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Mass organizations in Bali reject fuel-price increase
Mass organizations, united under the Anti-Fuel Price Hike People Alliance, held a peaceful rally to protest against the recent fuel price increase, during Car Free Day at the Bajra Sandhi monument in Denpasar, Bali, on Sunday
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ass organizations, united under the Anti-Fuel Price Hike People Alliance, held a peaceful rally to protest against the recent fuel price increase, during Car Free Day at the Bajra Sandhi monument in Denpasar, Bali, on Sunday.
'We firmly reject the fuel-price increase policy of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla's administration,' alliance spokesperson Retno Dewi said as quoted by Antara news agency in Denpasar on Sunday.
She added that the government also must immediately revoke Ministerial Decree No. 2486/MEM/2015 on the fuel-price increase.
During the rally, the alliance urged people from across society to jointly reject the fuel-price increase by any means.
'Jokowi and Kalla once increased fuel prices, which triggered increases in the price of basic commodities. They later decided to reduce fuel prices but this was not followed by decreases in commodity prices,' Retno said.
On Friday, the government announced another increase in the fuel price of Rp 500 (38 US cents) per liter, which took effect as of March 28.
Retno said the fuel-price increase would be a heavy burden for people, especially those from low-income brackets, as it would be followed by an increase in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) canisters.
She said the LPG increase would affect the middle-to-low income bracket, particularly workers and farmers, as it would trigger a significant increase in other basic commodity prices.
'People's economic situations will continue to worsen,' said Retno.
Earlier, Kalla said the fuel-price increase was due to a depreciating rupiah against the US dollar.
'We know the rupiah still stands above Rp 13,000 per dollar while the world's oil price has increased again,' he said, adding the fuel price increase would have both positive and negative impacts.
On Friday, the government officially announced a Rp 500 increase per liter of RON 88 Premium and subsidized diesel sold outside Java, Madura and Bali, while kerosene was still sold at Rp 2,500 per liter.
In Java, Madura and Bali, the new price of Premium has been increased to Rp 7,400 per liter from Rp 6,900, while diesel is now sold at Rp 6,900 per liter from Rp 6,400. (ebf)(+++)
