JAKARTA, Indonesia – Dramatic fuel price increases took effect Saturday as Indonesia sought to revive its beleaguered economy, sparking transport strikes that left thousands stranded and protests from people who have long enjoyed some of the cheapest gasoline in the world.
Demonstrators burned tires and effigies of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, while others commandeered trucks and blocked roads.
The government, reacting to soaring global oil prices, announced just after midnight Saturday that the prices of gasoline would rise 87 percent to $1.67 a gallon, diesel fuel would more than double and kerosene would triple.
The increases will push up the price of everything from rice to cigarettes in the sprawling archipelago of 220 million people, half of whom live on less than $2 a day.
The size of the increases, much larger that expected, caught many by surprise. But economists said the bold move could help balance the government’s budget, which includes billions of dollars a year in fuel subsidies.
Yudhoyono said he hoped the move, however unpopular, would stave off an economic crisis. The stock market and the local currency, the rupiah, have been hit hard in recent weeks by the economic uncertainties.
Thousands have protested, though the rallies were small given the size of the country and its history of massive street demonstrations.
There were scattered reports of violence, with hundreds of students burning tires in South Sulawesi province following an all-night protest. In Riau, demonstrators briefly commandeered a truck, and a mob on the island of Lombok, neighboring Bali, burned effigies of Yudhoyono and Vice President Yusuf Kalla.
But in the capital, Jakarta, only a few busloads of student protesters, some waving black-and-red flags, were seen cruising the streets.
Almost all were surprised at the size of the price increases, after hearing predictions for days that they would climb by less than 50 percent.
“I understand that the government had little choice,” said Atika Sari, a 30-year-old teacher in Yogyakarta. “But how can we survive?”
More than 15 million low-income families are being offered a lump-sum compensation payment of $29, and hundreds were waiting in lines at post offices Saturday to pick up the cash.
“Thank God,” said Suryati, a housewife in Jakarta, after receiving her cash. “Of course, it’s not nearly enough, but it will help me feed my family.”
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