Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Lower income families urged the government on Friday to ensure proposed fuel price hikes would not cause the prices of other basic commodities to increase.
They told The Jakarta Post it would severely burden them and would also render useless the direct cash aid they would receive from the government.
Housewives in several parts of Jakarta said they were extremely concerned the prices of other basic commodities – already increasing throughout the country – would climb even higher.
"I don't know what will happen after the government raises the fuel price. I just hope they will do something about it," said Yati, a 35-year-old mother of three.
She sells vegetables in her neighborhood in Pejaten Timur, South Jakarta, to complement her husband's earnings as an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver.
Yati earns on average Rp 300,000 (US$33) a month while her husband makes about Rp 25,000 a day. The family began receiving direct cash aid of Rp 100,000 a month from the government after the 2005 fuel price rise.
"If the prices of food and transportation get too high then the monthly cash aid of Rp 100,000 will not help us much. You see, we also have to think about how to keep our two children in school," Yati said.
The government is planning to raise fuel prices by a maximum of 30 percent in order to reduce fuel subsidies and control the state budget in the wake of skyrocketing global oil prices.
Last week, a leaked proposal from the Finance Ministry suggested fuel prices would be raised by an average of 28.7 percent, with the price of premium gasoline increasing to Rp 6,000 per liter from the present Rp 4,500. The price of diesel would be increased to Rp 5,500 per liter from Rp 4,300, and kerosene to Rp 2,500 from Rp 2,000.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday approved Rp 14.1 trillion in cash aid for 19.1 million low income households to offset the impact of the planned fuel price hike.
Each household will receive Rp 100,000 per month. Critics said this amount was not enough to cushion the blow to lower income families, and would certainly not increase their purchasing power.
The government said based on its predictions of 11 percent inflation in 2008 and 6 percent in 2009, a family with a monthly income of Rp 1 million would see this income rise to Rp 1,040,000 after implementation of the cash aid program.
Anggito Abimanyu, the Finance Ministry's head of fiscal policy, said Thursday the government would begin distributing the money by May 23.
He said cash aid cards were already being handed out in Jakarta, Medan, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Makassar, Palembang, Kupang, Banjarmasin and Yogyakarta.
Anna, a 50-year-old housewife who earns Rp 400,000 a month washing clothes for her neighbors in Poncol, Central Jakarta, said she was unaware of the program.
The mother of four said she did not receive cash aid in 2005 because she didn't have a permanent identity card. However, she receives money and some basic commodities twice a month from an Islamic foundation and a church near her rented home.
"Nobody told me about the cards. This time I will try to get it. But I will not count on it because many other poor families won't get it. I'd rather depend on the foundation and the church for help," she said.