indonesian waters.
"The ban in the use of subsidized fuels is a form of violation against
the basic right of fishermen," Kiara Secretary General Abdul Halim said
when contacted by Antara recently.
Thus, he called for a review of the presidential regulation limiting
the use of subsidized fuels for fishing ships operating in the
Indonesian waters. "The regulation banning ships of more than 30 GT
(gross tons) from using subsidized fuels should be reviewed," he noted.
Under Presidential Regulation No. 15/2012 on Retail Prices and
Consumers of Certain Fuels, only ships of up to 30 GT are allowed to use
subsidized fuels.
To implement the presidential regulation,
the energy and mineral resources minister issued a regulation in
February 2012 stipulating that ships of less than 30 GT are allowed to
use a maximum of 25 kiloliters of subsidized fuels per month.
Abdul
Hakim said the regulation should be reviewed by coordinating with
relevant ministries or institutions overseeing fishermen or workers
employed in the fishery sector.
The coordination is necessary to see the exact number of small-and large-scale fishermen, he said.
Hakim refused the government's policy to restrict use of fuel arguing
that fuel budget has continued to increase over the past five years. He
said that it should be borne in mind that fuels accounted for 70 percent
of total cost of fishermen's fishing operation.
In the meantime, former marine and fisheries affairs minister Freddy
Number, who is also a cadre of the Great Indonesia Movement Party
(Gerindra), said that the government should not lift fuel subsidy for
fishermen because it would hamper fishermen from going fishing.
"It had better for the government to lift subsidy for private vehicles
rather than that for fishermen. The lifting of subsidy would cause
millions of fishermen to stay idle and unemployed," Numberi stated.
The former minister noted that based on the Central Bureau of
Statistics (BPS) the number of poor fishermen in the country reached
7.87 million in 2011, accounting for 25.14 percent of the number of
underprivileged in the country.
Therefore, he also called on the government to review its policy of
lifting subsidy for fishermen because without the support of subsidy
fishermen would lose jobs and millions of children would leave schools.
"Additionally, national fisheries production will drop as well," Number
added.
In the meantime, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(Kadin) gave a spotlight to the government's policy which only allowed
vessels of less than 30 GT to use subsidized fuels.
"This
problem has triggered unrest and anger of fishermen who own ships or
fishermen who work with ships of over 30 GT," Kadin Deputy Chairman for
Marine Affairs and Fisheries Yugi Prayanto remarked.
He pointed out that at present there were about 10,000 fishing vessels
with over 30 GT capacity, which could not be operated because they had
to purchase non subsidized diesel whose price doubles that of the
subsidized one.
As regards, fishery businessmen and fishermen appealed to the
government, in this case the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources
and the BPH Migas, to allow fishing vessels of over 30 GT to use
subsidized fuels.
Kadin and other relevant associations, according to Prayanto, will
approach the government, particularly the chief economic minister, to
take follow up steps on the problems.
In response to the issue, BPH Migas Head Andi Nur Saman Someng said
actually the government will continue to serve and take side with
fishermen. "The government will consistently take side with fishermen.
We will have a meeting to discuss it," he stated on Tuesday.
In the meantime, Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Cicip Sutardjo
claimed he had approached the relevant agencies to lobby the possibility
of fishing vessels of over 30 GT to use subsidized fuels.
He said that his ministry had signed an agreement on February 5,
2014 with the Director General of Oil and Mineral Resources, Downstream
Oil and Gas Regulator (BPH Migas) and state-owned oil and gas firm
Pertamina.
The minister explained the deal was reached as part of the
implementation of Presidential Instruction No. 15 / 2011 on Fishermen's
Protection. Thus, he argued, ships of large gross tons can use
subsidized fuels with certain conditions.
Large ships of over 30 gross tons are allowed to use subsidized fuel
provided they obtain recommendations from local government authorities.
"This could eliminate the concerns of fishery business players with
regard to subsidized fuel services," the minister pointed out.
The minister noted that fishing ships could use up to 25 kiloliters per
month with verification and recommendation letters from the local
fishery ports or from the provincial/district authorities in charge of
fisheries affairs.
"Thus, ships of over 30 gross tons owned by traditional fishermen can use subsidized fuel," the minister added.
Minister
Sutardjo pointed out the problem arising now was actually triggered by
misperception that led the BPH Migas to issue a limitation in the use of
subsidized fuels for smaller fishing vessels.
"It is a
misperception. The misperception should have been corrected when the
energy and mineral resources minister's regulation No. 18/2013 was
issued last year," Minister Sutardjo noted.
He
said that actually the government set a subsidized fuel quota of 2.5
million kiloliters which up to now only about 1.8 million kiloliters had
been used.
"So, we do not exceed the quota. It is therefore
questionable if only ships of less than 30 GT are allowed to use it,
because even if a ship of up to 60 GT is allowed to use subsidized fuel,
the quota will still be enough," the marine affairs and fisheries
minister said.
Therefore, he said, the policy with regard to this matter should be
aimed at serving the interest of and protect fishermen.***2***
(T.A014/H-YH)
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 19-02-2014 23:22 |
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