Dean Yates, Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesians staged noisy protests across the country on Thursday, some throwing rocks and burning tyres as they demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono drop a plan to raise fuel prices sharply.
But protest numbers fell far short of organizers' hopes and there was little violence, helping Jakarta stocks end 2 percent higher and reversing an early dip in the rupiah currency.
Tens of thousands of Indonesians queued at petrol stations in numerous cities to fill their tanks and plastic jerry cans before the sensitive hikes take effect on Saturday. The lines snarled traffic and many pumps were emptied.
Up to 2,000 protesters marched in Jakarta to the presidential palace, watched by hundreds of police.
"Fight it now! Fight the hikes!," "People have been fooled by SBY for too long!," students chanted as they marched, referring to the president by his initials. By late afternoon the protesters, a mix of students, workers and farmers, had disbursed.
Protests hit at least 11 cities besides Jakarta, local media said. In the eastern city of Makassar, students threw rocks at police. Protesters in several cities also burned tyres.
Yudhoyono has said he planned to raise fuel prices to help cut crippling energy subsidies and take pressure off the rupiah.
The chief economics minister said the size of the rise would be announced at 10.00 p.m. on Friday. The planning minister has said the hikes could average at least 50 percent.
One flashpoint could be midday Muslim prayers on Friday, often an occasion for groups to organize protests.
No one expects the protests to bring down the former general, who still commands wide popularity among the nation's 220 million people. When he raised fuel prices by 29 percent last March, nationwide demonstrations fizzled after a few days.
The rises will likely be bigger this time, come sooner than many expected and have an immediate knock-on effect on inflation. A big rise in fuel prices in May 1998 triggered rioting that was a factor in toppling former autocrat Suharto.
The rupiah hit a four-week low earlier on Thursday as investors feared protests could snowball into wider political unrest, although the currency later regained all its ground. By 0930 GMT, it was quoted at about 10,300 per dollar.
Huge queues
El Shinta news radio said queues at some petrol stations stretched for up to a kilometer in outlying areas of Indonesia. At one pump station in Jakarta, five police stood guard and made sure a queue reaching back 500 meters remained orderly.
"Last night I waited for one-and-a-half hours to buy petrol, and this morning I've been here more than an hour and am still here," said Zainal Arifin, 30, a public transport driver. State oil firm Pertamina said it would only add fuel stocks to the market in an emergency.
"If we supply all of it, it will be swallowed up. There will be a risk to our stock. What we will do is add supplies when it is really needed," Achmad Faisal, head of Pertamina's marketing division, told Reuters. He said Indonesia had enough oil products for about 21 days, near normal safe levels.
Yudhoyono has little choice but to gradually wean impoverished Indonesians off Asia's cheapest gasoline, at about 20 US cents a liter, and heavily subsidized kerosene used for cooking in the wake of the rupiah's near meltdown late last month.
Sky-high world oil prices have ratcheted up Indonesia's fuel subsidies, which will eat up nearly a fifth of this year's budget. While Indonesia produces oil, declining output has forced it to sell rupiah for dollars to pay for oil imports, hitting the currency and hurting the economy.
(Reporting by Telly Nathalia, Ade Rina, Achmad Sukarsono, Muklis Ali and Yoga Rusmana)