ID :
133653
Mon, 07/19/2010 - 22:17
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/133653
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News Focus: HOUSEHOLD GAS CONSUMERS NOW DEMAND GOVT`S SAFETY GUARANTEE
By Rahmad Nasution
Jakarta, July 19 (ANTARA) - With all the courage she could muster as an ordinary and poor citizen, Susi Haryani, a 29-year-old mother of a toddler named Ridho Januar, came to the State Secretariat building here Monday to seek help from the highest authority in the country, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Haryani and her four-and-a-half year-old son were the victims of a 3-kilogram gas canister blast that damaged their house in Mojo Kampung village, Bojonegoro district, East Java, last March.
She and her son suffered severe burns on parts of their bodies that had left ugly scars.
Forced by the economic harsships she and her family had to cope with in the aftermath of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) blast, she collected all the courage she had and came to the State Secreteriat in the presidential palace complex on Monday to meet and ask for help from the President.
"If I am allowed to come in, I will do so," she told a group of journalists who routinely cover the president's activities. However, she failed to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Instead palace's officials drove her to state oil company Pertamina's head office where they helped her apply for medical aid for herself and her son.
Susi Haryani and her son are just two out of hundreds of LPG gas cylinder blast victims in Indonesia.
The risk of gas canister-related blasts are still haunting the lives of millions of ordinary Indonesians. Like time bombs, the LPG canister explosions can happen at any time and any place without warning.
Last week, at least two gas cylinder-related explosions again happened in East Java. The first blast injured Yudika and damaged his home in the Permata Indah housing complex, Pagak village, Beji sub-district, Pasuruan district, on July 16 at 11.30 pm.
The second accident occurred in Sukun sub-district, East Java city of Malang on July 18, causing Zaini, 60, to sustain serious burns. The blast which damaged her house happened when she reportedly wanted to turn her gas stove on to boil water.
If the Yudika family used a 12-kilogram cylinder, Zaini used a 3-kilogram canister. Both were admitted to hospital for medical treatment.
Due to the ongoing blasts, a number of gas canister users in Lampung Province have demanded a government guarantee that no more gas cylinder blasts will happen.
The need to have the government guarantee was echoed by Sugeng S and Yanti Handayani, respectively residents of Teluk Betung and Labuhanratu, Lampung Province, because, like many other gas canister users, they were also afraid of such accidents.
Sugeng said the TV news bulletins about gas canister-related blasts that he frequently watched had scared him. He had even felt afraid every time he saw the 3-kilogram gas canisters either at home, restaurants, and shops selling gas canisters.
The same trauma was also felt by Yanti Handayani who said that she was reluctant to buy a 3-kilogram gas canister due to frequent blast accidents though it was cheaper than the 12-kilogram type.
The fear of such ordinary Indonesians as Sugeng S and Yanti Handayani is quite understandable because, as revealed by the Center for Public Policy Studies (Puskepi), at least 189 LPG blasts had happened in Indonesia over the past two-and-a-half years.
Puskepi had even found that the number of blasts increased from 61 in 2008 and 50 in 2009, and to 79 in the first seven months of 2010.
This reality meant the gas cylinders had become as deadly a threat as time bombs that could explode at anytime without warning, Puspeki coordinator Sofyano said.
Since the government implemented its kerosene-LPG conversion policy, at least 70 million 3-kilogram gas cylinders have been made available in local markets. But the recurring LPG blast cases have made the public gravely concerned.
In response to the public fear, Indonesia's leading news channel, Metro TV, for instance, carried a tag line saying "No More Gas Canister Blasts, Please!" Radar Bogor Daily also had the same cynical tag line: "Watch Out for In-House Bomb!" and "Beware of the LPG Bomb Terror!"
To avoid the LPG-blast risk , many households in the country have returned to using kerosene and fire wood to meet their energy needs.
Ordinary Jakartans show their protests to the continuing blasts by giving their 3-kilogram gas canisters to a complaint center, initiated by local student and youth activists.
Adrian Napitupulu, an activist of the Fortress of People's Democracy (Bendera), said the Bendera volunteers received complaints from tens of LPG blast victims from the greater Jakarta area since their complaint center was opened last week.
Napitupulu said the compensation state-oil company Pertamina was paying to LPG blast victims was not equal to the material and immaterial losses they had suffered.
Due to the continuing gas canister-related blasts and in response to public requests, the North Sumatra provincial government had asked Pertamina to put off its program to withdraw subsidized kerosene from the market in five North Sumatra cities and districts.
Governor Syamsul Arifin recently said kerosene would continue to be used by residents in Medan and Binjai as well as Deli Serdang, Serdang Bedagai and Langkat districts who were traumatized by the unpredictable and ongoing gas canister blasts.
"We have asked Pertamina to delay the withdrawal of subsidized kerosene from the markets until the people feel secure and confident about using gas in canisters," he said.
Syamsul said the North Sumatra people's demand for kerosene was sound not only due to the ongoing LPG blasts but also due to the bad quality of gas cylinders and their accessories currently available in the market.
This condition was also being worsened by irresponsible people's corrupt acts by reducing or mixing the volumes of LPG cylinders for their own benefits but by ignoring consumers' safety, he said.
The government is responsive to the ongoing tragic accidents by pledging to withdraw bad quality gas canisters and helping three-kilogram gas cylinder consumers get good quality gas pipes and valves with affordable prices since July 6.
The availability of good quality gas pipes and regulators is a must because, apart from the discovery of faulty three-kilogram typed gas canisters in markets, the LPG blasts are closely related to gas leaks caused by improper use of accessories.
