7 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT AND RP. 100 BILLION FINE AGAINST HOARDERS OF PRIMARY MATERIALS

The government has obligation to realize the availability, affordability, and fulfillment on food consumption for society: in manners that is sufficient, safe, qualified, and nutritionally balanced. Unfortunately, the market is usually filled with restlessness of society as result of scarcity or fluctuation of food price. That is why; Public Company Bureau of Logistic (Perum Bulog), government, as well as private enterprise usually convene activity through market operation. The purpose is to help decreasing food price.

In fact, the cause of high price of food price is attributable to many factors. One of the factors is the high demand which caused the hoarding of primary materials (usually referred to as (sembako), particularly prior to religious day of celebrations, such as fasting and the Lebaran festivities. In order to achieve a stable food price, law enforcement for hoarders is required. Head of the Police Force (during the time of Police General Badrodin Haiti) has issued Edict of Head of the Police Force of the Republic of Indonesia Number: Mak/01/VII/2015

on Prohibition to Hoard or Store Food and Goods of Basic Needs. In the edict, it is expressly stated that business doers are prohibited to intentionally hoard or store exceeding the maximum number allowed or outside the reasonableness, with intention to gain profit, so that causing the price of primary food becomes expensive  or skyrockets. Furthermore, business doers are also prohibited to store goods of basic needs and/or important goods in certain number or particular time when there is scarcity, price fluctuation, and/ or constraints on traffic trade of certain foods.

Should there be a business doer that commit such activity, the police force will take serious action by imposing criminal sanction under Article 133 Law Number 18 of 2012 on Food, which contains the following:

“Food Business Doer that intentionally hoard or store exceeding maximum number as referred to Article 53 with intention to gain profit that causing price of Primary Food becomes expensive or skyrockets is punishable with imprisonment for maximum 7 (seven) years or fine for maximum Rp 100.000.000.000,00 (one hundred billion rupiah).”

Aside from the above, hoarders will also be charged with criminal punishment under Article 107 Law Number 7 of 2014 on Trade, which specifies that, “Business Doer that store goods of basic needs and/ or important goods in certain number or particular time when there is good’s scarcity, price fluctuation, and/or constraints on traffic Trade as referred to Article 29 paragraph (1) is punishable with imprisonment for maximum 5 (five) years and/ or fine for maximum Rp 50.000.000.000,00 (fifty billion rupiah).”

-SFA-