Some housewives in Jakarta coldly welcome govt`s cash assistance

The government`s policy to provide cash assistance to the poor families following the fuel oil price hikes which will be announced in the next few days is coldly responded by some housewives as they have to spend more money in the future after the fuel oil price hikes comes into effect.

However the government`s plan on fuel oil price hikes has increased the doubt of their ability to manage their food supplies and education of their children, as they believe the policy will only make it more difficult for them to eke out a living by the burden of life.

Mrs Lucy whose husband is a janitor at a public health center in the sub-district of Jatinegara, East Jakarta, in an interview here on Satuday said the plan to increase the prices of fuel oil by the government was creating a deep anxiesty in me as a housewife preparing the meals for her family.

The fuel price hikes would raise the prices of other daily commodities and lower my purchasing power, she said.

Even my husband will likely get such direct cash assistance from the government as he is a low income earner. "I don`t think the assistance will be able to mitigate impact of the fuel oil price hikes on the poor."

"We will receive only Rp100,000 per month, but the burden of life may increase by Rp 500,000 a month due to increased spendings," she said.

Practically, the cash assistance will not reduce the burden a housewife. "If I have to make a choice, I prefer the government not to raise fuel oil prices," Lucy said.

A similar complaint was also uttered by Mrs Sumirah, a street vendor selling gado-gado (vegetable salads mixed with peanut paste) on a cart in the Petamburan sub district, Central Jakarta.

As a mother of two children, Sumirah who offers the gado-gado to the public by pushing her cart through the streets after the death of her husband. She was did not know what to do to the price of her gado-gado for which she charged Rp6,000 per portion including rice.

"Two months ago, I sold ...