YLKI refuses to join team to discuss bus fare increase
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration decided on Tuesday to form a team to discuss bus fare increases following the recent fuel price rises.
The idea was immediately rejected by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), which refused to participate.
The decision to form the team was made during a meeting attended by Governor Sutiyoso, City Transportation Agency officials and Land Transportation Owners Association (Organda) members at City Hall.
Organda handed over the decision on any increase to the governor, a stance likely intended to avoid a public backlash.
The team to discuss the increase will comprise members from the administration and Organda.
Organda on Monday said they would not demand a fare increase, but asked the administration to give a subsidy to bus companies. They argued it needed the subsidies to fix their old buses. Jakarta has 9,000 registered buses but only 40 percent are in operation as most are old and in disrepair.
The administration rejected the request and agreed to discuss increasing fares instead.
YLKI, however, refused to be involved in the discussions for any fare increase.
"We have received their invitation but we refused to join the team since they would only use us to approve the fares increase," YLKI's complaint division head Tulus Abadi told The Jakarta Post.
Tulus said YLKI's opinion, like in past years, would be ignored.
He said it rejected any fare increase as the fuel hike only contributed about five percent of the companies operational costs.
"But if they insist on increasing the fares, it should not be more than five percent," he said.
The team would start its first meeting on Wednesday. It could take a week or even a month before it reached a decision.
According to procedure, any increase must be signed by the governor after discussions with the city council, YLKI and Organda.
It is likely, however, that the team will continue their discussions even without YLKI's presence.
The administration approved a fare increase by an average of 14 percent in August last year after the government increased diesel prices to Rp 1,550 per liter from Rp 1,250 per liter. At the time YLKI said it agreed with a 5 percent rise.
The government increased the price of premium gasoline to Rp 1,810 per liter from Rp 1,750 per liter and automotive diesel to Rp 1,890 per liter from Rp 1,550 per liter last Thursday.
Tulus also said YLKI and about 40 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would prepare a lawsuit demanding the postponement of increases in fuel, electricity and telephone charges.
"Besides the lawsuit, we also prepared street rallies and brochures to reject the increase. We will announce our plan on Thursday."
Tulus said other NGOs involved included the Urban Poor Consortium, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute and the Indonesian NGOs Federation for Indonesia Development (Infid).
He said they would sue the government because the decision to increase suffering was made without public participation.
Meanwhile, Organda chief Aip Syaifuddin called on bus drivers not to strike, although the fuel price increases had resulted in reduced incomes, referring to threats of a strike if the administration did not increase bus fares.
Some have even increased fares, rejecting the governor's threat to punish those who increase fares arbitrarily.