House rejects fuel price increase
House rejects fuel price increase
JAKARTA (JP): Leaders of the House of Representatives rejected
yesterday the government's decision to increase prices of fuel
and electricity, saying the timing was inappropriate.
Deputy speaker Syarwan Hamid said a meeting of the House
leadership yesterday endorsed the stance taken by its Commission
V last week, calling on the government to roll back the hikes.
The leaders were briefed by representatives of Commission V,
which held a contentious hearing with Minister of Mines and
Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto on Friday to discuss the price
increases.
"We can't accept the government's decision," Syarwan said of
the two presidential decrees that hiked fuel prices by between 25
percent and 71 percent, and electricity by 20 percent last week.
The House hoped to hold another meeting with the government
soon, involving more members of the cabinet, to bridge the
differences with the government on the issue, he said.
Syarwan said the House hoped for "fairer" rates of increase
which would not be too burdensome on the people already hit by
the economic crisis.
In the proposed expanded meeting with the government, the
House hoped to receive more detailed explanations of the
government's financial position and calculations of oil prices
than those given by Kuntoro, he added.
In last week's meeting, members of Commission V -- overseeing
industry, mining, trade, manpower, cooperatives and the
environment -- attacked the government's decision to phase out
about Rp 16 trillion in fuel subsidies when it had only recently
forked out more than Rp 100 trillion to bail out several
insolvent banks.
Kuntoro had responded that subsidy was a political decision
and beyond his power to explain.
He proposed an expanded meeting, involving other members of
the cabinet, to help clarify matter.
President Soeharto on Saturday defended the hikes and pointed
out that the funds used to bail out banks were loans. He said
they would be repaid and should not be compared with the subsidy.
(emb)