Fears of rioting push prices up
JAKARTA (JP): The first day of the four-day Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Tuesday was marked by price hikes of several basic commodities in Greater Jakarta.
The most influential factor was the public's fear of possible renewed clashes between supporters of the session and groups, especially students, that strongly oppose the session and its agenda.
The dread apparently provoked many Jakartans on Tuesday to rush to markets to stock up on rice, cooking oil, vegetables, and chili.
It seems the people were worried that the prices of the commodities would skyrocket should a clash or fresh riots hit the capital like those that happened in May.
Traders at the Cipinang central rice market in East Jakarta, for example, witnessed a great number of buyers on Tuesday which finally led them to hike prices of the staple food by between Rp 50 (half a U.S. cent) and Rp 100 per kilogram.
The market's head, Bhaktiono Nasion, said the market recorded a significant increase in rice purchases.
"It then caused the increase in the price of rice," Bhaktiono said.
The price of Centra rice rose Rp 75 to Rp 3,525 per kilogram, Cisadane rice Rp 50 to Rp 2,700 per kilogram and Saigon rice Rp 100 to Rp 3,100 per kilogram, he said.
He predicted the rice supply to the market would climb to 2,500 metric tons on Tuesday from the average daily supply of 1,900 metric tons.
According Bhaktiono, the rice stock in the city is supplied from farmers in West Java districts such as Karawang, Cirebon, Cianjur and Cianjur, to the tune of 6.919 tons a week, and Central Java areas such as Semarang and Solo. Their deliveries total 4,703 tons per week.
Several areas in East Java, including Kediri and Lumajang, allocate 1,129 metric tons of their rice per week to the capital, he told Antara.
Bhaktiono strongly believed that the increased rice price in the capital would be temporary and that it would soon decline shortly after the MPR session ended.
In Tangerang, housewives complained about increased prices of some commodities, particularly chili, vegetables and cooking oil.
Darti, a mother of two, said the price of chili in a local market went up from Rp 6,000 per kilogram the previous day to Rp 10,000 per kilogram on Tuesday.
The 43-year-old woman said the price of unbranded cooking oil increased from Rp 3,000 per kilogram to Rp 3,500 per kilogram.
Another housewife, Tutik from Karawaci, said the price of eggs rose from Rp 6,000 per kilogram to between Rp 7,000 and Rp 8,000 per kilogram.
"With my husband's small income, how could we fulfill our daily needs," questioned the 29-year-old Tutik.
The price of meat in Jakarta and Bandung also rose from Rp 22,000 per kilogram to Rp 24,000 per kilogram, Antara reported.
The increase had nothing to do with the ongoing MPR session but was mainly due to a significant drop in supply from Central Java and East Java, Joko Sudrajat an official of city-owned slaughter house PD Dharma Jaya said here on Tuesday. (41/jun)