The Government Will Raise The Price Of Subsidized Fuel Again, PKS: Mothers Are Screaming More!

Illustration of people filling fuel oil or Pertalite fuel at Pertamina gas stations. (Between)

JAKARTA - Member of the House of Representatives from the PKS faction Kurniasih Mufidayati criticized the government's plan to increase subsidized fuel prices on the grounds that the energy subsidy burden was too large.

The government claims that the increase in subsidized fuel prices will have an impact on increasing inflation and prices for basic necessities, plus currently food inflation is high at 11 percent. When added to the effect of the increase in subsidized fuel prices, the increase in food inflation will certainly be followed by an increase in food prices.

"In the end, who has to bear this burden? Yes, housewives, mothers who have been burdened with ways to save expenses every day because the economy has been rising since the pandemic. Fuel subsidies are rising, mothers are screaming!," Mufida told reporters. , Wednesday, August 24.

The head of the PKS DPP for Women and Family Resilience (BPKK) explained that the increase in fuel prices will have an impact on the family economy, which will certainly be hit. The reason, he said, was that middle class families had felt the impact of the recent Pertamax price increase and switched to Pertalite. Meanwhile, lower-class families will be hit harder by the impact of rising prices for daily necessities.

"If the price of Pertalite is increased, both middle class and lower class families must reduce the allocation of routine expenditures. The choice is to reduce the use of subsidized fuel even though it is for the residents' daily economic activities or reduce other expenditure posts that are already tight, so that it will be even more depressed," said Mufida .

The PKS Legislator for the DKI Jakarta II Dapil then reminded that President Joko Widodo recently in a speech at the MPR RI Annual Session on August 16, 2022, saying that the 2022 State Budget for Semester I is still in surplus so that it is still able to provide energy subsidies of up to Rp502 trillion.

"The president has clearly stated that the fuel subsidy is given so that prices in the community do not soar. But the term is not dry when he says that a plan to increase the price of subsidized fuel has been issued," said Mufida.

According to the member of Commission IX of the DPR, the government should be able to evaluate several national projects that actually waste the budget, such as the National Capital Development (IKN) project whose impact cannot be felt by the whole community.

"Indonesian families, especially housewives, are feeling anxious. The burden on the state is reduced by the increase in subsidized fuel prices, but the burden has shifted to being borne by middle to lower families. Meanwhile, projects that consume large amounts of the state budget, such as the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train and IKN keep going," said Mufida.