Attacks on the President and the People

 

President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono told reporters today that he just survived a teror plot.

The Jakarta Globe quoted him as saying that today the Police has arrested two terrorists who plan to attack him during a visit to Bandung, West Java.


This news gave me mixed feelings. On the one hand I am very happy that the Police has once again been successful in protecting the President from terrorist attack. 

But on the other hand I am very sad because until this moment the Police has still not been able to find out who's responsible for the series of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Canisters explosions that have killed and injured many innocent people in the last few months.

In my humble opinion, this is weird because LPG Canisters are produced, filled-refilled and distributed legally, therefore should not be so difficult to probe compared to secretive terrorists operations.

I hope that beside protecting the President, the Police would also find out immediately who have attacked the people by producing, filling-refilling, selling low quality and explosive LPG Canisters. After all, according to our Constitution the people is the holder of sovereignty in Indonesia.

Photo: Courtesy of AFP/The Jakarta Globe.

The Deadly Gas Cylinders

In an effort to minimize subsidy for imported fuels, in 2006 the government converted the use of Kerosene into Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) distributed in 3-Kg. Gas Cylinders .

Since then, every day the news media have been reporting about so many people who died and/or wounded because of the explosions of the very low quality Gas Cylinders. In response to people's protests, some members of the House of Representatives have asked the government to withdraw all Gas Cylinders from circulation.

The most shocking thing is that in spite of the frequent explosions causing many casualties, no one seems to be willing to take responsibility for those explosions. The state-owned petroleum company PT. Pertamina that supplied the Gas and Gas Cylinders, blamed the consumers for not being careful in using the Gas Cylinder, its Hose and Regulator.

Only after the President, Vice President and some Cabinet Ministers commented on this grave matter, PT Pertamina come with a suggestion that LPG consumers should change the Hose and Regulator for the Gas Cylinder they currently used by buying new, better quality and cheaper ones, from Pertamina.

Considering that the 3-kg. Gas Cylinders have exploded, killed and wounded so many people in many parts of Indonesia, I hope that the government would treat this case very important, therefore ask the law enforcement agencies to investigate thoroughly, like they investigated the far less important Sex Video case.
I also hope that PT Pertamina would closely monitor the distribution of Gas Cylinders, so that they would not explode again.   

Related media reports :
- Converted to Death (Tempo) 
- Polisi Selidiki Penyebab Ledakan Gas 3 Kg (Inilah)
- 14 Produsen Selang Tabung Gas 3 Kg Dievaluasi (PosKota)
- DPR: Tarik Semua Tabung Gas 3 Kg. (VivaNews)