Students rally for actions to defuse crisis
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)