A much wider gap

The monetary crisis has given me a new hobby, browsing around the department stores just to look at the price labels. For some, it might seem stupid but I like to see the prices change every day. Who knows when they will go back to where they were a few months ago, when the rupiah still had a much stronger rate against the U.S. dollar.

There is also something interesting to observe during this exercise. The customers' expressions change knowing that the prices of items have gone up, much higher than their previous purchases. "Where are we up to now? We might as well kill ourselves, yet we cannot do that either. Insecticide prices are skyrocketing," said one buyer.

"But, we can do it by jumping into a deep river, can't we?" I replied. We both laughed at this exchange of comments.

Despite this gloomy situation, the haves still have the ability to buy whatever they want. In the well-known Pasaraya department store, two female shoppers asked a shop assistant for Nina Ricci perfume. They were told that particular item was out of stock and that the price was very high.

Ironically, I read in the paper about a 14-year-old girl who bought perfume for Rp 800,000 at Taman Anggrek Mall.

On the other hand, RCTI reported that in Aceh, villagers had to fry food with banana leaves because they could not afford to buy cooking oil.

At the time when there was a big rush for basic commodities, I was amazed at the frenzied buyers who packed their trolleys with staple foods, leaving most supermarket shelves empty. I couldn't believe my eyes, as rice, cooking oil, sugar etc. disappeared. "My God, do they think of eating all that stuff for weeks," my friend wondered.

One of my neighbor fainted while lining up for hours to get cooking oil at a market operation. The fact is, the widening gap between Indonesia's rich and poor is phenomenal at present. The little people have become poorer as prices keep going up, while the elite can still get what money can buy.

WIDI ASTUTI

Jakarta