House rentals

The papers seem to be full of prices rises and the government are doing their best to control it. What I haven't seen and would like to see more of is the biggest household expense for most people that is likely to go down, i.e. rent; this should be published as it would give a lot of the poor people an idea of how they might be able to balance their budget in the future.

With a lot of people out of work and returning to their villages to ride out the economic storm and some overseas companies delaying projects, it is inevitable that the rental for large and small premises will go down. It would a good idea to help the majority of the people especially in Jakarta if appeal should be made to house owners who have premises for rent to lower their rates before they are actually forced to by lack of tenants.

Under the present conditions it could also be monitored by an independent body. I know that this might be a hardship to the landlords at present, but in the long run it will keep everything going by sharing the current burden.

It should also be realized that the high rentals they had enjoyed in the past were the result of arbitrary prices they charged to the tenants. Not many persons in other countries can enjoy such a lucrative house rental business like here.

E. HOFFMAN

Jakarta