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.