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.