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View all search resultsJokowi to go ahead with planned fuel-price hike
Vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla has hinted that his and president-elect Joko âJokowiâ Widodoâs coalition will more than likely proceed with its plan to raise subsidized fuel prices, despite the pairâs transition team proposing alternative options to safeguard the countryâs budget
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V
ice president-elect Jusuf Kalla has hinted that his and president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's coalition will more than likely proceed with its plan to raise subsidized fuel prices, despite the pair's transition team proposing alternative options to safeguard the country's budget.
Speaking after a meeting with the transition team on Friday, Kalla said he and the team shared some common ground as to whether or not it would be necessary for the next government to raise fuel prices.
'The principle is to shift subsidies from consumption-based to production-based. If it means an increase of subsidized fuel prices, then we will do that,' he told reporters at the transition team's headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
Transition team head Rini Soe-marno, meanwhile, said the next step was for the team to analyze the shift from consumption-based subsidies to production-based ones.
'[This will include] how a production-based subsidy program would run,' she said on Friday.
Previously, a member of Jokowi's inner circle said a price adjustment may take place in November and, if so, the increase would amount to about Rp 3,000 (25 US cents) per liter, which would offer the government between Rp 140 trillion and Rp 150 trillion in additional revenue.
Last week, the transition team said there were possibly other ways, besides cutting the subsidies, to provide the new government with more room to fund its policy agenda.
Andi Widjajanto, one of the team's deputies, said he and his colleagues were studying a range of different scenarios, one of which was maintaining subsidized fuel prices as they were today.
He also said another possible scenario would be to suspend the plan to raise fuel prices until next year.
The team's other deputy, Hasto Kristiyanto, maintained that efforts to reform the oil and gas industry, including the eradication of the so-called 'mafia' from the fuel-procurement system, would be promoted by cutting the subsidies.
He said on Friday that the transition team had a list of names of mafia members and that Jokowi had vowed to combat the corruption in a number of lucrative sectors, including the energy sector.
- Kalla says principle is to shift from consumption- to production-based subsidies
- Transition team, however, is analyzing several options for safeguarding state budget
- Team is also in talks with antigraft campaigners to find best way to combat 'fuel mafia'
'The numbers vary [in each sector]. But Jokowi will fight them with a robust taxation system so that they cannot avoid [their obligations] anymore,' Hasto said.
He added that the team had also spoken with a coalition of anticorruption campaigners to help the team formulate a system that would be effective in combating the mafia.
The most recent meeting took place on Friday, during which the campaigners called on Jokowi to reform the country's law enforcement institutions to net the mafia.
'We discussed which institutions should be prioritized by Jokowi for reform,' Hasto added.
Spokeswoman for the anticorruption coalition, Bivitri Susanti, said she had told the transition team to focus on three institutions: the Attorney General's Office (AGO), the police and the Law and Human Rights Ministry.
'The one that directly touches the public is the police, but the one that should be prioritized is the AGO,' she said, arguing that the AGO was most plagued with corruption.
Bivitri said Jokowi could overhaul recruitment in the three institutions by implementing the open-call system that he introduced in the capital as Jakarta governor.
She added that Hasto had requested the coalition follow up on the meeting by proposing more concrete steps that Jokowi could take.
'We have been asked to offer comparisons by looking at other countries' law enforcement institutions,' Bivitri said.
