Hundreds of demonstrators protest Pertamina in Tarakan

Some 200 people held a demonstration on Wednesday protesting the office of the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina in Tarakan, East Kalimantan.

The local Kaltim Post daily reported that the demonstrators protested the recent lack of fuel supply in the area and the poor transparency in the distribution of fuel by Pertamina.

The protesters lambasted the Pertamina office in Tarakan for alleged corruption and collusion, and fuel smuggling out of the area.

The protesters said that it was an irony to see the people had to go into a long queue to purchase fuel in Tarakan, one of the oil-rich area in the province.

One of the demands of the protesters was to allow the local Tarakan administration to be involved in the distribution of the fuel products in the area. But the Pertamina Tarakan office had to wait for the decision from the higher office in Balikpapan. (*)