JAKARTA. The hike in subsidized fuel prices by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Monday has been met by opposition at the House of Representatives, even from lawmakers of Jokowi’s own Great Indonesia Coalition.
Members of the opposition Red-and-White Coalition said on Tuesday that they would exercise their inquiry rights into the government’s fuel-price hike as they deemed the increase to be unnecessary and harmful to people on lower incomes.
“We urge the House of Representatives to use its right to question [the government]. That’s our only option because we don’t have any right to meddle in the process [of cutting fuel subsidies],” leader of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction Jazuli Juwaini told reporters at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.
Democratic Party lawmaker Edhie Baskoro “Ibas” Yudhoyono also said the move to raise the fuel prices was not a wise one given what he claimed was the country’s current stable fiscal condition.
“The oil price has plunged below the price assumed in the revised 2014 state budget [APBNP]. The decision is also wrong because the budget deficit and the [country’s] cash-flow is still safe and sound. Not to mention that subsidized fuel prices were only just raised last year,” he said.
Therefore, Ibas said, the Democratic Party also supported the House should it decide to use its right to question the President.
On Monday Jokowi announced that the price of subsidized Premium gasoline would increase from Rp 6,500 (53 US cents) per liter to Rp 8,500, while the price of diesel would be raised from Rp 5,500 to Rp 7,500 per liter. Kerosene remained unchanged at Rp 2,500 per liter.
The new fuel prices took effect as of midnight on `Monday.
Kardaya Warnika of the Gerindra Party, who heads the House Commission VII overseeing energy, however, said that while he disagreed with the fuel-price hike, there was nothing the House could do about it.
“The government doesn’t even need our approval [to raise fuel prices],” said Kardaya, who was formerly the head of the disbanded upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas.
Apart from the opposition coalition, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Effendi Simbolon also criticized the government’s move, saying the fuel-price hike had hurt the people.
“I apologize to my constituents because I have hurt their feelings. I pray for God to forgive them [the government],” he said on Tuesday.
To anticipate any security risks following the fuel-price hike on Monday evening, the National Police issued a “Siaga Satu”, the highest security alert, and readied two-thirds of their personnel to guard gas stations and other public facilities across the country.
The police’s special crimes division official, Sr. Comr. Agus Santoso, said that fuel smuggling and stockpiling were likely to continue in the future given that the adjusted fuel prices were still below those of the international market.
“As long as there is a price disparity, the opportunity for misappropriation remains. The police need public participation to supervise [transactions of subsidized fuel],” he said at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.
So far this year, the police have uncovered 350 cases of fuel smuggling and stockpiling involving a total of 392 suspects.
One of the latest fuel-smuggling cases was in Riau Islands, in which an official with state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina conspired with two temporary workers with the Indonesian Navy to sell subsidized fuel to ships passing through international waters off Riau. (Hans Nicholas Jong and Yuliasri Perdani)
