"Talking about energy, the important thing is to change the old paradigm. Indeed, energy is a matter involving the sovereignty of the state," Deputy House Speaker Pramono Anung said here on Monday.
He said so far the national energy policy was not yet aimed at preserving energy sources. This could be seen from the great liberty outsiders enjoyed in tapping Indonesia`s natural wealth.
"This paradigm has been taking place since the New Order government and we are now facing its carry-over problems. For this, we need new people such as Pak (Mr) Dahlan (state enterprises minister) to change this paradigm," Pramono said.
The deputy House speaker said that national self-reliance would only be a dream if the people did not realize the importance of energy.
He said t North Korea for example had applied energy sovereignty. Energy was placed as a matter of state sovereignty where the state would base what it would do about energy on its sovereignty.
The same was true in Cuba, he said, where people use energy in a frugal way as they realized the importance of energy. The price of fuel oil in Cuba was the same as in Indonesia. Yet, Cuba never felt it was running short of energy.
"Unlike the United States which needs 30 million barrels of oil per day. It does not use its own energy but imports it. It does not use even a single drop of its fuel oil, even if it could tap its own oil fields in Texas," Pramono said. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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