Thousands of students, truck drivers and laborers rallied across Indonesia yesterday against impending fuel price hikes, with some blocking roads with burning tires and throwing stones outside a house belonging to the vice president.
In one incident, police fired warning shots and beat protesters with batons after a rowdy crowd tried to storm a gas station, witnesses said.
The government's decision to cut fuel subsidies that have helped protect Indonesia's poorest from spiraling global prices could result in a 60 percent rise in the price of gasoline, diesel fuel and kerosene when it takes effect tomorrow, ministers say.
PHOTO: AFP
Though the move will help ease pressure on the cash-strapped government's budget, it is also expected to push up the price of everything from rice to bus fares to cigarettes in the sprawling country of 220 million people, half of whom live on less than US$2 a day.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, elected last year on promises to fight poverty and revive Southeast Asia's largest economy, has quickly become one of Indonesia's most popular leaders. But his decision to raise fuel prices on the heels of a 29 percent hike in March is shaping into his first major political 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."
Protests were held in Jakarta and at least nine other cities, but despite scattered reports of violence most appeared peaceful and relatively small considering the country's size and its history of massive street rallies.
In Jakarta, close to 2,000 people wound through the streets to the presidential palace with banners that said, "Don't add to the people's suffering!" and "Reject the fuel hikes!"
More than 1,000 people also turned out in Makassar on Sulawesi island, where protesters marched on the residence of Vice President Yusuf Kalla, some throwing bricks at police officers who blocked their path. In neighboring Palu, police fired into the air after rock-throwing demonstrators tried to take over a gas station.
Demonstrators also burned tires and blocked roads on Borneo island, witnesses said.
Despite the unrest, Yudhoyono enjoys wide support and most people realize that the present cost of gasoline -- US$0.25 per liter -- can not be maintained.
Nearly one-third of the government's budget goes to fuel subsidies even as other sectors like health and education are sorely underfunded.
"It is a difficult decision because of the impact it will have on the common man," said Kurt Barrow from energy consultants Purvin & Gertz Inc. "But long-term it is something that Indonesia needs to do to balance its budget."
Yudhoyono urged demonstrators to refrain from violence as Jakarta's governor and its police chief warned that protesters might try to commandeer oil trucks, seize control of gas stations, and destroy or burn property.
"Please comply with the laws and regulations," he said.
Malaysia yesterday installed a motorcycle-riding billionaire sultan as its new king in lavish ceremonies for a post seen as a ballast in times of political crises. The coronation ceremony for Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim, 65, at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur followed his oath-taking in January as the country’s 17th monarch. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement that sees the throne change hands every five years between the rulers of nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty. While chiefly ceremonial, the position of king has in the past few years played an increasingly important role. Royal intervention was
X-37B COMPARISON: China’s spaceplane is most likely testing technology, much like US’ vehicle, said Victoria Samson, an official at the Secure World Foundation China’s shadowy, uncrewed reusable spacecraft, which launches atop a rocket booster and lands at a secretive military airfield, is most likely testing technology, but could also be used for manipulating or retrieving satellites, experts said. The spacecraft, on its third mission, was last month observed releasing an object, moving several kilometers away and then maneuvering back to within a few hundred meters of it. “It’s obvious that it has a military application, including, for example, closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them, but it also has non-military applications,” said Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in optical space situational awareness at Delft
The Philippine Air Force must ramp up pilot training if it is to buy 20 or more multirole fighter jets as it modernizes and expands joint operations with its navy, a commander said yesterday. A day earlier US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US “will do what is necessary” to see that the Philippines is able to resupply a ship on the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) that Manila uses to reinforce its claims to the atoll. Sullivan said the US would prefer that the Philippines conducts the resupplies of the small crew on the warship Sierra Madre,
AIRLINES RECOVERING: Two-thirds of the flights canceled on Saturday due to the faulty CrowdStrike update that hit 8.5 million devices worldwide occurred in the US As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain. Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals around the world about new phishing schemes that involve malicious actors posing as CrowdStrike employees or other tech specialists offering to assist those recovering from the outage. “We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” Kurtz said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant