ASIA / PACIFIC
December 1, 2014
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
Thousands line up to
vote in Indian Kashmir
By Aijaz Hussain
The Associated Press
S
SWITCHING SUBSIDIES. Students wear masks depicting Indonesian President Joko
Widodo with a long nose as they sit down on a road during a protest against fuel price hikes out-
side the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia. President Widodo recently announced a sharp
increase in fuel prices, saying costly government subsidies would be better spent on infrastructure
and development. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
Indonesian government
sharply raises fuel prices
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) —
Indonesia’s president has announced
a sharp increase in fuel prices, saying
costly government subsidies would
be better spent on infrastructure and
development.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo,
who took office October 20, an-
nounced the price hikes at the state
palace, flanked by economic and
social affairs ministers.
The price of gasoline will rise from
about 53 cents to 70 cents per liter,
and diesel fuel from 45 cents to 61
cents.
Police were deployed to guard
some gasoline stations in the
capital, Jakarta, as long lines of cars
and motorbikes waited to fill their
tanks before the increases took
effect.
“From time to time, as a nation, we
are faced with difficult choices,” said
Jokowi, who had vowed to be ready to
make unpopular decisions for the
sake of the people. “However, we
have to choose and make a deci-
sion.”
He said the government held a
series of discussions and decided it
was better to switch the subsidies to
productive investment.
Students in some provincial
capitals staged protests prior to the
announcement.
The announcement came as the
global price of oil had plummeted 31
percent in just five months, a
surprising drop after a four-year
period of prices near or above $100
per barrel.
Indonesia’s last fuel price hike, in
June last year, was met by angry
protests in which thousands of
students took to the streets across the
country.
RINAGAR, India —
Thousands of voters
lined up to cast their
votes in state elections in
Indian Kashmir amid a
boycott call by Muslim
separatist groups who reject
India’s sovereignty over the
disputed Himalayan region.
Voter turnout was moderate
last month with the tempera-
tures low and skies overcast.
Thousands of paramilitary
soldiers and police officers
patrolled near polling stations
as voting opened in villages
and towns. Polling was brisk in
some places and long lines of
voters
stretched
around
polling booths north of the
main city of Srinagar.
The elections are to be held
in five phases through Decem-
ber 23 in a staggered process
that allows the government to
deploy thousands of troops to
prevent any outbreak of vio-
lence.
Pro-India Kashmiri parties
say the elections will boost
development and help address
civic issues, while separatists
say the polls are an illegiti-
mate exercise under military
occupation. In recent days,
authorities have detained
hundreds of separatist leaders
and activists who called for a
boycott of the elections.
The multistage voting will
elect a local government — a
chief minister who will serve
as the state’s top official and a
council of ministers — from the
pro-India parties participating
in the elections.
Prime Minister Narendra
FIVE-PHASE ELECTION. Kashmiris (top photo) stand in queue to cast
their votes outside a polling station during the first phase of voting for the Jammu
and Kashmir state assembly elections at Shadipora, on the outskirts of Srinagar
in Indian controlled Kashmir. In the bottom photo, an Indian policeman assists an
elderly Kashmiri woman casting her vote during the first phase of voting in Wangi-
pora, 24 miles north of Srinagar. Thousands lined up to cast their votes amid a
boycott call by Muslim separatist groups who reject India’s sovereignty over the
disputed Himalayan region. (AP Photos/Mukhtar Khan)
Modi’s
Bharatiya
Janata
Party has been campaigning
heavily, and for the first time is
hoping to win a sizeable
number of seats in India’s only
Muslim-majority state.
Kashmir is divided between
India and Pakistan and both
countries claim it in its
entirety.
Nearly a dozen rebel groups
have been fighting against
Indian rule since 1989, seeking
independence for Kashmir or
its merger with Pakistan.
About 68,000 people have been
killed in the conflict.
State elections were also
held in the central Indian state
of Jharkhand.