The
Islamic Students’ Association (HMI) has criticized the government’s
inability to keep fuel prices stable in the regions one month away from
the plan to increase the price of fuel.
The youth organization said that in many regions, retailers have
increased the fuel prices even though the government is finalizing the
policy.
“We are concerned that the government has been incapable of
keeping the fuel price stable,” HMI chairman Noer Fajrieansyah said on
Thursday when visiting The Jakarta Post.
According to the HMI, fuel prices have soared in many regions, such as
in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara in past few days. The
group collected information from its regional chapters across the
country.
“Maybe Jakarta has not noticed the impact but fishermen in
many regions have already been impacted. The prices of staple foods have
also risen,” he said.
Fajrieansyah added that the idea of a fuel-price hike is justified only
based on economic reasoning. “From a social perspective, however, it is
unacceptable.”
The government is proposing two policy scenarios to avoid a ballooning state budget amid soaring global oil prices.
The options are, either to raise subsidized fuel prices by Rp 1,500 (16
US cents) a liter or limit the value of subsidies to Rp 2,000 per liter.
Energy
and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik said in order to counter
adverse effects of the price increase, the government would implement
four types of compensation programs: direct cash assistance for the
impoverished, special subsidies for public transportation, a larger
budget allocation for the rice-for-the-poor program and education
subsidies for low-income families.
Responding to this scheme, HMI executive member Awamsyah said the compensation programs were not good solutions.
“The
last time the government offered direct cash assistance for the poor,
[the scheme] only ran well for three months. And it was unsustainable.
Under the program, each family received Rp 300,000, a small amount that
could only be spent on rice, not the side dishes,” he said.
Awamsyah added that the state budget is not clean from corruption, so it
would be counterproductive to try to save state budget funds while the
budget itself is being tapped by corruptors.
The government has
allocated Rp 123.6 trillion in government spending for fuel subsidies,
including premium gasoline, diesel, kerosene and 3-kilogram canisters of
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Rather than focusing on oil, Awamsyah said, the government needed to
start thinking about alternative energy sources, such as natural gas, to
reduce our dependence on oil.
Awamsyah said the majority of
Indonesians live at the low- and middle-income levels, and that it would
be these people who would feel the direct impact of rising prices,
while those on high incomes would not complain so much about the issue.
“We are not completely opposed to the government’s plan, but we want the
government to offer a more realistic solution to help stabilize market
prices,” he said.
Protests also came from students in Makassar on
Thursday, as some of them took to the streets, causing congestion on the
thoroughfares connecting the city with other regencies.
The students said the policy would cause hardship as it would trigger increased costs on basic necessities.
The fuel price hike is scheduled to come into effect on April 1.
