Fish or kerosene? Women share tough choices

Fish or kerosene? Women share tough choices

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Every day Santi is faced with the question of whether to buy a
piece of fish for dinner, or kerosene with which to cook it.

"We want to eat, but we can't, not when the price of fish at
the market is the same as the price of kerosene" at about Rp
2,000 a liter, the single mother from Bojong Gede, Bogor, said in
a talk show on Saturday.

The theme of the show, aired by state radio station RRI Pro 4
was "development goals in the eradication of poverty and its
impact on women".

Santi was among at least 40 women who had come all the way to
the studio from Bojong Gede, Rawa Badak in North Jakarta, and
Duri Kepa in West Jakarta, to share their experiences with
officials and the public over the fuel price increases and fuel
compensation cards.

The women are part of kampong discussion groups regularly
organized by women's rights group Women's Solidarity for Human
Rights of the Jabotabek Community (SP Jabotabek).

In their roles as household managers, women
are most keenly aware of the effects of the fuel price increases,
"because they manage the family's finances, women are the first
to realize how difficult it has become to feed a family," SP
Jabotabek chairwoman Yusra Arsil said.

The price of kerosene saw the biggest increase in the Oct. 1
fuel price rises by an average of 126.6 percent.
Kerosene is used by the nation's poorest people as a cooking
fuel.

Mumun from Duri Kepa said that, because of the fuel price
increases, she had been forced to close down her small business
of selling rice noodles and bakwan (vegetables fried in batter)
because she needed the capital for daily needs.

To offset the effects of the increased fuel prices on low-
income families, the government devised a scheme whereby
households with a combined income of less than Rp 700,000
(about US$70) are eligible for cash assistance of Rp 100,000 a
month.

"One hundred thousand a month would be a big help, if nothing
else at least to buy kerosene and rice," Mumun said.

The Jakarta branch of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS
Jakarta) had initially registered 101,219 low-income families to
receive the money.

On Friday, however, the agency admitted to errors in gathering
data on poor families in Jakarta, and removed 3,539 names from
the list. This brings attention to problems in the disbursement
process to date.

The Bojong Gede area where Santi lives, for example, is yet to
be surveyed for fuel compensation cards, and despite being
eligible for the cash payment, Mumun was left out of the survey.

This condition also raised concern from Zubaidah, who has
received the cash payment but has since become suspect of foul
play among her neighbors.

"I live on my deceased husband's government pension of Rp
60,000 (about US$6) a month, which I use to raise my four
children. But because of this many are jealous, they think that a
civil servant pensioner should not be eligible," she said.

Deputy for the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare,
Sujana Royat, who attended the talk show, admitted the government
had only two weeks in which to prepare for the distribution of
fuel compensation cards and was liable to make mistakes.

He said the data from the BPS would also be verified at
regental level with the help of non-governmental organizations
and the people themselves.

"Plus you don't need to wait for BPS officials to reach your
area; if you haven't received fuel compensation cards, or you
know people who are eligible but haven't received theirs, you can
report directly to your area's community unit head," Sujana said,
explaining that while it was the government's responsibility to
take care of its citizens, the people themselves needed to check
that the aid was going to the right people.

Meanwhile, Arimbi Heroepoetri from Debt Watch Indonesia warned
that people should not put too much emphasis on "emergency
measures" such as the fuel compensation plan, but instead should
push for a more permanent measure such as a social security
system.

"Fuel compensation for now is all very well, but we don't want
to have to worry about the same thing 10 years from now," she
said in the discussion.