THE government should be following the downward trend of global crude oil prices. Last weekend, world prices fell to US$40 per barrel and prices for 2009 are forecast to be US$60-70.

Although global prices dropped by more than half the previous level, the government still has not cut domestic prices in a significant way.

Only once this year, in early December, the government reduced the price of premium gasoline from Rp6,000 to Rp5,500. The go