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Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Tuesday he was confident that
the House of Representatives would agree with the government's decision
to increase the supply of kerosene, which would result in higher
subsidy spending than envisaged under the 2006 budget.
"Now the problem we are facing is not about the subsidy, but rather
people getting kerosene, which is a basic need here and for which
there's no substitute," he said after seeing off Indonesian pilgrims to
Mecca at Soekarno Hatta International Airport.
The supply increase, which took effect Tuesday, is in response to the
current shortages of the fuel in several parts of the country.
Kalla said he believed the House would set aside politics and approve
the move given the importance of subsidized kerosene to the lives of
low-income people.
Kalla is also the chairman of the Golkar Party, which forms the biggest
block in the House.
During a meeting Monday evening at his office, Kalla ordered state oil
and gas firm PT Pertamina to increase the kerosene supply by 100,000
kiloliters up until December. As a result, the full-year subsidized
kerosene quota, set at 9.9 million kiloliters under the budget, will be
exceeded.
Present at Monday's meeting was the director of the Downstream Oil and
Gas Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas), Tubagus Hariono, and Pertamina's
marketing and business director, Ahmad Faizal.
In previous politically contentious issues over the past year and a
half, such as rice imports and last year's fuel-price hikes, the
Golkar-supported government has managed to win the support of the House
through intense lobbying of party leaders.
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