REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Former the National Energy Council (DEN), Herman Darnel Ibrahim supported the elected president, Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to eradicate oil and gas mafia in Indonesia. He said that it was not easy to do it. The new president needs more efforts to reform the oil and gas industry, including the eradication of the mafia from fuel procurement system.
According to Ibrahim, both of Jokowi and his vice president Jusuf Kalla must ensure that they are completely clean of oil and gas mafia association. If they are not becoming part of the mafia, it is already a progress to state officials.
"If they are able to eradicate the oil and gas mafia, we very much appreciate that," Ibrahim said in Jakarta on Thursday.
The oil and gas mafia during this is only completed in terms of action plans without real action. The oil mafia in Indonesia accounted for 40-50 trillion IDR of estimated state losses per year through subsidized fuel transaction. It does not include the losses in electricity sector, mineral and gas.
According to Jakarta governor, it is quite funny because Indonesia, which have large oil production must import more than 70 percent of its fuel and crude oil to be used as subsidized energy. It becomes a serious problem to national industry.