Uproar over price hikes<\/p>\n
The government has two options for coping with the massive
\npublic opposition to the increases in the prices of fuels,
\nelectricity and telephone calls that were effected simultaneously
\nlast Wednesday.<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri could review the phasing-in
\nof the price hikes or go all out to enforce wholesale the painful
\nmeasure.<\/p>\n
Which ever of the alternatives would be taken, though, one
\nthing is certain. No amount of military or police would be able
\nto safeguard the measure if the majority considered it grossly
\nunfair and if the climate did not convince the public that
\neveryone would share the burden equally.<\/p>\n
The government should realize that the timing and the
\nsequencing of the price increases was completely wrong. It was
\nindeed a gross mistake for the government to have decreed the
\nsimultaneous utility price increases without adequate
\npreconditioning of the people.<\/p>\n
It was further a blatant insult to the public's sense of
\njustice to increase the burden on the public at the same time as
\nthe government was releasing from criminal charges the largest
\nconglomerate debtors, who are held by the public as partly
\nresponsible for the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
This inconsistency created the perception that the burdens
\ninflicted by the economic crisis are not equally shared between
\nthe different groups of people.<\/p>\n
The massive public protest against the price policy should
\nagain jolt the government to the painful realization that
\napproval from the House of Representatives does not always amount
\nto national political consensus nor to public acceptance or
\nsupport. This means that the government should always go all out
\nto sell its policies to the public.<\/p>\n
However, the policy cannot be sold in a vacuum, meaning that
\nthe environment should support the credibility of the policy and
\nthe government. This requires the government to work harder to
\nconvince the people that it has shared its fair share of burden
\nby strictly implementing austerity measures, minimizing waste
\ncaused by inefficiency and corruption, and dealing firmly and
\nquickly with conglomerates alleged to have been partly
\nresponsible for bankrupting the economy.<\/p>\n
It is not yet too late for the government to review the policy
\nand take corrective measures such as gradually spacing in the
\nprice increases with the least damage to fiscal sustainability
\nand macroeconomic stability.<\/p>\n
But even this corrective measure would not automatically gain
\npublic support if the government failed to reach out to the
\npeople, explaining: How crucial the policy is for preventing the
\nnational economy from collapsing; how uneconomically low utility
\nprices would eventually cause a massive disruption in the supply
\nof utilities and cause the state budget deficit to explode to
\nuncontrollable levels and spiraling inflation; how the subsidized
\nfuels have so far been enjoyed mostly by the well-to-do families;
\nhow the wide differences between domestic and international fuel
\nprices had been exploited by profiteers by smuggling cheap fuels
\noverseas; how the government would contain the inflationary
\npressures from the price hikes; how the government would ensure
\nthat the Rp 4 trillion appropriated for social safety-net funds
\nwould reach the targeted poor families.<\/p>\n
Given the wide-ranging impacts of the price increases,
\nseparate individual briefings by economics ministers to the mass
\nmedia or politicians would not be effective to gain public
\nsupport.<\/p>\n
It should be President Megawati herself who should lead the
\ncommunication campaign by personally addressing the nation,
\ntalking honestly to the people and appealing for their
\nunderstanding and support.<\/p>\n
Megawati should have realized how her late father, Sukarno,
\nthe first president of the country, had succeeded, through
\neffective communications and lively public speeches to the
\nnation, in rallying public support and convincing people to make
\nsacrifices, even during the most difficult times of their lives.<\/p>\n
Megawati is obviously not as good and effective an orator and
\ncommunicator as her late father, but as a woman and housewife she
\ncould offset her inability to make lively speeches by appealing
\nto the emotions of the people.<\/p>\n
The general public is by and large already aware of how
\ndifficult overall conditions are due to the multi-dimensional
\ncrisis that has gripped the nation since 1997 and how painful the
\nreform measures needed to resolve the crisis are. A steady dose
\nof good, honest communications with the people would be effective
\nto maintain such awareness and understanding.<\/p>\n
But such an understanding would not automatically lead to a
\nwillingness to put up with additional sacrifices, if the
\ngovernment does not show strong leadership, a high sense of
\ncrisis and a high sense of urgency in coping with the crisis and
\nwas not able to convince the public that the burdens are
\nequitably shared between the different groups of the people.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/uproar-over-price-hikes-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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