By Deutsche Presse-Agentur
JAKARTA – Indonesia’s parliament voted late Monday in favour of a move to slash fuel subsidies and raise the price at the pump by nearly half, amid public protests.
Police fired warning shots and water cannon at protestors outside parliament after the crowd threw petrol bombs and rocks.
The decision means that the government can go ahead with its plans to increase the price of petrol from 4,500 rupiah (RM1.40) a litre to 6,500 rupiah, and diesel fuel from 4,500 to 5,500.
The measure also includes a cash compensation scheme of nine trillion rupiah for the 15 million households officially considered poor.
Protestors have argued that increasing the fuel price will disproportionately hurt the poor by causing a hike in the cost of basic commodities.
Demonstrations were also held in other cities across the country.
At least eight people were injured in clashes between protesters and police on Sumatra and the Moluccas, local media reported.
In Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, students pelted a KFC fast food restaurant with stones, police said.
If the subsidies are not cut, their cost to the treasury this year is predicted to rise to 298 trillion rupiah from the originally budgeted 193.8 trillion rupiah, the government has said.
An earlier attempt to cut the subsidies was shelved last year after countrywide demonstrations.
A fuel price rise in 1998 led to widespread protests and riots that helped topple then president Suharto after 32 years in power.
-DEUTCHE PRESS AGENTS
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