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Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday he had ordered cabinet ministers not to attend hearings with legislators following a plan of legislators from the opposition camp to question the president's recent decision to hike the subsidized fuel prices.
The president who took the helm in October said on the sidelines of a meeting with governors from across the country that he would not let the ministers to have direct audience with the legislators until reconciliation between legislators opposing and supporting him is totally settled.
"We had just worked for one month, what do they want to ask us about? Let them settle (their problem) first," the president said in the presidential palace located in Bogor, West Java.
The ban has been officiated through an official letter issued by the cabinet secretary office to the ministers.
Previously, tension between the president and parliament emerged when the president's camp intended to set up another chairmanship board in parliament following its defeat in securing a position in the parliamentary chairmanship board.
Hearing between ministers and legislators in the parliament building was a mechanism to directly hear explanations from the ministers on the government's programs to run the country.
The initiative to use the interpellation rights was raised by the opposition camp in parliament concerning the government's move to raise the price of subsidized fuel amid decreasing global oil price.
President Widodo announced on Monday last week to raise the country's subsidized fuel prices by more than 30 percent, saying the move is expected to save the government more than 8 billion U. S. dollars next year.
The government needed a larger budget for infrastructure, healthcare and education rather than spending it on subsidized fuel, the president said earlier.
"We expect to get 300 signatures," a legislator from the opposition camp, Bambang Susatyo, said on Sunday, expecting that the petition would be supported by more than half of the 560 legislators.
He added that the forms would be distributed among the legislators on Monday. Legislators from five political parties joining the opposition camp have pledged to support the petition.
Support is also expected to come from legislators from the president's camp who were disappointed at the policy, Bambang said, adding that the decision was inappropriate as it was taken when the global oil price was below 80 dollars per barrel, or far below the 105 dollar per barrel as assumed in the state budget.
Should the legislators be unsatisfied with the president's explanation, it may lead to further initiatives up to impeachment of the president, he said.
Raising fuel prices is a sensitive issue that typically sparks protests in Indonesia.
