Residents Briefly Panic Over Fuel Price Hike Rumour, Get Info from RT Groups

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Several petrol stations in Jakarta were swarmed by panicked residents over rumours of a fuel price increase.

Gari (33), a resident of Palmerah, West Jakarta, claimed to have received the information about the fuel price hike from conversation groups in his neighbourhood.

“Yesterday I found out from WhatsApp groups, the RT group this morning said it would rise tomorrow to Rp 17,000 for Pertamax,” said Gari when met by Kompas.com while queuing at a petrol station on Tuesday night (31/3/2026).

Gari admitted to panicking over the rumour of a price increase reaching Rp 5,550 per litre for RON 92 fuel or Pertamax.

He actually uses subsidised Pertalite fuel for the motorbike he rides daily to work. However, the family car he often uses for weekend trips requires Pertamax.

He mentioned that his car has a 45-litre fuel tank and usually costs around Rp 500,000 to fill it up completely.

“But if it’s an increase of Rp 5,000 per litre, that means filling the tank full could be nearly Rp 800,000, a difference of Rp 300,000 per full tank, it hits hard, that’s why I panicked a bit,” he said.

Gari initially felt sceptical about the unverified information.

However, he thought the information made sense given the war conflicts causing global oil stocks to dwindle and oil prices to soar.

“Especially since it’s said that subsidies won’t increase, but non-subsidised ones will be released according to global prices, so it makes sense in this kind of situation,” he explained.

In fact, Gari often uses the car for work to make it easier to travel after work hours.

“If it rises by Rp 1,000 or Rp 2,000, it might still be reasonable, but if it’s straight Rp 5,000, I was thinking of just switching to taking the KRL every day, immediately wanting to cut down on non-essential activities,” he said.

However, unlike Gari, he received information circulating on Instagram social media.