Tunggadewa Mattangkilang & Camelia Pasandaran, Samarinda – As many as 500 people from 12 individual groups have set up a blockade of ships carrying coal on Mahakam River in Samarinda on Wednesday in protest of Kalimantan's low subsidized fuel quota.

"We launched this action at 9 a.m. this morning. We have prepared 10 boats lining the river under the Mahakam bridge," Mahakam Blockade Action spokesman Endrianto said in Samarinda on Wednesday. "If the government will only fulfill our demands in a month, then we will only end our action after a month," he added.

Victor Juan, the head of the East Kalimantan branch of the Indonesian Youth National Committee (KNPI), one of the groups taking part in the blockade, added that two watch posts had been set up under the Mahakam bridge to ensure that no tug boats or barges carrying coal could pass through.

"We've built blockade posts for the Mahakam river. We'll guard these posts 24 hours [a day], and we've prepared two speedboats that are ready to chase after boats that try to pass through," Victor said.

A number of organizations in Kalimantan have been protesting the small quota of subsidized fuel allotted for the entire island – only 5 percent of the total national quota – which has led to long queues in gas stations in Kalimantan provinces for the past month, especially after the increases in non-subsidized fuel prices in April.

The groups have long been threatening to organize a blockade if the government failed to add the quota.

"We are the regions that produce [fuel], but we've been abandoned. Only in Kalimantan do people queue for fuel. There are no queues in Java and other regions," Endrianto said.

He added the 12 groups also demand transparency in the transfer of state funds from the central government to regional administrations, as well the government's firm action against companies that fail to perform reclamation, or restoring areas that have been affected by mining activities.

But East Kalimantan Governor Awang Farouk Ishak warned the groups about setting up a blockade, saying it would only "cause detriment to people, especially businesses."

Home Affairs Ministry Spokesman Reydonnyzar Moenek, said on Wednesday that representatives of the central government, the East Kalimantan administration and some civil society organizations in the province were currently holding a meeting to seek a solution.

"There must be win-win solution for both the central and regional interests," Reydonnyzar told The Jakarta Globe by phone.