Jakartans need to be more thrifty
Damar Harsanto and Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It was 1:30 p.m. and Jakarta was overcast with gray clouds shutting out the normally scorching sun.
Harsana, a 67-year-old former police officer, sat in his dim living room along with the five members of his family last weekend watching a small 14-inch TV. All lights were off.
"From now on, we must be more than just thrifty. We must cut back all round if we want to pay the electricity bill, which will likely increase next month," sighed Harsana, who now works as a freelance driver for a catering company in Kali Malang, East Jakarta.
The family usually spent some Rp 160,000 and Rp 200,000 respectively per month on electricity and phone bills, while Harsana spent Rp 75,000 a month on buying gasoline for his motorbike.
Harsana used to turn on the light on rainy days. But not anymore.
"No more lights anymore. I don't turn on unnecessary lights like in the kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom or outside the house" he said.
Harsana also told his family members to restrain from using the phone for unnecessary purposes.
He himself had started to stop calling his relatives in Yogyakarta and communicate with them through Short Message Service (SMS) facility on his daughter's cell phone.
Enforced darkness in Harsana's home may reflect the gloomy outlook for Jakarta amid soaring prices following the simultaneous hikes in fuel, phone and electricity charges announced by the government just hours after New Year's festivities.
The government raised fuel prices by 22 percent, effective as of Jan. 2, as part of the measures to slash expensive subsidies and relieve the burden on the cash-strapped state budget.
The increase coincides with other measures to save ailing state-run utility companies from bankruptcy by increasing electricity charges by an average of 6 percent and phone charges by more than 15 percent.
These latest hikes have placed an additional burden on low and middle-income groups, which have suffered most amid the protracted economic slump. Last month, the state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina raised the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Rp 28,800 to Rp 32,400 per tube.
Unfortunately, the increases have come hot on the heels of the government's announcement of a controversial release and discharge policy, which allows some former bankers to escape prosecution for past banking crimes.
Many claim that the government is trying to shift the burden arising from inefficiency and corruption in state firms onto the general public.
They have also warned that such policies, which also affect middle-income people, could undermine the credibility of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration.
It was middle class outrage, precipitated by simultaneous price rises, that sparked the downfall of former President Soeharto in 1998.
In fact, many people have been infuriated by the most recent price hikes.
"I'm really angry about the increases. It forces our family to seek other sources of income to make up for the shortfall," said Bimo Nugroho, 32, who works for a non-governmental organization in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta.
Bimo said his wife, Taty, 27, who had just given birth to her third daughter last month, would start a small food-catering business targeting his colleagues.
"Earlier, she had planned to stay at home to take care of our three kids. But the soaring prices have forced us to seek other sources of income. We simply cannot slash essential spending," Bimo said.