Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, Bayu Marhaenjati & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Officials and analysts criticized on Monday the recently enacted ban on state-owned vehicles using subsidized fuel, saying it would only result in an increase in local government spending.

Since last Friday, all vehicles belonging to ministries, state institutions and state-owned enterprises operating in Greater Jakarta have been required to use only non-subsidized fuel.

The move came just two days after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a five-point fuel-saving campaign, which includes the ban.

"If all government cars use [non-subsidized] Pertamax, this will burden the state budget," said Rizal Effendi, the mayor of Balikpapan in East Kalimantan. "We are still waiting for instructions from the central government, and at the moment the ban only affects Jakarta."

Fuel subsidized by the central government, known as Premium, costs Rp 4,500 (47 cents) per liter and is sold by state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina. Non-subsidized fuel is sold by Pertamina under the name Pertamax. Other oil companies, including Shell, Total and Petronas, sell their own brands of non-subsidized fuel, which currently retails for between Rp 9,250 and Rp 9,800 per liter.

Rizal said if the ban were implemented nationwide, it would cause local governments' fuel budgets to balloon.

Komaidi Notonegoro, deputy director of the Reforminer Institute, an energy think tank, also questioned the benefits of the ban, saying it was too narrow to cut the government's subsidy bill and narrow the budget deficit.

Government-owned vehicles use around 1.3 million liters of fuel per day, or 500 million liters a year, according to one estimate. That is just a small fraction of the 40 billion liter quota for subsidized fuel in the 2012 state budget.

The ban, however, does carry symbolic weight for Yudhoyono following his administration's failed attempt to increase the subsidized fuel price starting April 1.

University of Indonesia economist Nina Sapti Triaswati said raising the price of subsidized fuel was the only way to cut the deficit, with subsidized fuel use expected to surpass the quota by six million kiloliters.

The recent ban also affects police and military vehicles, but Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said they had already received their supply of non-subsidized fuel. "When our Premium stock runs out, we will use Pertamax," he said.

Indonesian Police Watch earlier warned that the restriction would only lead to extortion as officers struggled to cover their fuel bills. Officers often complain they don't receive enough fuel to conduct patrols.

Rikwanto said that although patrol cars normally refueled at police-owned gas stations, they were allowed to refuel at ordinary stations. "Don't get the wrong idea, the patrol cars are using the police quota because not every precinct has its own refueling station," he said.

There is an average of about 300 vehicles for each of Indonesia's 87 ministries and state institutions. The country's 141 state enterprises also have hundreds of vehicles in their fleets.