IRMA Shopya, 26 years old, did not pay much attention to the rise in fuel price. This employee of a bank in Jakarta is used to just buying fuel for her car based on a fixed amount of cash of around Rp200,000 for each fill. “I seldom look at the price per liter,” said Irma on Thursday, March 10.

That afternoon, Irma was filling up her car at the BP-AKR Sholeh Iskandar gas station (SPBU) in Bogor City, West Java. The gas station is ma...