Kalla defends fuel price increase

Kalla defends fuel price increase

INDONESIA: Vice President Jusuf Kalla has defended the
government's unpopular fuel increase in front of thousands of
Golkar Party members, saying the government could no longer
maintain the costly fuel subsidy for rich car owners.

Kalla, who is also the Golkar leader, acknowledged that the
fuel price increase was difficult for many people, but it was
unavoidable to help create a healthy fiscal condition and end the
injustice whereby the rich benefited more from the subsidy.

"(We're) very sorry that for a better future, people have to
undergo a bitter experience now. But a sick person will not
recover without taking the bitter pill," he said in Palembang,
South Sumatra.

Kalla was on a two-day visit to Sumatra to open a series of
Golkar Party regional meetings ahead of the country's first
direct regional elections in June.

A number of political parties and groups of students have
demanded the government cancel the fuel price increase. The House
of Representatives is scheduled to hold a plenary session to
respond to the fuel policy on Monday. -- JP