Fuel Prices Remain Unchanged, but Cirebon Residents Still Queue at Petrol Stations

Long queues of vehicles temporarily marked one of the Public Fuel Filling Stations (SPBU) in the bypass area of Cirebon City. Based on observations, long queues of vehicles, both motorcycles and cars, were evident at one SPBU on Jalan Brigjen Dharsono. “I’m queuing here because this SPBU is still selling Pertalite,” said Dedi, 28, a resident of Kapetakan, Cirebon City, on Tuesday night (31/3). The distance from the SPBU to his home is actually quite far, according to Dedi. However, since he had just dropped off a friend near the SPBU, Dedi chose to fill his motorcycle tank. Dedi also admitted that he had already heard an explanation from one of the members of the Indonesian House of Representatives stating that fuel prices would not rise, including Pertalite, which is a subsidised fuel. “But when passing this SPBU, the queue was so long. Not like usual. So I decided to fill the motorcycle tank,” he said. As an ordinary citizen, Dedi hopes that fuel prices, especially Pertalite, will not increase. “If fuel rises, everything else rises too,” he said. The same hope was expressed by Purnomo, 32, a yellow rice vendor in the Pilang area of Cirebon City. “From the morning, I heard that fuel prices would rise. There was even a list of them. This makes me anxious,” said Purnomo. If fuel prices rise, continued Purnomo, all prices would follow, including food prices. However, towards the evening, Purnomo saw on several media outlets that fuel prices would not increase, including Pertalite. “I hope all fuel prices don’t rise. Because the economy is getting harder now. Even selling fried rice isn’t as busy as usual,” said Purnomo.