"What does the government really want? Low-income earners are constantly subjected to changing government policies that create difficulty, confusion and anger among the population. Do they come up with these policies just to make people mad?" said Tofik, a 34-year-old shopkeeper from Karangtengah village in Central Java.
Due to a shortage of kerosene, mainly used for cooking, Tofik told The Jakarta Post that every day he turned away dozens of people, predominantly housewives, searching for the scarce commodity. His store has become the local site for these women to vent their frustrations about the situation, Tofik said, and he was becoming concerned about the impact the shortage was having on people's lives.
"At times they have returned five times per day to ask whether supplies have arrived. I don't know what else to do, there is simply no kerosene anywhere," Tofik said.
"I myself face difficulties finding it."
Tofik usually has to wait up to a week to receive kerosene supplies, which never really exceed 10 liters.
"Normally I get around five liters, 10 liters if I'm lucky," said Tofik.
He said problems would undoubtedly arise if he returned to the store with five liters of kerosene to find around 30 to 50 people queuing for the product.
"It would be extremely difficult to divide because 5 liters is only enough for five customers. I am finding it hard to deal with the situation. I would rather dump the kerosene into the river to avoid having to distribute it," said Tofik.
The price of kerosene has risen sharply due to the shortage, increasing from Rp 2,850 (25 US cents) per liter at retailers to around Rp 5,000.
"But I sell it at for Rp 3,500 per liter because I bought it for Rp 3,200 from the middleman. I do not have the heart to sell it at a higher price," said Tofik.
Cucu, a 43-year-old shopkeeper from Banyumas, said she had visited five major kerosene distributors in Purwokerto but failed to find any supplies.
"The situation is out of control, mas (big brother). They say we live in an age of information technologies, with most people today using cell phones with cameras," said Cucu.
"People living in the city would never use firewood to cook. Why doesn't the government care about common people."
She said neighbors visiting her store each day were becoming increasing despondent about the lack of kerosene.
"Villagers can use firewood for cooking, but the majority of us here use kerosene stoves. Only a few use LPG," said Cucu.
Nurul, a 38-year-old resident from Bojongsari, said her neighbors had been borrowing her LPG stove for the past few days due to the scarcity.
"I pity them, so I let them boil water at my place so they can make coffee for their husbands," said Nurul.
The residents of Banyumas and nearby regions have been facing extreme kerosene shortages for the past month. State oil and gas company Pertamina has limited rations for distributors and each retailer is entitled to only 15 liters of kerosene.
Banyumas regency administration economic affairs division head Azis Kusamandani told a press conference that the scarcity was related to a program in Central Java which converted large quantities of kerosene to LPG. The project has been running since October.
He said the program would commence in Banyumas in January next year, earlier than previous estimates, in order to meet the requirement of converting all kerosene in the province to LPG by the end of 2009.
Restrictions on kerosene supplies were at 8 percent in October by skyrocketed to 26 percent in December.
Pertamina's Central Java and Yogyakarta sales division head Ana Dewi Lestari said the initial stage of the conversion program would be implemented in Banyumas and Cilacap soon.
The program will cover Purbalingga and Kebumen regencies from April to June next year, followed by Banjarnegara and Wonosobo.
"The project will target kerosene sources in Banyumas and Cilacap for the months of January to February, which will affect 80,000 and 100,000 families. The total for both areas in the long run will affect 480,000 and 405,000 families respectively," said Lestari.
She said Cilacap was better prepared for implementing the program because a number of kerosene and gas distributors in the regency had begun stockpiling 3-kg gas canisters in large numbers.
