JAKARTA: Less than a week after a report showed signs that Indonesians were buying more cars, recent government price hikes on fuel led to a large protest on Tuesday. Some 1,000 people marched through the main streets of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Tuesday to demand the government drop plans to raise fuel prices. “We are here to show that we will not allow the government to raise prices when our wages and benefits remain the same,” one protester told Bikyamasr.com in passing. The government was set to increase the fuel price by a third, from 4,500 rupiah (50 cents) to 6,000 rupiah, on April 1 to reduce the burden on state subsidies following the sharp rise in global oil prices. Officials said a cut in fuel subsidies was needed so that money could be spent on health, education and infrastructure. But many Indonesians complain that even before fuel prices are actually raised, costs of basic necessities have already gone up. “Fuel price increase means poverty,” read a banner held up by one of hundreds of protestors at Jakarta's central traffic circle. The protestors later marched to the presidential palace, causing a massive traffic jam along Jakarta's main thoroughfares. Indonesian police said they had deployed 22,000 personnel ahead of the rallies. Riot police were seen guarding petrol stations across the capital after protestors forced workers to close the pumps in earlier rallies. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/bwQho Tags: Fuel, Indonesia, Jakarta, Protest Section: Business, Latest News, Southeast Asia
