Are phone rate rises cynical?
Are phone rate rises cynical?
From Koran Tempo
The hike in electricity rates and fuel prices can perhaps be
understood, as the state electricity company (PLN) and the oil
company (Pertamina) have suffered financial losses, even though
people cannot prove whether the losses were caused purely by
their operational fees or various manipulations.
What about the telephone rate increases? The board of
directors of the state telecommunications company (Telkom) has
admitted that, at the company's current rates, it is still able
to earn some profit, despite the company's alleged manipulation
of about Rp 600 billion, as Koran Tempo's edition of Jan. 24,
2002, reported in a story titled Roy Suryo: Public should know
the rate formula.
The government is raising the telephone rate at a time when
people are still disturbed by fresh fuel price hikes. Where is
the government's concern or sense of crisis? Or, will this fresh
hike illicitly benefit from the fuel price hikes? The public does
not wish to be bothered by the rise in telephone rates because
its attention is focused on the increase in the price of fuel.
"The rate increase is needed to ensure that the
telecommunications network in the country, which is the most
underdeveloped in the ASEAN region, will be built," said Agum
Gumelar.
Agum seems to feel ashamed about the "backwardness" of the
country's telecommunications system. Yet, as a Cabinet member, he
seems not to be ashamed about the country's general economic
state. Will Agum still be proud if our telecommunications
facilities are later developed while our people remain poor?
If every minister tried to be the most technologically
sophisticated in his respective field by ignoring the wishes of
the majority of the people, what would become of the Republic?
Perhaps, Agum Gumelar has calculated that the country's
telephone users make up a maximum of 15 percent of fuel users and
on average they are relatively well-off. Therefore he and the
minister of energy and mineral resources may feel confident that
there will be no protest rallies against them.
If that is the case, what more can one say?
DEHEN BINTI
Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan