Fuel price rise tests Indonesia leader\\\'s poverty pledge
November 24, 2014 00:00:00
JAKARTA, Nov 23 (AFP): In an old cemetery in the Indonesian capital, Enur's family and others live in makeshift houses between tombstones, a handful of the millions of poor people that new President Joko Widodo has pledged to help.
But Widodo's promise to close a fast-growing wealth gap is looking tougher after his decision last week to hike subsidised fuel prices, which observers warn will hit the poor hard as food prices rocket due to higher transportation costs.
While the reduction in government subsidies is widely viewed as the right move towards getting Southeast Asia's top economy back on track, for those at the bottom it will mean a harder time in the short term.