City military on alert over fuel price demonstrations
City military on alert over fuel price demonstrations
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta military said on Sunday that it was ready to provide
backup for the city administration and police to prevent protests
against the fuel price hike from turning violent.
Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Agustadi Sasongko Purnono
said that his troops were on alert and were ready to be deployed
at any time they were needed.
"In anticipation of the fuel price hike, we have prepared our
troops to secure the capital. We are ready to be mobilized if
needed," Agustadi was quoted by detik.com as saying on Sunday.
The government is planning to raise fuel prices for the second
time in 2005 by Oct. 1 in order to save the country's 2005 budget
after fuel prices rose over US$65 per barrel in the international
market.
The plan, however, has met strong resistance from student and
labor activists as well as some national leaders, who consider
the move a burden on the public at large.
Some quarters, including students, have vowed to organize
massive street rallies to oppose the plan, while workers have
threatened to go on strike.
Already on Sunday, hundreds of workers and a number of women
activists as well as members of Hisbul Tahir Indonesia (HTI) held
separate protests to oppose the planned fuel price increase.
Protesting in front of the Merdeka Palace on Jl. Merdeka
Utara, the workers said the planned increase would only worsen
conditions as it may prompt firms to lay them off.
Carrying cooking utensils, including stoves and pans, dozens
of women activists held a protest at the Hotel Indonesia traffic
circle to reject the plan.
Meanwhile, around 4,000 members of HTI, mostly wearing white,
took to the streets on Sunday to protest the government plan to
increase fuel prices.
During the demonstration, they also called on the students to
close all nightspots during the fasting month, which will begin
on Oct. 4.
A number of senior citizens, including former presidents
Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Soekarnoputri, former coordinating
minister for political and security affairs Wiranto and non-
governmental organization activist Hariman Siregar joined the
students and non-governmental organizations to oppose the fuel
price hikes.
Agustadi stressed all troops were now in their respective
units and were ready to move whenever needed.
He, however, did not mention the total number of military
personnel readied to secure Jakarta during protests.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Ghani said earlier that
city police were ready to deploy over 12,000 officers to guard
possible massive demonstrations.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last Friday that the
government would raise the fuel price, but had not decided on the
amount of the increase.
Currently, the price of premium gasoline, for example, is Rp
2,400 (23 US cents) per liter, compared to around Rp 5,600 on the
international market.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said earlier that the government
might raise fuel prices by up to 80 percent.
Demonstrations involving hundreds of people to reject the fuel
price hike plan occurred sporadically last week, mostly organized
by university students.
The students, mobilized by Students Executive Body (BEM) of
all universities in the Greater Jakarta, threatened to deploy
more protesters if the government did not cancel its plan to
increase fuel prices.
They argued that families in the lower-income bracket would be
adversely affected by the fuel price hikes and the price of basic
commodities would also soar.