Jakarta – Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the government's plan to raise fuel prices on Oct. 1 to ease the state's burden of paying for a mushrooming fuel subsidy due to higher global oil prices.
The plan, announced on Friday, fell short of specifying the amount that fuel prices would be raised, but it was emphasized that it would be implemented simultaneously with a low-income assistance program designed to ease the impact on the country's millions of impoverished citizens.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla met former vice president Try Sutrisno in a closed-door meeting on Saturday in which they reportedly discussed the government's fuel policies, as well as the recent peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement.
"The most important thing is that we as a large nation should keep everyone informed about what is going on. Criticizing is fine, the government should be open to criticism and constructive advice. We shouldn't make unnecessary moves that will obstruct the nation's journey," Try was quoted by Antara as saying after the meeting.
On Thursday, several ex-leaders, including Try, former presidents Megawati Soekarnoputri and Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, urged the government to drop its plan to increase fuel prices.
In Jakarta on Sunday, thousands of people from the Islamic Hizbut Tahrir group, the Alliance of Independent Labor Unions and several women's groups protested the plan, urging the government to take other steps to pay for the subsidies without increasing fuel prices and making poor people suffer more.
A representative of Hizbut Tahrir, Ismail Yusanto, told AFP that the government should confiscate the assets of corrupt officials to help pay for the fuel subsidy.
In the East Nusa Tenggara capital of Kupang, protesting students on Saturday were joined by hundreds of residents, who were standing in long lines to buy kerosene.
Even though the students were being closely monitored by security personnel, they managed to seize control of the state radio station RRI and read their three-page demands live on air for 15 minutes. The students called on the government to cancel the fuel plan, as they claimed it would directly affect food prices.
"The demands are for the sake of the people, so RRI in Kupang felt obligated to air them live," said the station chief, Pieter Amalo.
Long lines of vehicles waiting for rationed gasoline were spotted in many cities, with the worst lines reaching up to five kilometers long into two gas stations in the Padang Luar area in the West Sumatra town of Bukittinggi on Saturday.
The fuel shortage also severely hampered public transportation vehicles from Pekanbaru to Padang on Saturday, after at least 10 filling stations along the 300-kilometer route had begun running low on gasoline.
Fuel shortages at dozens of gas stations in Pekanbaru prompted upset residents to urge the government to immediately raise fuel prices to prevent retailers from hoarding fuel in seek of much more profits from selling gasoline at higher prices next week.
"The government should not wait any longer to raise the fuel prices, because the uncertain situation only makes the poor suffer more," a driver, Apeng, told Antara on Sunday.
He said it was no use to keep the current prices if the supply was not available. "It's better for the government to raise the prices and ensure the availability of the supply," he said.