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Giant Recall for Faulty Gas Canisters
Camelia Pasandaran, Made Arya Kencana & Zaky Pawas | July 29, 2010

An estimated 9 million gas cylinders are to be recalled, according to the Presidential Palace, and tested to check that they conform with Indonesian safety standards. (JG Photo) An estimated 9 million gas cylinders are to be recalled, according to the Presidential Palace, and tested to check that they conform with Indonesian safety standards. (JG Photo)
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Asoegenie
11:00am Jul 29, 2010

This is another tragic example of government policies that are not well-thought-out and rashly implemented. I shudder to think of all the faulty gas canisters that are still "at large", approximately 36 million of them, and of the Fasting Month that lies immediately ahead. Imagine a tired and sleepy woman preparing a "sahur"/ pre-fast meal for her husband and offspring in the wee hours of the morning...if she happens to be rather careless, due to exhaustion brought on by the fasting month ...'BRADABOOOM!!!" and several more innocent people are maimed or killed by the blast, and can't celebrate Idul Fitri properly. Those who perish immediately are the most fortunate, then, as they must surely be kindly received by The Creator and His Angels.

peterR
6:11am Jul 29, 2010

The education program should have taken place prior to the switch, but I guess better late than never. Just a tragedy that people, including children have to die or by maimed and lives of families devastated before authorities act, and only then under extreme pressure. Indonesia la

Valkyrie
5:30am Jul 29, 2010

That's not a wee amount of cannisters that got "loose" in the market. Once again, this nonchalant attitude of the government, only awakening after several people have been injured and lost their lives. Is life so very cheap?

Why, and why does it always have to be this way before these murdering morons initiate "repair jobs?"


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Jakarta. The continuing series of explosions involving gas canisters that have already claimed several lives in the capital this year has prompted the government to recall about nine million substandard three-kilogram gas canisters starting today, a minister said on Wednesday.

“The cylinders that do not meet the Indonesian National Standards [SNI] will be recalled,” Agung Laksono, coordinating minister for people’s welfare, said at the Presidential Palace. 

“There are an estimated nine millions [canisters] believed not to meet the standards.”

The move came amid rising public criticism of the government’s slow response to the spate of explosions involving three-kg containers of liquefied petroleum gas. 

The state has distributed the fuel in an effort to trim subsidies by replacing more expensive kerosine for cooking.

“They will be pulled out of circulation when they are returned for refill,” Agung said of the gas canisters.

The government will accompany the recall with a massive public information drive to teach safe use of the gas stoves, he said.

“The education campaign is aimed at making people understand what to do when installing and replacing the rubber hose and the regulator,” Agung said.

“They should not improvise by using pressure tools. They should also know that gas cylinders need a ventilated room,” he added.

He also said the campaign would teach users to be mindful of the gas regulators’ and hoses’ expiration dates.

“The government offers help by providing hoses and regulators at factory instead of market prices,” he said. “We even cover the tax as part of our service to the people. However, we need door-to-door training on when to replace them.”

The government is charging Rp 15,000 ($1.67) for the hoses and Rp 20,000 for the regulators.

Agung said several state institutions, including oil and gas company PT Pertamina and the ministries of energy, industry and home affairs, would take part in the information drive.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said he would soon send letters to governors, district heads and mayors to muster their support for the national safety campaign.

Jakarta Police records showed that explosions involving gas canisters had claimed seven lives and burned 51 people in the capital in the first half of this year. 

They also indicate that the 32 explosions accounted for a fourth of the fires in the capital over the same period.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said that in an effort to prevent more explosions, officers were conducting raids on operations that profited from illegally tampering with the gas canisters.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Saputro of the Jakarta Police special crimes division said that 14 operations had been busted, all but two involving siphoning gas from the cheaper, subsidized three-kg canisters to fill larger containers, which are then sold for market price.

Police have also swooped on five plants that produce substandard gas canisters, said Adj. Sr. Comr. Sandi Nugroho, head of the industry and trade unit of the detectives office.

But Boy added people’s treatment of the canisters was partly to blame for the explosions, saying that some tampered with the containers’ valves.