Indonesia's president defended a decision to raise fuel prices beginning today as the only way to stave off an economic crisis, while calling on thousands of demonstrators who have taken to the streets to refrain from violence.
"Anarchy will only deter investment," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said hours before the size of the hike was to be announced.
Ministers said the cost of gasoline, diesel fuel and kerosene could climb by as much as 50 percent -- pushing up the price of everything from rice to cigarettes in the sprawling country of 220 million people, half of whom live on less than US$2 a day.
PHOTO: AFP
Demonstrations in 17 cities were small and scattered, though numbers swelled in the predominantly Muslim nation after Friday prayers, with thousands turning out.
Soldiers and riot police patrolled major traffic intersections and strategic locations across the capital, including the presidential palace, parliament and some gas stations.
The price hikes follow Yudhoyono's decision to slash fuel subsidies that have helped protect Indonesia's poorest from spiraling global prices for years, but also threatened to blow the cash-strapped government's budget. Last year, the government doled out US$7.4 billion for the subsidies -- more than the international community has pledged on rebuilding efforts in countries hit by last year's tsunami.
"I realize that this is not a popular policy, a bitter pill that we have to swallow, but we have to do it to save the nation's budget and the future of the country," Yudhoyono said at the opening of a new Honda motor plant outside of Jakarta.
Motorists hoping to fill their tanks with cheap gas formed long lines at gas stations nationwide. Some stations were closed, hanging up signs that said "Sorry, we've run out." So far the demonstrations have been smaller than expected, given the size of the country and its history of massive street rallies, cheering investors. The Indonesian stock market and the local currency have taken a hit recently amid the economic uncertainty.
"Investors are just relieved the fuel price hike demonstrations haven't happened," one dealer said on condition of anonymity. "There really isn't much other news to boost the market," the dealer added.
Despite being Southeast Asia's only member of OPEC, Indonesia has to import oil because of decades of declining investment in exploration and extraction due to corruption and a weak legal system that makes people wary of doing business here. Everyone agrees that the current level of subsidies -- which allow Indonesian motorists to fill up for less than US$0.25 per liter -- are unsustainable. Still, raising prices is a sensitive issue in Indonesia, where a massive hike in 1998 triggered rioting that helped topple former dictator Suharto.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS