Samarinda parliament calls Pertamina to investigate fuel shortage

Deputy speaker of the Samarinda House of Representatives Rusman Yaqub called on the state-owned oil and gas company to immediately investigate the fuel shortage problem suffered by the Tarakan people in East Kalimantan province.

"I demand Pertamina to find out the truth about the fuel shortage problem," Rusman was quoted by the local Kaltim Post daily.

The paper reported that fuel shortage problem had reoccurred again the in Tarakan area, the oil rich area in East Kalimantan. The paper said that the people had also complained about the soaring fuel prices because of the shortage of supply.

Hundreds of people demonstrated last week protesting the Pertamina office in Tarakan over the fuel shortage problem and the lack of transparency in the fuel distribution system. There has been growing demands that the local administration should also be involved in the fuel distribution to prevent fuel shortage.

Reports also said that the fuel shortage problem had been caused by the massive smuggling of the subsidized fuel products to neighboring countries including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Some also said that the planned fuel increase in October had prompted speculators to make a piling up activity. (*)