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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Vice President M Jusuf Kalla said here on Thursday that demonstrations nowadays were like supermarkets because anything could be brought up as a reason to organize a rally.

"Demonstrations nowadays are like supermarkets. Any issue is there. And anything can be protested against through demonstrations," Kalla said after celebrating his 66th birthday.

The current demonstrations were not only about the fuel price hike. He even considered that rallies on fuel price surge were not many because the people understood the problem.

"If the fuel prices are not increased, the subsidies could reach Rp250 trillion," Kalla said.

He said if the government did not raise fuel prices, the amount of the subsidy would go up drastically and in fact it would violate the existing law on the Amended State Budget (APBN-P).

Indonesia was currently the only country which subsidized fuel prices heavily, he said.

Around 80 percent of the subsidies were enjoyed by the haves, while only 20 percent benefited the poor, he said.

"Therefore, we are going to transfer the subsidy from the haves to the poor," he said.

The government has prepared a mechanism to distribute direct cash assistance to the poor to compensate them for the fuel price surge.

Source