Protests against price rises likely to intensify

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Around 1,000 poor Jakartans staged a rally on Monday outside the office of the Coordinating Minister for Peoples' Welfare, Central Jakarta, urging the government to give them more breathing space amid the increases in fuel prices and public utility rates.

Led by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), the protesters -- including becak (pedicab) drivers, vendors and street children -- demanded the suspension of raids and evictions of people working in the informal sector.

"We asked for a moratorium on raids and evictions so that low- income groups could survive the price increases that follow the rise in fuel prices," UPC chairwoman Wardah Hafidz said.

But the demand apparently failed to receive a positive response from Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Yusuf Kalla, who spent just a few minutes talking with protesters.

"I disagree with the demand; not all people in the informal sector are evicted," he said.

Yusuf also emphasized that the increase would not impact the low-income groups whatsoever.

He said the government would allocate Rp 4 trillion (US$449 million), as compensation for the government's reduced subsidy expenditure on fuel, gas, telephone and electricity charges, to 30 million poor Indonesians.

The compensation would be in the form of cheaper rice, health services and scholarships valid for a year.

According to Wardah, the number of poor people across the country totaled 80 million. The compensation for them would be worth less than Rp 50,000 per person per year, far from adequate to support their daily needs, she said.

"The minister has missed the real issue. We've learnt that the compensation from last year's reduction in the fuel subsidy missed its target, if it was not misappropriated, while local administrations preferred to direct social safety net measures to those with capital," Wardah told reporters after the rally.

"Moreover, we have yet to hear the government's evaluation on its previous fuel price policies," she added.

Wardah said a joint group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), would again stage its demands on a larger scale.

In the meantime, she said, the NGOs would promote the use of biogas as an alternative fuel and the use of alternative medicines too.

Soon after the rally, however, City Public Order officers raided vendors at nearby Monas park, where they had run businesses for years.

Unlike in the previous raids, the officers did not use violence but let the vendors escape, along with their merchandise.

Before the raid, some of the vendors told The Jakarta Post about their hardship as a result of price increases in basic commodities.

Sulistyo, who sold ketoprak (a traditional Indonesian foodstuff) said that usually he spent Rp 60,000 per day on vegetables, kerosene, cooking oil and other ingredients.

"But this morning I had to spend almost Rp 100,000, due to the soaring prices," he said.

He added that before the price hike, he could earn up to Rp 20,000 a day.

"I don't know how much I will earn today," he said.

It was likely that he would earn less, especially as he had been forced to relocate in order to avoid a raid.