Therefore, the people need to be taught about proper ways of installing and maintaining gas stoves and accessories, and the nature of LPG through public learning and awareness campaign activities.
Jakarta, July 19 (ANTARA) - With all the courage she could muster as an ordinary and poor citizen, Susi Haryani, a 29-year-old mother of a toddler named Ridho Januar, came to the State Secretariat building here Monday to seek help from the highest authority in the country, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Haryani and her four-and-a-half year-old son were the victims of a 3-kilogram gas canister blast that damaged their house in Mojo Kampung village, Bojonegoro district, East Java, last March.
She and her son suffered severe burns on parts of their bodies that had left ugly scars.
Forced by the economic harsships she and her family had to cope with in the aftermath of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) blast, she collected all the courage she had and came to the State Secreteriat in the presidential palace complex on Monday to meet and ask for help from the President.
"If I am allowed to come in, I will do so," she told a group of journalists who routinely cover the president's activities. However, she failed to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Instead palace's officials drove her to state oil company Pertamina's head office where they helped her apply for medical aid for herself and her son.
Susi Haryani and her son are just two out of hundreds of LPG gas cylinder blast victims in Indonesia.
The risk of gas canister-related blasts are still haunting the lives of millions of ordinary Indonesians. Like time bombs, the LPG canister explosions can happen at any time and any place without warning.
Last week, at least two gas cylinder-related explosions again happened in East Java. The first blast injured Yudika and damaged his home in the Permata Indah housing complex, Pagak village, Beji sub-district, Pasuruan district, on July 16 at 11.30 pm.
The second accident occurred in Sukun sub-district, East Java city of Malang on July 18, causing Zaini, 60, to sustain serious burns. The blast which damaged her house happened when she reportedly wanted to turn her gas stove on to boil water.
If the Yudika family used a 12-kilogram cylinder, Zaini used a 3-kilogram canister. Both were admitted to hospital for medical treatment.
Due to the ongoing blasts, a number of gas canister users in Lampung Province have demanded a government guarantee that no more gas cylinder blasts will happen.
The need to have the government guarantee was echoed by Sugeng S and Yanti Handayani, respectively residents of Teluk Betung and Labuhanratu, Lampung Province, because, like many other gas canister users, they were also afraid of such accidents.
Sugeng said the TV news bulletins about gas canister-related blasts that he frequently watched had scared him. He had even felt afraid every time he saw the 3-kilogram gas canisters either at home, restaurants, and shops selling gas canisters.
The same trauma was also felt by Yanti Handayani who said that she was reluctant to buy a 3-kilogram gas canister due to frequent blast accidents though it was cheaper than the 12-kilogram type.
The fear of such ordinary Indonesians as Sugeng S and Yanti Handayani is quite understandable because, as revealed by the Center for Public Policy Studies (Puskepi), at least 189 LPG blasts had happened in Indonesia over the past two-and-a-half years.
Puskepi had even found that the number of blasts increased from 61 in 2008 and 50 in 2009, and to 79 in the first seven months of 2010.
This reality meant the gas cylinders had become as deadly a threat as time bombs that could explode at anytime without warning, Puspeki coordinator Sofyano said.
Since the government implemented its kerosene-LPG conversion policy, at least 70 million 3-kilogram gas cylinders have been made available in local markets. But the recurring LPG blast cases have made the public gravely concerned.
In response to the public fear, Indonesia's leading news channel, Metro TV, for instance, carried a tag line saying "No More Gas Canister Blasts, Please!" Radar Bogor Daily also had the same cynical tag line: "Watch Out for In-House Bomb!" and "Beware of the LPG Bomb Terror!"
To avoid the LPG-blast risk , many households in the country have returned to using kerosene and fire wood to meet their energy needs.
Ordinary Jakartans show their protests to the continuing blasts by giving their 3-kilogram gas canisters to a complaint center, initiated by local student and youth activists.
Adrian Napitupulu, an activist of the Fortress of People's Democracy (Bendera), said the Bendera volunteers received complaints from tens of LPG blast victims from the greater Jakarta area since their complaint center was opened last week.
Napitupulu said the compensation state-oil company Pertamina was paying to LPG blast victims was not equal to the material and immaterial losses they had suffered.
Due to the continuing gas canister-related blasts and in response to public requests, the North Sumatra provincial government had asked Pertamina to put off its program to withdraw subsidized kerosene from the market in five North Sumatra cities and districts.
Governor Syamsul Arifin recently said kerosene would continue to be used by residents in Medan and Binjai as well as Deli Serdang, Serdang Bedagai and Langkat districts who were traumatized by the unpredictable and ongoing gas canister blasts.
"We have asked Pertamina to delay the withdrawal of subsidized kerosene from the markets until the people feel secure and confident about using gas in canisters," he said.
Syamsul said the North Sumatra people's demand for kerosene was sound not only due to the ongoing LPG blasts but also due to the bad quality of gas cylinders and their accessories currently available in the market.
This condition was also being worsened by irresponsible people's corrupt acts by reducing or mixing the volumes of LPG cylinders for their own benefits but by ignoring consumers' safety, he said.
The government is responsive to the ongoing tragic accidents by pledging to withdraw bad quality gas canisters and helping three-kilogram gas cylinder consumers get good quality gas pipes and valves with affordable prices since July 6.
The availability of good quality gas pipes and regulators is a must because, apart from the discovery of faulty three-kilogram typed gas canisters in markets, the LPG blasts are closely related to gas leaks caused by improper use of accessories.
Therefore, the people need to be taught about proper ways of installing and maintaining gas stoves and accessories, and the nature of LPG through public learning and awareness campaign activities.
