A Slick Oil Hike

Indonesia’s long-feared oil price hike finally happened. It triggered protests in some places but not the widespread mayhem widely feared. Perhaps people are realizing that if they don’t go up, the country could ultimately go bankrupt.

October 9, 2000

SO why do the prices of oil, premium, diesel and oil products have to go up at all? It seems many of Indonesia’s people already know the answer, if the muted response to the average 12 percent increase on October 1 is anything to judge by. Another section of the community clearly does not know, or does not want to know, or indeed knows but is just irritated about it all. As the isolated protests also show.

The general lack of reaction to t

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