Jakarta, (Antara) -- Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel has expressed hope that the National Police will thoroughly deal with the case concerning fake rice made of plastic.
This will be clarified after results of the laboratory test carried out by the National Agency for Food and Drug Control (BPOM) are announced.
"(We) ask investigators to probe from the upstream to the downstream to find out the motive (behind the circulation of this fake rice), whether it was only to make profits or was a criminal act aimed at inconveniencing the government," Minister Gobel said here on Friday.
He noted that his ministry will leave it to the police to process the case legally after a lab test confirms whether the synthetic rice contained hazardous elements.
"The ministry will incessantly ensure coordination by providing data on rice and markets to speed up the handling of the case," he affirmed.
This incident has motivated us to improve rice trading by registering every trademark of the commodity sold in the country, he remarked.
Moreover, Head of the BPOM Roy Sparingga stated that his agency received samples of the alleged fake rice from the Bekasi police.
"We tested them in the laboratory very carefully. The result is expected to be known today (May 22). We will convey the result to the National Police in the very near future," he added.
He revealed that his office had contacted the World Health Organization (WHO) to find out whether there were similar cases in other countries.
"We have been informed that there have been no reports on such cases in any other country at present. However, WHO will pay attention to it," he stated.
Furthermore, the Bekasi administration had asked PT Sucofindo to conduct laboratory tests of samples of the synthetic rice.
The results showed that it contained three kinds of phthalates---benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and diisononyl phthalate (DINP)---that are materials used to make pipes and wires.
However, Brigadier General Yazid Fanani, a director of the National Police's Crime Investigation Department (Bareskrim), said that the samples have to be tested in accordance with the existing procedures.
"The mechanisms with which the samples are collected and the laboratory tests are conducted have certain standard operating procedures. The test yesterday was not conducted by investigators but by the regional administration," Fanani stated.
Bareskrim will establish coordination while waiting for the results from the BPOM and the police.
From the economic perspective, mixing rice with plastic rice is not profitable because the price of plastic rice is three-folds the price of rice.
Furthermore, the synthetic rice that became a cause for concern in the country over the last few days was smuggled from China, Trade Minister Rahmat Gobel said recently.
After attending a limited cabinet meeting at the State Palace on Wednesday, he affirmed that the government had not issued a permit for the importation of rice.
"We did not issue a rice import permit (this year). The fake rice must have been smuggled," he remarked.