Fuel prices left to market?

Fuel prices left to market?

From Koran Tempo

The price of some fuels will be left to follow the market
mechanism starting next year, which means that they will be
rising in phases according to their economic value.

Tubagus Haryono, head of the Oil and Gas Distribution Agency,
said in Jakarta recently that the fuels which would follow market
regulation were gasoline and automotive diesel oil (Tempo
Interaktif, May 26).

Based on the 1945 Constitution, all natural resources in
Indonesia are governed by the state and utilized for maximum
public welfare. Is the liberation of fuel prices in the market
meant to promote public welfare?

In my view, this policy, instead of promoting public welfare,
will mean that people are strangled by price hikes. It implies
that the government can only exploit resources, without managing
them to improve welfare.

In fact, it is the management of resources for public welfare
that the government is obliged to perform. Any failure in
carrying out this duty means a violation of the Constitution,
which would lead to the relevant government's downfall.

VERANANDA ROSA
Yogyakarta