REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Members of the House of Representatives (DPR) will soon call on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to explain his decision to cut down fuel subsidy, which triggered an increase in the prices of fuel.

"We think the decision to reduce the subsidy and hike the price of fuel was made too soon," the Chairman of Commission VII of the DPR, Kardaya Wardika, said on Wednesday.

Wardika, however, did not confirm when President Jokowi would be questioned. According to the politician from the Great Indonesia Movement Party, it was not correct to increase the cost of subsidized fuels when the world price of oil was declining. He further noted that the government had the right to increase or decrease the price of fuel without asking the parliament for its opinion.

"However, we have the right to ask by how much the government cut the fuel subsidy and how it plans to use the funds in the future," Wardika remarked.

On Monday (November 17) night, the government reduced the subsidy for fuel and hiked the prices by 2,000 IDR. Gasoline, which was earlier priced at 6.5 thousand IDR per liter, now costs 8.5 thousand IDR per liter. Subsidized diesel oil costs 7.5 thousand IDR per liter, with its earlier rate being 5.5 thousand IDR per liter. The new tariffs were made effective the next day, on November 18.

Furthermore, President Jokowi stated that the government required substantial amount of funds to finance infrastructure development and improve education and healthcare services. He added that reducing fuel subsidy and raising the prices of fuel were choices the government had to make to divert subsidies from consumptive to productive sectors, including those of infrastructure and education.

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