Hans Nicholas Jong – Four factions at the House of Representatives have officially rejected the government's plan to directly distribute financial assistance (BLSM) aimed at cushioning the poor against inflation stemming from the planned subsidized fuel price increases.

The resistance of the four parties may put the government's plan to raise fuel prices in jeopardy as the government would not otherwise likely be willing to take the risk.

The parties, comprising the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), made their stance known at a meeting between the House budgetary committee and the government on Saturday.

Gerindra spokesman Fary Djemi Francis said the plan was nothing but a pork barrel ahead of the 2014 general election.

"Direct financial assistance is political in nature and prone to social conflict," he said during the meeting at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta. "It would be better for the government to ease inflation in the transportation sector and tackle gas and fuel smuggling."

Fary added that direct financial assistance would only develop a handout mentality and undermine empowerment programs. "Eventually they will not be able to think critically and develop their own initiatives, which are the very essence of empowerment. The direct assistance would only serve as a drug for the people, to which in the end they would become addicted," he said.

Hanura legislator Nurdin Tampubolon, meanwhile, said it was not necessary for the government to resort to direct financial assistance, since it could promote welfare through economic development. "So it would not be [wise for the government to distribute] cash, but [better to distribute] welfare," he said.

Budgetary commission member Satya Wira Yudha of the Golkar Party said there was a possibility that the House would have to settle the matter through a vote at a plenary meeting scheduled for Monday. "It is possible we will have to vote if the voices opposing the plan are close to those agreeing to it," he said. "The chance of that happening is big."

Satya, therefore, hoped the four parties would eventually agree to the plan so that the House would not have to resort to a vote in order to proceed with the plan.

However, he said that he was optimistic that the plan would be materialized seeing how the ruling coalition parties controlled many more seats at the House than the four parties, which together only control 196 of the total 560.

Besides that, the chances of ruling coalition parties joining the opposition's camp at the plenary meeting are slim, according to Satya. "The chances are slim because the coalition parties know that the subsidized fuel price increases are the domain of the government," he said. "And we're trying to mitigate the impact of the government's decision."

Political analyst Hamdi Muluk of the University of Indonesia (UI), however, said there was a chance that members of the coalition parties may follow PKS' lead and turn their backs on the ruling Democratic Party.

He argued the decision on whether to agree or disagree with the direct financial assistance program ultimately boiled down to whether it would be beneficial to their parties in the run-up to the 2014 election.

"The coalition parties could ultimately turn their backs on the Democratic Party if they don't see a positive impact on their electability," he said. "It's not impossible that the Democratic Party will be abandoned."

Moreover, Hamdi said the coalition parties could see that distributing financial assistance would only benefit the Democratic Party and its chairman, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "The public is likely to be thankful to the government and the Democratic Party for the direct financial assistance," he said.

The budgetary committee previously agreed that direct financial assistance would be distributed for four months and that poor households would get Rp 150,000 (US$15) per month should the plan proceed.