The fuel price hike and the increase of in the price of basic needs that followed is really painful, especially to the middle and lower classes. But this is something that had to be done. I remember when I was studying at Padjadjaran University in 1997 a professor told me that fuel prices had to be increased because the cost of producing fuel was very expensive. Subsidies would only spoil the people and Pertamina as the holder of a fuel monopoly