Fuel scarcity worsens as scheduled price hike nears

The Jakarta Post, Semarang/Makassar/Samarinda/Batam

Gasoline and diesel shortages worsened across the archipelago on Monday as the government's scheduled price increase on Oct. 1 draws near.

Filling stations were packed with very long lines of vehicles, while police officers desperately tried to track down and nab people thought to be hoarding fuel until the price goes up. In order to prevent widespread social unrest on Oct. 1, regional police chiefs vowed to beef up security near vital installations and gas stations.

In Semarang, scarcities even hit remote areas in the regency with many gas stations putting up posters claiming they had run out of gasoline and diesel fuel. A station on Jl. Diponegoro in the city was already out of premium gasoline by 10 a.m.

Parman, 34, an employee at the station said they had been waiting for their regular supply from Pertamina in Yogyakarta. Parman quickly added that he had no idea why the supply had often been late in arriving in recent days.

While delivery delays were blamed in Semarang, in Jambi, people were panicking ahead of the price increase has depleted supplies at many gas stations in the province.

Driven by panic, the residents flocked to gas stations across the province in search of the lower-priced gasoline before it becomes unaffordable next week.

"I had to wait for two days to fill up with diesel," said Panjaitan, a truck driver.

Some station employees blamed Pertamina for reducing their amounts distributed, which led to the long lines.

In order to end the gasoline crisis, Jambi Mayor Turimin has demanded that state oil and gas company PT Pertamina speed up the distribution of gasoline and diesel across the city.

Meanwhile, police officers across the nation geared up to prepare for the worst after the price increases.

Bantul regency police in Yogyakarta will deploy 400 officers, or half of its force, to ensure security around the regency's 12 filling stations.

South Sulawesi provincial police plan to impose a high-alert status on Oct. 1 and deploy two-thirds of its force to secure gas stations, main boulevards, the governor's office and other places that might be targets for protesters.

Chief of South Sulawesi provincial police Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf said that the police welcomed all legal protests, but any violations of the law would be dealt with sternly.

Besides securing protest-prone areas, they also assured the public that they were looking for and arresting fuel hoarders.

The police recently named 38 people suspects for fuel hoarding and smuggling, and the case files of 24 of them had been handed over to South Sulawesi prosecutor's office for further processing.

Officers had seized thousands liters of fuel from the suspects, said Saleh Saaf.

In Samarinda, East Kalimantan, the government plan to raise fuel prices has already begun to affect the prices of other goods, such as sugar. In the past few days, the price of sugar has climbed to Rp 4,500 per kilogram, much more expensive from the average price of Rp 3,000.

In the Riau Islands, police personnel discovered some 6,000 liters of diesel fuel kept in fuel drums on Perigi Papan island near Batam island. The officers did not make an arrest as the island was empty when the police discovered the fuel.

Police suspect that it was about to be smuggled out of the country.

In Manado, Bitung regency police arrested a person identified only as J.R. on Monday for hoarding 1.6 tons of diesel at his home.

As its response to the fuel scarcities across the archipelago, Pertamina said it had begun to provide more fuel. In Pekanbaru, local Pertamina officers vowed to increase the fuel supply by 12 percent.

The additional supply would be delivered to gas stations in the city by Oct. 1, said Pertamina official Gandhi Sri Widodo.

On average, each station in the province gets a fuel quota of 1,500 kiloliters of diesel per day.