Protests against fuel price hike poorly attended

JAKARTA (JP): Far from what protest organizers had boasted earlier, the capital witnessed only some 1,000 anti-fuel hike protesters hitting the city's streets on Tuesday.

Similar low-key protests took place in several other major cities, including Medan and Semarang.

No clashes were reported and the noisy protests ended peacefully later in the afternoon.

Most of the rally participants claimed to be members of various labor unions, particularly the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), Reformed All Indonesian Workers' Union (SPSI Reformasi), Confederation of Indonesian Labor Unions (Gaspermindo), and the National Front for the Indonesian Workers' Struggle (FNPBI).

Besides asking the government to backtrack on the fuel price increase, the protesters were also demanding a 100-percent rise in their monthly wages.

During an anti-fuel hike rally on Oct. 1, the first day of the new fuel prices, labor activist and SBSI chairman Mochtar Pakpahan said that labor unions across the country would stage a massive rally on Oct. 10 should the government refuse to cancel its policy of increasing fuel prices by 12 percent.

In Jakarta, the protesters firstly marched from the Tugu Proklamasi (Independence Monument) in Central Jakarta to the presidential palace.

In front of the palace, the protesters delivered a number of speeches accusing the administration of President Abdurahman Wahid of failing to keep its promise to prevent the prices of other goods from rising in line with the fuel price hike.

"The fuel hike has already led to the prices of other goods rising by up to 20 percent," one of the speakers said, adding that the fuel hike should therefore be rescinded immediately.

He failed, however, to give any concrete examples and his remarks flew in the face of data collected by the city administration and revealed to reporters on Monday. According to these figures, the price of basic needs in Jakarta has instead shown a significant drop, up to 7 percent, over the past seven days.

According to the labor protesters, casual workers are no longer capable of saving money to buy their everyday requirements under the current government-set minimum wage of Rp 344,500 per month.

"Companies in Indonesia only spend an average of six percent of their production costs on paying their workers. This is very low compared to companies in the neighboring country of Malaysia, for example, where the equivalent figure can reach up to 29 percent," another protester said in his speech.

"There should be a decision today about our demands for the cancellation of the fuel hike and the awarding of a wage increase," FNBI coordinator, Dita Indah Sari, told reporters.

"If the government fails to meet our demands, we plan to stay here," Dita said while pointing at the lawn across from the palace.

"We will do that if we have the stamina and logistics, we'll see," Dita added.

In their statement, the protesters said that they could not accept the government's statement, which claimed the rise in fuel prices was needed to, among other things, help minimize fuel smuggling to neighboring countries due to the wide gap between fuel prices there and in Indonesia.

"The government should have tightened security at the country's borders instead of increasing fuel prices," the statement said.

The protesters later met with Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Alhilal Hamdi, who repeated the government's argument on the smuggling of fuel out of the country.

Alhilal also said that only 30 percent of the government's fuel subsidy went to the poor, adding that postponing the policy, initially slated to come into effect in April, would eventually cost the government Rp 41.3 trillion, compared to the Rp 22.4 trillion to be allocated as subsidies to the poor.

In Semarang, some 100 local FNPBI members rallied in front of the Central Java regional legislative council, airing the same view of the fuel price rise and wages as that of their colleagues in Jakarta.

"We want a 100-percent hike in our wages as the prices of many goods have increased by more than 100 percent since the economic crisis started," a female protester said.

Under the watchful eyes of dozens of riot police, the protesters eventually dispersed peacefully.

In Medan, hundreds of SBSI members marched to the local legislative building to echo similar calls, but later occupied the building after failing to meet any of the councillors.

"The fuel hike shows the failure of Gus Dur's administration," yelled Masihari Nahampun. (jaw/39/har)