Dessy Sagita – The war is not yet over for those who battled the fuel price hike despite a decision made during the House of Representative's plenary session in the early hours of Saturday.
"Some labor unions are pooling forces to bring the newly-passed Law on Revised State Budget 2012 to the Constitutional Court for judicial review," said Said Iqbal, president of the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI).
"The Law is not pro-people and we will particularly focus on the contentious article 7 of subarticle 6 A. Labor unions, especially KSPI, cannot accept the decision made by the House of Representative because the article gives the government an opportunity to raise the fuel price."
In the blogosphere on Saturday, anti-corruption activist Fadjroel Rahman asked fellow activists and Budiman Sujatmiko and Eva Kusuma Sundari, politicians from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), to meet on Monday to formulate a petition to be submitted to the Constitutional Court.
Benny Susetyo, from the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), said he was optimistic that the controversial subarticle would be revoked by the Court because it was against the 1945 Constitution. The same Court repealed an article from the 2001 Oil and Gas Law in 2005, as it suggested the price of fuel and natural gas would depend on a healthy competitive market.
The 1945 Constitution clearly stipulates that natural resources must be explored and used for the greater good.
"Principally, it's the same problem with the 2005 law," he told a discussion on Saturday. "There will be a lot of elements and organizations that file a judicial review on that controversial sub article and I believe that the Court will revoke it," he added.
Benny charged that the addition on article 7 of subarticle 6 A was a trick invented by lawmakers to save face and to respond to the situation outside the House building.
The proposal to increase the fuel price sparked massive protests around the country during the week, including one in which demonstrators crashed through the gates of the House as lawmakers deliberated.
After a noisy vote, the tight and prolonged plenary, which opened on Friday morning, failed to pass the government's proposal to raise fuel prices. More than 350 lawmakers voted to possibly raise the price in six months. The 24-member People's Conscience Party (Hanura) staged a walkout and was followed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Under the agreed upon option, the fuel price will only increase if the Indonesian Crude Price (ICP) exceeds the amount set in the budget by at least 15 percent for six months.
"Although the government cannot raise the fuel price starting today as it had previously planned, the prices of consumer goods have already gone up. Because of that, we also demand the government to make an effort to control the prices of consumer goods and staple food supplies that have been soaring in price," Iqbal, of KSPI, added.