Balikpapan students continue protest
Saturday, October 14 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Students from various universities in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, continued Friday their anti fuel price increase by staging a demonstration at the local office of the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, the local Kaltim Post daily reported.
The paper said that representatives of the students met with the managers of the Pertamina office.
The students demanded the recent fuel price increase to be cancelled, and Pertamina to provide at least 10 buses to transport students to campuses everyday.
The protesting students had earlier demanded the Balikpapan mayoralty to cancel the decision to raise public transportation fare following the fuel price increase.
The spokesman of the local Pertamina office said that the company would study the demands of the students, but regarding the fuel price increase the company could do nothing because it was a decision of the central government.
The government raised fuel prices by an average of 12 percent earlier this month in a bid to reduce fuel subsidy and ease the burden of the state budget. (*)