Sheesh, when they seized the cooking oil truck they should have made some biodiesel. ;-)
On Fri, 10 Jan 2003, Keith Addison wrote: > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2637999.stm > BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | > Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 09:44 GMT > > Anger at Indonesian price rises > > Protesters say the government has abandoned the poor > > Indonesians have held a third day of protests around the country > against rises in fuel and utility charges, as students, labour and > political groups called for bigger protests on Thursday. > > There have been calls for a national strike > > Hundreds of students in Palu, Central Sulawesi province, burnt > portraits of President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice President > Hamzah Haz, the Detikcom online news service reported. > > Fuel prices went up by 22% on 1 January, and electricity and > telephone charges were increased at the same time. > > The government says it has no choice but to remove the hefty > subsidies which have persisted in Indonesia for years. > > Long live Queen Megawati, long live his Highness Hamzah Haz, we are > hungry > > Protesters in Jakarta > > But as protests continued in at least 10 cities, there have been > growing calls for the price rises to be cancelled. > > In South Sulawesi, the provincial government called on the central > administration to reject the increases, its vice president Edi > Baramuli was quoted by Detikcom as saying. > > Bus and mini-van drivers have gone on strike in Badung in West Java, > El Shinta radio said, with reports that 10 drivers have been arrested > for inciting others to join them. > > Some protesters have been calling for the president and vice > president to resign. > > "Long live Queen Megawati, long live his Highness Hamzah Haz, we are > hungry," shouted protesters outside the presidential palace, where > about 40 students demonstrated. > > Students in East Jakarta burned tyres and briefly seized a tanker > truck which they believed was carrying fuel. It was carrying cooking > oil. > > Strike called > > The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Jakarta says public anger could lead to a > potentially serious challenge for President Megawati, especially if a > national strike called for Thursday goes ahead. > > Trade unions have called for a national stoppage, and the call has > been taken up in towns and cities across the archipelago. > > Sharp rises in fuel prices at the height of the financial crisis in > May 1998 triggered rioting which contributed to the fall of the > then-President Suharto. > > Since then, the government has brought in a series of further price > hikes which have prompted protests, but not serious rioting. > > In addition to the 22% fuel hike, electricity charges went up by 6% > on 1 January, with three further quarterly increases of 6% due this > year. Telephone charges were also increased by an average of 15%. > > The government has allocated 3.1 trillion rupiah ($346m) as financial > aid for the poor to compensate for the price rises. Kerosene, widely > used by the poor as a cooking fuel, remains heavily subsidised for > domestic use. > > Biofuels at Journey to Forever > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > Biofuel at WebConX > http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm > List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
