[ppi] [ppiindia] Indonesians protest rise in fuel costs

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   Indonesians protest rise in fuel costs  
      The Associated Press, Reuters

      THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2005
     


     
      JAKARTA Thousands of students, truck drivers and laborers rallied across 
Indonesia on Thursday to protest an impending rise in fuel prices, some 
blocking roads with burning tires and throwing stones outside a house belonging 
to the vice president. 

      In one incident, police officers fired warning shots and beat protesters 
with batons after a crowd tried to storm a gas station, witnesses said. 

      The government's decision to cut fuel subsidies, which have helped 
protect the poor from rising oil prices, could cause a 60 percent rise in the 
prices of gasoline, diesel fuel and kerosene when it takes effect Saturday, 
ministers say. 

      Though the move will help the government's budget, it is also expected to 
increase the price of other products, like rice, bus fares and cigarettes, in a 
country where half of the people live on less than $2 a day. 

      President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, elected last year on promises to 
fight poverty and revive the economy, has become one of Indonesia's most 
popular leaders. But his decision to raise fuel prices after a 29 percent rise 
in March is shaping into his first major test. 


      "He doesn't know how to manage this country," said Ibnu Hajar, one of the 
student protesters. "Raising fuel prices isn't going to improve the economy. 
It's just going to hurt the poor." 

      Subsidized fuel prices have long been a volatile issue in Indonesia. In 
May 1998, Suharto, the president at the time, raised fuel prices by up to 71 
percent under pressure from the International Monetary Fund. The move added to 
widespread unrest over rising inflation, food shortages and political 
discontent, and Suharto was forced from office that same month. 

      Protests were held Thursday in the Indonesian capital and at least nine 
other cities, but most areas appeared peaceful and unrest was relatively small 
considering the country's size and its history of massive street rallies. 

      In Jakarta, about 2,000 people marched to the presidential palace. More 
than 1,000 people turned out in Makassar, on Sulawesi, where protesters marched 
to the residence of Vice President Yusuf Kalla, some throwing bricks at police 
officers. 

      Despite the unrest, Yudhoyono enjoys wide support, and most people seem 
willing to accept that the cost of gasoline, about 25 cents a liter, or 95 
cents a gallon, cannot be maintained. Nearly a third of the government's budget 
goes to fuel subsidies, even as health and education are sorely underfunded. 

      http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/29/news/indo.php
     
         


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