Students rally for actions to defuse crisis

BOGOR (JP): Dozens of students participated in a rally outside of the Bogor legislative council office Wednesday to urge authorities to take immediate steps to cope with the current economic turmoil.

The students, members of the local chapter of the Indonesian Association of Islamic Students (HMI), were concerned about unstable food prices in local markets and about people who were manipulating the situation for personal gain, said Andi Irman Idris Patiroy, the group's spokesman.

Irman said that the legislative council should prompt the city administration to "directly monitor and supervise the distribution of food stocks in the markets".

If such actions were not taken, he said, the city would face skyrocketing prices for various items.

The students said that such a market operation should target staple foods in particular in order to stabilize their prices.

The market operation could also be used to identify any possible food hoarders, Irman said.

"Stern legal action should be taken immediately against people hoarding food. It's in the public interest," he said.

Like in many other cities throughout the country, Bogor has been seriously affected by last week's buying spree following the rupiah's free fall to Rp 10,000 against the U.S. dollar.

On Wednesday, for example, a housewife from Bogor was forced to go to a market in Jakarta organized by the City's Logistic Agency to buy a few liters of cooking oil.

"I had to go there because I still couldn't find any cooking oil in Bogor," she told reporters.

Some legislative council members who met with the HMI students Wednesday promised to submit the students' requests in an upcoming meeting between the mayoralty and legislative office.

The students also questioned why labor-intensive projects, started in many big cities to ease unemployment, had not yet been implemented in Bogor.

The projects are designed to temporarily hire some of the huge number of blue-collar workers laid off following the country's economic turmoil.

Responding to the student's concerns, a representative of the mayor's office explained that officials of related agencies would meet soon to discuss the implementation of the planned projects.

The projects would concentrate on cleaning drainage systems, garbage collection and road repairs, the office's assistant for administration and development affairs, Sukiya, said.

The projects would have a budget of up to Rp 1 billion, he said.

"Ninety percent of the allocated budget would be used to pay the workers, while the remaining 10 percent would be for the administrative and logistical costs," Sukiya said.

Meanwhile, the municipality spokesman, Hari Harsono, said the city -- in an attempt to stabilize staple food prices -- would hold a two-day bazaar offering cheap food prices beginning today.

"The prices will be cheaper than in the markets. Afterwards, we'll also hold a similar event in every district here," he said.

Sukiya denied rumors that Bogor's stores and markets had run out of some basic food items.

"I haven't seen any scarcity in the markets. Our survey shows that only certain brands have disappeared in the markets," he said.

He said that staple food stocks were abundant in the city's traditional markets.

"Even the traders in the markets don't know about the issue of a lack of food items," he said.

Sukiya, however, admitted that there had been a rise in prices in the city's stores and markets, ranging between 20 percent and 30 percent. (24/04/bsr)