More students demand Tunky resignation
More students demand Tunky resignation
JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of students and newspaper vendors
protested yesterday the government's inability to resolve the
newsprint crisis, demanding that Minister Tunky Ariwibowo resign.
Spearheaded by the Islamic Students Association (HMI), the
protesters marched to the trade ministry office, where they
submitted a petition, demanding that the government act to end
the crisis.
In their statement, the demonstrators said that Tunky has
shown inability and lack of sincerity in handling the problem.
The paper shortage has been brewing over the past several
months, causing book prices to soar and threatening publications
with bankruptcy.
Previously, similar protests and demands have been staged in
Yogyakarta and Central Java.
About 40 demonstrators, mostly from HMI's Depok chapter, also
demanded that officials of the Indonesian Association of Pulp and
Paper (APKI) be brought to court.
"APKI should account for their policy, which has triggered the
paper crisis by dictating prices and even threatening to stop
paper supplies," they stated.
The protesters said that the increase in paper prices is a
heavy burden on students and parents, who have to buy books next
month for the new academic year.
One demonstrator, Husein Heryanto, said newspaper sellers are
also hard hit by the crisis. "Many students have stopped
subscribing to newspapers," he said.
Many newspapers have had to increase prices from Rp 500
(US$4.49) a copy, to Rp 700 a copy. Prices of textbooks, which
mostly use newsprint, have increased by at least 15 percent.
The protesters also demanded that the government bring down
paper prices by 40 percent, starting from July 1, and end scrap
import tariffs for all kinds of paper.
In May, the trade minister had already appealed to pulp and
paper producers, Sinar Mas Group and Raja Garuda Mas, to set
lower prices for paper, particularly text books.
However, he made it clear that the government would not take
drastic measures because this would be counter productive to the
country's investment policy.
The ministries of industry, trade and information, as well as
publishers and paper producers, agreed on June 7 to propose to
the ministry of finance that the import tariff on newsprint be
cut to zero percent.
The students also urged an end to monopolistic and
oligopolistic practices in the paper industry.
A member of the House of Representatives from the ABRI faction
had said earlier that any speculators' act to amass newsprint, to
be released when prices had gone up, would amount to
"subversion".
Tunky has repeatedly said the newsprint supply is "adequate",
but publishers have said that paper has become a rare and very
expensive commodity.
Their statement also quoted a survey by the Econit research
body on the paper price hikes this year.
"The increase, to almost 100 percent in almost four months, is
extremely illogical. It is a contradiction that our paper, which
is the cheapest on the world market, 40 percent cheaper than that
of Scandinavia, is much more expensive within our own country."
The government has set a national standard price of Rp 1,700
per kilogram for newsprint but the price is only effective until
June 30.
"We are giving the government two weeks to come up with
concrete results, otherwise we will be back in much larger
numbers," Heryanto threatened.
A four-member delegation, of the students, met for almost an
hour with the director general of Chemical Industries, Sujata.
"He promised that the Ministry will give us an answer to our
demand as soon as possible," Heryanto said. (anr)