"Our nation needs to eat," Thohir stated in his speech at the inauguration of the Fishermen's Solar Program Initiative for Cooperatives (Solusi) at one of the fishermen's public fuel filling stations managed by the Mino Saroyo Village Unit Cooperative in Cilacap, Central Java, on Saturday.
Hence, when the government decided to increase the fuel oil price, he communicated with Cooperatives and SMEs Minister Teten Masduki and informed President Joko Widodo immediately that there must be a solution for fishermen following that issue.
He said his administration, along with the Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry and Pertamina, immediately held a meeting to strive to provide solutions to fishermen.
"And, of course, this solution would not be possible without the support of my friend, Mr. Adi (Adistrya Suryo Sulisto, ed.) of Commission VI (of the House of Representatives), also from regional governments, and from cooperatives, who want to work with us, throughout Indonesia," he stated.
The minister said that apart from providing solutions to cater to the fishermen's needs, they also pressed for programs to improve the lives of fishermen.
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One of the solutions was by urging Pertamina to provide a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program for fishermen's families.
"Today (September 17), of course, the Fisherman's Solution Program is not just (about) fuel," the minister said as he called two fishermen representatives -- Angelina and Talya -- to take the stage.
He immediately held a dialog with the duo once they came up on stage.
On the occasion, Angelina, who was a ship owner, listed some expectations of fishermen, including the addition of subsidized fuel quotas for fishermen, attention to small-scale fishermen, especially the ease of processing fuel purchase documents, and no further fuel price hikes.
Talya, on the other hand, complained about the decreasing price of fish caught by fishermen.
In response, Thohir said that currently, there were four million kiloliters of diesel fuel for Cilacap's fishermen.
"However, for the Pertalite problem, we will try to report it later," he remarked.
As for the management of fuel purchase documents, he admitted to have recognized the problem. If possible, recommendations for diesel purchase were made online to circumvent the need to go back and forth.
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In response to the fishermen's expectations of no further hike in fuel prices, he said that if possible, fuel prices should have gone down rather than have increased.
"This is the world fuel price of 105 (dollars). In the past, it was 65 dollars, but now, the average is still at 97 dollars. If it goes down, it goes down," he explained.
Moreover, he said his administration, along with Cooperatives and SMEs Minister Teten Masduki, would also provide solutions for fishermen.
In this case, the government planned to purchase fishermen's catches at market prices. The purchases are made through cooperatives.
"We will try it later, and first, we also agree to have the pilot project in Cilacap," he remarked.
Nevertheless, the minister said the fish caught by fishermen must be standardized, as the buyers were not only from within the country but also from overseas.
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Translator: Sumarwoto, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Suharto
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