Post-disaster fuel hoarding in North Sumatra: a sharia economic analysis and criminal liability

This study investigates post-disaster fuel hoarding in North Sumatra with a case study of Mandailing Natal. Using a normative and comparative-legal approach, the research draws on documentary sources—scholarship in sharia economics, criminal-law and fiqh studies, applicable legislation, and local media accounts of hoarding practices. The analysis maps hoarding mechanisms, evaluates their conformity with sharia economic principles (including maqāsid al-sharī’ah), distributive justice, and market ethics, and assesses the fit between positive-law criminal liability and fiqh criteria. Findings indicate that practices such as the use of clandestine storage facilities, collusion between retail operators and collectors, and diversion of subsidized fuel to informal markets exacerbate shortages and impose disproportionate socio-economic burdens on vulnerable populations. From a sharia-economic and juristic standpoint, these behaviors constitute ihtikār, contravening the objectives of the sharia, norms of equitable distribution, and market-ethical obligations. Although national regulatory instruments in Indonesia are, on paper, capable of addressing such conduct, their effectiveness is undermined by evidentiary gaps, limited supply-chain traceability, and weak inter-agency coordination. The study recommends harmonising statutory and fiqh guidance in operational protocols, enhancing investigative and audit capacities, instituting real-time quota and inventory transparency, and combining preventive governance with restorative and proportionate sanctions to safeguard public welfare in post-disaster settings.