Thousands of Indonesians protest plans to hike fuel price

The Associated Press , Jakarta | Wed, 05/21/2008 7:04 PM | National

Thousands of students took to the streets across Indonesia on Wednesday to protest the government's plan to sharply raise fuel prices, some briefly clashing with baton-wielding riot police outside the presidential palace.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but several people were detained for allegedly provoking the violence.

With global oil prices surging, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said he has little choice but to slash subsidies that threaten to bust the state budget, and raise fuel prices by up to 30 percent by the month's end.

But dissatisfaction with the plan has mounted in this nation of 235 million where tens of millions live in abject poverty.

"We reject the planned fuel hike," student and protest organizer Rudi Daman said Wednesday at a rally of hundreds of people outside the presidential palace in the capital, Jakarta.

He said the poor would be the ones who suffer most from th plan.

"It will trigger a rise in the cost of staple foods," public transportation and electricity, he said.

Similar protests were held in cities across the sprawling archipelago, from Sumatra island in the west to Sulawesi in the east. Some students occupied the local council building in West Sumata's capital of Padang. In nearby Jambi, demonstrators briefly took down a national flag at the governor's office.

The government has pointed out that subsidies, which for years have made fuel products affordable for millions of poor, have been enjoyed by the rich as well. Indonesians spend US$2 a gallon of gasoline. That compares to around US$3.80 a gallon in the United States.

Many students also used the public demonstrations Wednesday to mark the 10-year anniversary of former dictator Suharto's fall from power after 32-years of rule.

Suharto died last year at 86 but was never put on trial for the widespread abuses that marked his regime. He was widely respected by the masses for having maintained economic stability and building schools and roads.(*)

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